This Week in Baseball

Guyette Guides Wareham Past Cardinals

ORLEANS -- There must be something in the water in Wareham and Georgia Tech freshman
Kevin Guyette must have been sipping it all summer long. The 6'4" right-hander went the distance
last night, holding the host Orleans Cardinals to one earned run and earning himself and his team a 5-1 win in game one of the 2002 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship Series. Guyette was 5-1 with a 2.05 ERA during the regular season for the Gatemen.

Wareham's Matt Murton (Georgia Tech) receives a high five from teammate David Sanders (Wichita State) in the last game of the Western Division Playoffs. Wareham defeated Orleans last night at Eldredge Park, 5-1, in Game One of the 2002 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship Series.
Sean Walsh/CCBL 2002

Cardinals' second baseman Steve Garrabrants (Arizona State) was responsible for Orleans' sole run in the bottom of the third inning when he lofted a Guyette offering sky high to left. Wareham leftfielder Mark Johnson (Wichita State) inched back toward the leftfield fence getting underneath the ball. When the ball descended, Johnson's back was to the fence. The ball hit inside Johnson's mitt and popped up and behind him over the fence and became lodged momentarily between the small wooden Eldredge Park sign and the backside of the fence. Johnson waved his hand as if to signal the ball was unplayable. It was, the umpire ruled, but it was also a home run.

Orleans was down 2-1 at that point, after Wareham had jumped to an early lead in the top of the first off starter Eric Talbert (The Citadel). Talbert, who went 4-1 with a 0.96 ERA during the regular season, never truly got on top of the visiting Gatemen after a rough first inning, even though he fanned two Gatemen -- Mike Nickeas (Georgia Tech) and Iggy Suarez (SW Texas State) -- in the top of the fifth. In the top of the sixth inning, Oklahoma State's Joe Weaver started in relief of Talbert
but he got into trouble quickly. Wareham first baseman Josh Ford (Baylor) hit a low chopper off the end of his bat to Weaver but it spun out of Weaver's mitt and when the right-hander picked it up to throw to first, the ball went errantly past Mike Rapacioli (St. Bonaventure) and Ford ended up on second base. Baylor's Chris Durbin followed with a ground out -- Durbin had an RBI double in the first inning -- and then Brown's Matt Kutler pinch-hit for Johnson. Kutler connected for his eighth RBI of the playoffs on a seeing-eye single, to make it 3-1, Gatemen. Nickeas followed with another single to put two men aboard and then Suarez walked to load them up. Texas second baseman Tim Moss then connected for an RBI single (2-5 on the day) to make it 4-1. Wareham third baseman Matt Rogelstad (Southeast Louisiana) then arrived safely at first base via a fielder's choice but the fifth and last run crossed the plate. The score remained the same from the bottom of the sixth to the end of the ball game.

Thanks to the Wareham infield defense, Guyette got out of an eighth inning, bases-loaded jam. Garrabrants connected for another hit in the bottom of the ninth but it was too little too late. Wareham second baseman Tim Moss (Texas) went 2-5 on the night and also collected a stolen base. Guyette had three strikeouts and two walks and tossed 116 pitches in nine innings. He scattered five hits in all.

Following Weaver on the mound for Orleans was Chris Murray (George Mason) and Suffolk's Anthony Del Prete who retired the Gatemen 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth. The Cardinals hit the road tonight to play at Wareham's Clement S. Spillane Field at 7 p.m. for Game Two of the Championship Series. If Wareham wins, the 2002 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship goes to them, but if Orleans wins, the series returns to Eldredge Park for Game Three, Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 7 p.m.

Orleans Cardinals second baseman Steve Garrabrants (Arizoan State), seen here in game two of the Eastern Division Playoffs versus Y-D, lofted a solo homer to left in the Cardinals' 5-1 defeat at the hands of the visiting Gatemen last night.
Walsh/CCBL 2002

Wareham's Josh Ford (Baylor), seen here versus Cotuit in game three of the Western Division Playoffs, went 2-5 versus Orleans last night.
Walsh/CCBL 2002