All-Star 1999 * West 6, East 4 

The 1999 edition of the Cape League All-Star Game had matured past the seventh inning stretch looking as though the East Division would take home its first back-to-back wins in the history of the 12-year contest. Half an inning and four runs later, the West had notched the final tallies in what would be a 6-4 victory. 
 

Photo copyright Bill Delorey

Dominic Rich, Brewster Whitecaps all-star second baseman, cracks a single in the 1999 All-star classic in Wareham.

All-Star Game day in Wareham dawned overcast and with an intermittent drizzle. Autograph session, luncheon and batting practice in the books, the real festivities kicked off with the Homerun Hitting Contest. Competitors included the West's Doc Brooks of Falmouth, John Ballon of Bourne and Kevin Brown of Hyannis, while the East sent Lance Niekro and Mark Teixeira of Orleans and Brad Hawpe of Y-D to the batter's box. Round One put all six contestants head-to-head, with the top two advancing regardless of division affiliation. University of New Orleans infielder John Ballon hit three homers to take second place while Georgia catcher Doc Brooks dominated Round One with six blasts. 

Round Two may have looked close on paper as Ballon tallied seven homers and Brooks eventually took the title with nine roundtrippers, but the real difference was in seeing the magnitude of the blasts from Brooks. Routinely launching bombs off the football pressbox beyond Spillane's left-centerfield fence, the identity of the real power hitter was in little doubt as Brooks took home the well-deserved 1999 award. 

By six o'clock First Pitch time, the weather had steadied and the crowd was nearing its estimated 4,000 attendance. The game itself featured an early-inning power-hitting display from the East in eventual Pro Prospect Award winner Teixeira (Georgia Tech), who deposited a two-run homer over the rightfield fence in the top of the first. Y-D DH Mitch Jones followed up with a solo shot to left in the second and Charles Bilezikjian (Harwich/St. John's) reached on a double, stole third and scored on catcher Dan Moylan's (Chatham/North Carolina) groundout to put the East up 4-0 off West starter Pat Pinkman (Wareham/Virginia Tech). 

The East's Shawn Weaver (Orleans/Old Dominion), Shaun Stokes (Chatham/William Paterson) and Peter Bauer (Orleans/South Carolina) continued to keep the West quiet through the third, fourth and fifth innings, while scoreless innings record-setter Logan Dale (Wareham/Missouri) combined with Cotuit hurlers Mike Schultz (Loyola Marymount) and Henry Bonilla (Tulane) to stop the East over the same span. 

Showing some life in the bottom of the sixth, the West managed two runs on back-to-back sacrifice flies from Gatemen DH Phil Hartig (Citadel) and Cotuit 2B Chase Utley (UCLA) to put the game at 4-2 in favor of the East Division. When the bottom of the seventh rolled around, the West sent eight men to the plate, surviving a bases-loaded rundown which caused the second out with only one run across to that point in the frame. Doubles from Cotuit duo Rich Thompson (James Madison) and Garrett Atkins (UCLA), along with an RBI single from Hartig pushed the final three runs across to hand Harwich's Kevin Zaug (St. John's) the 6-4 loss. 

Pitcher of record Matt Massingale of Bourne and Washington took the win while Wareham's Brion Treadway (UNC-Charlotte) finished for the save. 

Decided upon by the more than 60 scouts in attendance, both the East and West MVPs were first basemen. For the East, Teixeira went two for four with a homerun and two RBI. For the West, Atkins displayed the same penchant for producing in big games that would later win him play-off MVP honors, finishing All-Star Game day two for three with two walks, a double and two RBI.