College Baseball 360 » James Ramsey

East Downs West In Cape Cod All-Star Game

Sean Stires — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 13:18:42 +0000

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Boston, Mass—As the 2011 Cape Cod League All-Stars found themselves taking the field at Fenway Park, walking the same steps that Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and many of the best to ever play the game have walked, no one could blame them for being a little nervous. Those butterflies translated into some uncharacteristic hiccups in a frantic first three innings of the 2011 Cape Cod League All-Star Game, which the East won 4-1.

The West wasted no time getting on board, opening the scoring in the first inning off East starter Taylor Rogers (Kentucky). Bourne’s Travis Jankowski (Stony Brook) led off with a single, and scored on an error by East first baseman Ben Waldrip (Jacksonville State). The RBI was credited to Eric Stamets (Evansville) of Hyannis, who bunted for a base hit before Waldrip threw the ball away.

The jitters continued in the top of the second, where the East scored two runs off Scott Firth (Hyannis). Y-D’s Stephen Piscotty (Stanford) reached on an infield single to begin the inning, and teammate Mason Katz (LSU) picked him up with a double. The throw home was high, and Firth threw the ball into left field in an attempt to catch Katz at third. Katz would score on his own double, helped home by two errors.

“We made a couple mistakes in the second inning there,” said West coach Harvey Shapiro, manager of Bourne, “they probably should have got one run, but we threw the ball around there a little bit.”

Before fans could catch their breath, the East struck again in the top of the third. Ryan Jones (Michigan State) of Brewster singled off Bourne’s Josh Conway (Coastal Carolina), moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by teammate Jason Monda (Wahington State).

That was all the East staff would need, as the West did not sniff the scoreboard again for the rest of the game. Matt Koch (Louisville) of Chatham, Tony Bucciferro (Michigan State) of Brewster, Tyler Johnson (Stony Brook) of Orleans, J.T. Chargois (Rice) of Brewster, Chris Overman (NC State) of Harwich all posted consecutive scoreless innings for the East.

“When you get these starters and closers who can go out for one inning and blow it out…pretty nice, isn’t it?” said Y-D manager and East coach Scott Pickler, in reference to the strong pitching of the East staff.

Chris Beck (Georgia Southern) was able to throw a scoreless top of the fourth for the West, but the East stuck again in the fifth, when Y-D’s James Ramsey (Florida State) laced a John Farrell (William and Mary) offering into the bullpen in right-center for a solo home run.

“Just got a fastball, put good wood on it,” Ramsey said. “The adrenaline’s obviously going, playing in this park.”

Hyannis’ Dietrich Enns (Central Michigan) was able to survive the sixth unscathed for the West despite surrendering a leadoff double. Bobby Wahl (Cotuit) followed suit with mid-90s fastballs to leave the score at 4-1 after six and a half.

After the crowd belted out “Sweet Caroline” during the seventh innings stretch, the East pitching picked up where it had left off, as Brewster’s Austin Voth (Washington), Harwich’s Carter Capps (Mount Olive), and Trevor Gott (Kentucky) of Orleans finished off a flawless three innings for the East.

Wareham’s Konner Wade (Arizona) and John Simms (Rice)of Falmouth would also throw scoreless innings to end on a high note for the West.

All told, the East staff would surrender only one unearned run to the acclaimed West lineup. The final score of the 2011 Cape Cod League All-Star Game ended in a victory for the East, 4-1.

“Their pitching was a little bit better than ours, and it showed up in the score,” Shapiro said.

The official attendance for the game was 7,007. Ramsey was named East MVP, while Stamets was named West MVP. Rogers was the winning pitcher, while Firth took the loss. Gott earned the save for the East.

(Release)

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College Baseball 360 Week 4 Notebook

Sean Stires — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:47:03 +0000

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Here’s our by the numbers look at the highs and lows from the latest week of college baseball.

Mike Gillespie

900…Career wins for UC Irvine head coach Mike Gillespie. The 23-year Division One veteran notched the milestone with Saturday’s 5-3 home win over Sacramento State. The 2010 ABCA Hall of Fame inductee is 901-526-2 in his career (he picked-up another win in Sunday’s series finale), including a 1998 national championship as head coach at USC.

1…Career loss for TCU ace Matt Purke. The sophomore is now 18-1 in his still young career after suffering his first loss Saturday to Houston Baptist, which was 0-14 going into the match-up in Ft. Worth. Purke, who has missed a start this year due to a finger blister, gave-up four runs (one earned) in just 3 2/3 IP in the 7-4 setback.

31…Career saves for Matty Ott, to set a new LSU program record. Ott recorded his record-setting 30th save in Friday’s 7-6 win over Cal State Fullerton. He notched #31 (and his fourth of the season) in another one run game on Saturday.

10…Errors committed by Fullerton en-route to being swept in their 3-game series at LSU (15-1). The Titans (8-6) had committed just seven errors in their first 11 games prior, but suffer a 3-game sweep for the first time since 2009. They look to snap their skid Tuesday at Texas A&M.

Sam Gaviglio (Courtesy Oregon State).

29…Scoreless innings pitched by Oregon State’s Sam Gaviglio. The junior fired 8.0 shutout innings in Friday’s win over New Mexico State for his third win of 2011. He gave-up two unearned runs in a season-opening win over Gonzaga, but has a 0.00 ERA with 26 strikeouts and just four walks in 29 2/3 innings this season.

2…Players who hit for the cycle last week. Tennessee’s Matt Duffy became just the second Volunteer to ever achieve the feat when he did it in Wednesday’s win over New Orleans. Matt Holland also hit for the cycle in Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s upset of Texas Tech.

11…Combined scoreless innings pitched by Cal relievers Kevin Miller (7.0 IP) and Kyle Porter (4.0 IP) in Saturday night’s 7-6 win in 15-innings over Rice. Golden Bear ace Justin Jones surrendered an uncharacteristic 6 ER in just 4.0 IP, but the duo combined to allow just two hits with 10 strikeouts in the marathon.

5:22…As in 5 hours and 22 minutes, the time of Pacific’s 11-10 win in 13 innings on Tuesday against San Jose State. The game featured 127 plate appearances, 513 pitches by a combined 13 pitchers and just three errors in 219 total fielding chances.

42…Game hitting streak by Ronnie Freeman in Friday’s loss to Belmont. Freeman had extended his streak to school record status in mid-week losses to Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.

Danny Hultzen (Photo courtesy Virginia).

14…Strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings (14 of 20 outs) by Virginia’s Danny Hultzen in Friday’s 5-0 win over Clemson. Justin Thompson notched 4 Ks in 2 1/3 IP to close the game to give the Cavs a season-high 18 strikeouts in the game, which also marked the first time Clemson had been shutout since May 22, 2008-a stretch of 148 games. The Tigers had entered the game with an ACC-best .343 batting average. Hultzen (4-0) now had 50 Ks with just 4 BB in 27 1/3 innings this season. He lowered his ERA to 0.66.

17-4…Virginia’s record against Clemson since 2004 after sweeping their ACC-opening series over the weekend at Clemson. Virginia (16-1) has won 10 straight, while Clemson (7-6) has dropped four straight and four of its last five overall. The Tigers dropped two of three games to South Carolina prior to the UVA series.

2…Combined home runs hit by Virginia and Duke through the first month of the season. The two teams have a combined 28-5 record, but each hit its first long ball of 2011 over the weekend. Virginia’s came Sunday, while Duke’s came Saturday. The Blue Devils opened ACC play by taking two of three from NC State.

1-2…UCLA‘s record over each of the last three weekends. The Bruins (8-6) dropped two of three at Nebraska last week after losing two of three to San Jose State to close February. They lost two of three again this past weekend, with a win over St. Mary’s and losses to Georgia and arch rival USC at the Dodgertown Classic. The pitching remains the team’s strength, with a stellar 1.80 and 165 strikeouts in 130 1/3 innings. However, the team is hitting just .245 and averaging 4.1 runs-a-game.

0…Road wins through the first month of the season by New Mexico after dropping three games over the weekend at Oklahoma State (12-3). The Lobos (3-11) started the season with three losses at Arizona State (11-3) and have also lost a game at New Mexico State. After the program’s first NCAA berth in more than 40 years in 2010, New Mexico has struggled this year due to nearly complete roster turnover.

Sean Gilmartin

11…Strikeouts in each of his last two starts registered by Florida State Friday starter Sean Gilmartin. The senior fanned 11 in 8.0 IP in Friday’s 3-1 win over Boston College. In his last two starts against BC and Georgia, Gilmartin (4-0) has allowed just one earned run on three hits with 22 strikeouts and two walks in 15.0 innings. The ‘Noles (15-1) face #1 Florida on Tuesday.

64…Two-out runs scored by Florida State through 16 games this season. The Seminoles scored 11 two-out runs in Saturday’s 15-6 win over Boston College alone. The 64 two-out runs represents 45% of the team’s 138 total runs to date. Meanwhile, FSU’s opponents have crossed the plate just 13 times this season. Jayce Boyd and James Ramsey are Florida State’s top two-out RBI men with 12 and 10, respectively.

1.30…ERA by Long Beach State’s Andrew Gagnon, with four starts against four ranked teams this season. Gagnon (2-2) earned his second win after allowing just a run in 8.0 innings Friday against Rice in San Francisco. He has also faced Cal State Fullerton, Oregon and Arizona this season.

0…Walks issued by the Central Florida pitching staff in a 3-game weekend sweep of Wagner. The Knights (13-3) registered 29 strikeouts in 27.0 IP. The pitching staff has failed to issue a free pass in seven different games this season. Ben Lively turned-in UCF’s first 9-inning complete game in three years in Saturday’s win, while Ray Hanson followed suit the next day. For the season, UCF has 152 strikeouts and just 29 walks in 142.0 innings.