I was lucky enough to make my way to the Northeast this weekend and got to check out the Cape League All Star game that was being held at Fenway Park for the first time since 1987. Unfortunately, it was not a star-filled evening by any stretch. The rains crept into the Boston area a little sooner than expected and eventually the game was shortened to four and a half innings.

But don’t worry, the spectacle wasn’t a total loss. So I’ve got that and some various college baseball notes below, just in case you need more summer reading to add to your list.

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MOTHER NATURE RUINS CAPE COD ALL STAR GAME.

East 000 00x xxx – 0 1 1
West 210 0xx xxx – 3 4 1

WP: Brandon Workman (Texas)
LP: Rob Rasmussen (UCLA)
Sv: None

Top Hitters.
East:
Blake Kelso (Houston) 1-for-1

West:
Zach Cox (Arkansas), 2-for-2, 2RBI, triple
BA Vollmuth (So. Miss), 1-for-1
Zach Cone (Georgia), 1-for-2, double

This was pretty much the Zach Cox show here tonight at Fenway. The Arkansas third baseman saw two pitches all night and slapped a triple to the center field wall in the first and a single to left in the third, both scoring a run. So on a night where there was very little offense to begin with, Cox earned the All Star Game MVP award for the West with those two wicked swings that helped the West squad to an easy 3-0 win.

MVP Zach Cox signs autographs after the game.

But the story of the game – unfortunately – was the weather. A slight misting during the home run hitting contest turned into a steady sprinkle as the game got underway. In fact, when the p.a. announcer came on at a half-past-six and said, “Due to impending weather in the area, we’re going to start tonight’s game at 6:45″ the first thing that came to mind was, “Isn’t the impending weather here already?”

The only problem with starting the game early was that the umpiring crew got to the field late, so first pitch didn’t happen until 7pm anyway. Way to go guys.

As for the game itself, Workman went one-two-three to the East in the top of the first and Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State) led the bottom of the frame off with a hot-shot that ate up East third baseman Jedd Gyrko (West Virginia). That set the stage for the best hit of the night, Cox’s laser to center field, easily scoring Cunningham in the process.

The East never did threatened, getting just an infield single from Kelso to start off the third inning and only had a player reach second base in the fifth and final inning. But that threat was washed away with a double play that ended the game.

In face, as soon as the ball hit first baseman Kyle Roller’s glove on the double play, the grounds crew jumped into tarp mode and the game was over.

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PICS
Since there wasn’t a whole lot of ballgame to talk about here, I’ll go ahead and post some pictures I took from the game. Keep in mind, after the game got started, the rains started to fall with more vigor, so I had to sit up underneath the overhang at Fenway. Look, I would’ve stayed down low and got some better pictures, but I’m not a high-dollar professional photographer or anything, so I had to keep my camera dry. Sorry people.

None-the-less, enjoy some of the shots I did get along with some of the notes from the game underneath each of them.

The electronic sign at Fenway says it all, this place rules. (Even though some of the walkways are narrower than Rosenblatt’s)
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ESPN’s Peter Gammons made the trip out to Fenway and became an instant celeb of course.
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Speaking of celebs, since Brian Foley doesn’t have a picture of himself on the collegebaseballblog site, I’m including one of him here.
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Mississippi State’s Connor Powers sends another ball wall-ward (note the ball in the upper right). Powers won the Home Run Contest before the game.
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What, no aluminum? As you can see, there weren’t many dingers hit in the home run contest. The totals you see on the board here are the number of yard calls each contestant hit, given 10 “outs” to make. So that’s just 10 total home runs in 70 swings. In fact, at one point, after Gyorko went homerless and Eibner didn’t get close in his first five swings, a kid sitting near me said to his father, “Are they going to hit ANY home runs dad?”
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All eyes skyward. Cameron Rupp has everybody watching the ball clear the green monster. The Texas product finished second to Powers.
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Good work man. Speaking of UT, Brandon Workman picked up the W on the night after striking out two of the three batters he faced in the 1st inning, his only inning of work. Each half-inning saw another pitcher take the mound. In all, nine of the 18 pitchers on the two rosters made an appearance on the mound.
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Todd Cunningham saved this pop-up after he and right fielder Zach Cone played a game of “I got it. No, you got it!”
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At 6′1 and 245, I just thought I’d point out that East Carolina first baseman Kyle Roller is a physical freakin’ beast.
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Houston Cougar infielder Blake Kelso attempts to turn a double play as Ryan Cuneo slides in.
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Now don’t you agree with me that BA Vollmuth’s Cape Cod uniform looks a whole lot better than those gawd-awful bell-bottom slacks he wears in his Southern Miss uniform?
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One of the perks of holding the Cape Cod League All Star game in a major league stadium… beer.
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The grounds crew gets to work on the mound as Chris Sale looks on with a jaundice eye. West manager Mike Roberts said after the game, “I was amazed the grounds crew allowed us to play this game. If we had been playing at Harwich or Cotuit, then we’d never played at all.”
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The only problem Virginia’s Dan Grovatt had all night was trying to throw this beach ball back into the crowd over the big wall. It took him three tries to finally get the ball into the fans hands.
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“Hmmm, this NEVER happens in the spring.” Casey Wiswall looks curiously at a broken bat that flew near his post at first base.
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A record crowd of 14,317 showed up for the game. Most of them sat in the comfort of the seats underneath the overhang to avoid the rain.
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Are you with me on this one… that’s a tattoo of Mary Tyler Moore on this dude’s leg, right?
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Vanderbilt’s Russell Brewer poses for a picture with his family on the Fenway warning track behind home plate.
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Florida Gulf Coast’s Chris Sale holds his East MVP award bat after the game. He threw six pitches in the 3rd inning against the West squad, getting a quick three-up, three-down. Sale said after the game, “That was the most fun six pitches I’ve ever thrown.”
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It’s official, this game that is only half-over is now over. The teams shake hands after the four and a half inning game. Thank you and drive home safely.

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OTHER CAPE COD NOTES.

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BATTING LEADERS.
Todd Cunningham, who scored the opening run of the All Star game, leads the Cape with a .385 average, which is REALLY big-time in a wood bat league. In fact, there are only eight players that are hitting .300 or better so far this summer. Here’s they are:

1. Cunningham, .385
2. Gary Brown (Fullerton), .365
3. Austin Wates (VaTech), .354
4. Jedd Gyorko (W.Virginia), .324
Kyle Roller (E.Carolina), . 324
6. Mickey Wiswall (B.C.), .319
7. Nick Crawford (UAB), . 310
8. Daniel Grovett, (UVa), .305

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PITCHING LEADERS.
It’s obviously a pitching-heavy summer in any wood-bat league, so hurlers love coming up to the Cape to showcase their wares. Ten pitchers have ERAs below 2.00 in the league so far this season, led by N.C. State hurler Jake Buchanan and his 0.50 ERAin 36 innings for Cotuit. Here’s the Top 10:

1. Buchanan, 2-1, 0.50, 32Ks, 6BBs
2. Kyle Blair (San Diego), 3-0, 1.02, 42Ks in 35.0 inns.
3. Chad Bell (Tennessee), 3-1, 1.07, threw no-hitter for Cotuit on July 12th
4. Elliot Glynn (UConn), 3-1, 1.10, 25Ks, 6BBs, 32inns.
5. Chris Sale (Fla. Gulf Coast), 4-2, 1.34, Cape-best 47Ks
6. Seth Rosin (Minnesota), 2-0, 1.46, 31Ks, 8BBs in 25inns
7. Rob Rasmussen (UCLA), 3-0, 1.48, 32Ks, 6BBs in 24inns
8. John Gast (Florida State), 1-2, 1.65, only pitcher in Top 10 with losing record
9. Casey Gaynor (Rutgers), 2-1, 1.80, just 8BBs in 35inns
10. Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt), 3-0, 1.98.

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MORE BATTING AND PITCHING.
Adding to the above entry I’d like to point out that in the 10-team Cape Cod League, Yarmouth-Dennis leads the loop with a team batting average of just .260 and also leads the mound corps with a 2.64 team ERA. Y-D leads the East Division of the Cape at 20-12-1.

But just to show you how insignificant gaudy offensive numbers are up here, the Wareham Gatemen have the weakest offense in the Cape, hitting just .205 as a team. Their pitching is only fourth-best in the league at 2.90, but with those numbers they still lead the West Division at 15-12-4 at the All Star break.

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A BIG RELIEF
Though he didn’t show up in the top 10 above, Michigan’s Tyler Burgoon leads the Cape with nine saves on the season for Yarmouth-Dennis. He was on the East All Star team but didn’t get into the game before the game was halted.

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FREAKIN’ THIEVES!
In case you’re wondering about the fastest baserunners in the league this summer, Kentucky’s Chris Bisson, playing for Cotuit Kettleers, leads the Cape with 24 stolen bases in 32 games so far. Fellow teammate Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina) is second in the league with 20 thefts, giving them a formidable duo on the paths.

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GAME TIME.
One of the things I was really looking forward to was showing how short games are when you throw in the wood bat factor, but alas the All Star game was halted by rain midway through the 5th inning. Still, it took an hour 13 minutes to complete half the game and that was with NESN televising it too.

Keep in mind, I’m coming off a trip to the College World Series where the shortest game was 3:10, if I remember correctly. And most of the games in Omaha were over the 3:30 mark too, so any swiftly played game is a relief to me at this point.

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VARIOUS NOTES OF NOTE AROUND COLLEGE BASEBALL

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WISCONSIN-LACROSSE NEEDS A LIFELINE.
I received an Email plea from Zach Theil of UW-LaCrosse the other day. Apparently the Division III program is another one that has come under the shadow of the Turk and may be eliminated soon. But very Oral Roberts-like, Theil told me that the administration has claimed if they can raise $50,000 by September 1st, the program can be salvaged.

Again, this is another toe-tag awaiting a Northern team’s program that nestles under the guillotine in these awful days of budget cuts and economic downturns. Theil mentioned to me that so far, $18,000 of the amount has been raised and they have gotten a lot of publicity in hopes of meeting their goal. That includes mentions in Baseball America, the College Baseball Blog and even a local TV news story in the Green Bay/Appleton area.

If you’d like more information on helping these baseball-lovin’ folks out, go to Zach’s website he’s developed for this project:

www.saveuwlbaseball.com.

If I was still in the bank robbing biz, I’d do that in a New York second to help you guys out. In the meantime, everybody in the college baseball community is pullin’ for you guys Zach.

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SCHEDULE FEVER.
It’s that time again. Teams are already starting to trickle in with some 2010 schedules, for those of you who can’t wait for next February to roll around.

The winner of the 2010 Schedule Fever Early Bird Award goes to…

- BYU.

They were the first school to have their 2010 slate make its way to my Email in-box. So the Cougars, who nearly made it to at-large consideration land after going 30-24 in ‘09, will again challenge themselves quite vigorously in the pre-conference play. They open the season with a roadie to UC Riverside and also take on the likes of Texas A&M, Baylor, Gonzaga and San Jose State on the road. They also have home games with Washington State, Kansas State and Washington. The Coogs also get the short stick in Mountain West play as the conference rotation has them playing TCU six times, and also-ran Air Force just three times.

Other schedules of note that are out:

- LSU.
The defending national champs put their 2010 slate out a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, it’s only slightly tougher than last year’s, which was not good. Non-conference games with Pepperdine (a strange Thursday/Saturday thing with games vs. Brown thrown in on Friday/Sunday) and Kansas (an NCAA tourney team) will provide better challenge, as will the Wally Pontiff Classic vs. Southern Miss in early April.

This past season, the Tigers played only one non-conference game against a team that made the Big Dance (that was vs. Southern). The Tigers are scheduled to open the season with three games against Centenary, a school that is apparently dropping down to Division III now.

In SEC play, back-to-back weekends at Ole Miss and Florida in late April is as treacherous as it gets. And too bad the home series vs. Arkansas is the opening weekend of SEC play and not the closing weekend, as both teams will be considered favorites for the West Division crown.

According to what I’ve heard, Skip Bertman has mandated to Coach Mainieri that there be 35 home games each year. So that makes home-and-home series with big name programs tough to pull off. Though Fullerton has agreed to play at Alex Box in 2011 without a return trip. Which is a shame.

- Southern Illinois
SIU is coming off a rare losing season (24-28) and began last year with a 1-6 mark in February against the likes of Coastal Carolina, Troy and South Alabama. This year, the first seven games will come against Arkansas State, Tenn-Martin and Jacksonville State. But they do draw the short end of the straw in MVC play with roadies at Wichita and Missouri State.

- Dayton
The Flyers are coming off a school-record 38-win season that saw them win the A-10 regular season title. Opening the 2010 season at Wake Forest and Clemson in their season-opening road trip is no way to ease into things either. There’s no Rhode Island on the A-10 slate and tournament champion Xavier comes to Time Warner Cable Stadium this time. In fact, 14 of the final 19 games will be at home.

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EX-CSTV ALUMS DOING WELL.
During my CSTV days I was privileged to work with a lot of great people. I am proud to point out that two of my favorites, Greg Amsinger and Michelle Beadle, have gone on to bigger-and-better things since CSTV’s demise (Yeah, I hear ya’ smart asses, “What happened to YOUR career Sorenson? Pfft, I’m a loser.)

Amsinger is now one of the main in-studio hosts for the MLB network. You can see him nightly doing 1st To 3rd, an in-progress highlight show and also hosting MLB Double Play…

Beadle has gone on to host SportsNation with Colin Cowheard. It’s sort of a Pardon The Interruption-styled show that plays in the afternoons on the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN…

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ACC TOURNAMENT FREAK OUT.
Speaking of Fenway Park, the ACC’s post-season tournament was SUPPOSED to be played here this past May, but the brainiacs at MLB accidently scheduled the Red Sox to be at home that weekend. So then, it was pushed to 2010 for Fenway. But the slow economy was to blame and it got pulled from America’s favorite ballpark and moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Now, we get word that the ACC decided to pull the Myrtle Beach location and move it to Durham and Greensboro for the next few years. The reason? Because South Carolina still has the rebel flag of the Confederacy on its state capital grounds. Because of that the NAACP got the NCAA to agree not to have any post-season competitions in the state of South Carolina.

Okay, I’m down with that, it’s 2009 people, and the rebel flag is still considered a flag of bigotry and hatred by a large amount of people. Just get rid of it, wouldja? But the ACC needs to wise up themselves and just go ahead and cancel the post-season tournament. Yes just bust a cap in the whole rag-arm fest, especially since you can’t decide where the hell to hold the damn thing.

As I’ve said 532 times before, conference tournaments are the work of the devil anyway.

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SPEAKING OF DEVILS, ONE LAST QUIRK TO POINT OUT.
Since the beginning of the amateur draft in 1965, Arizona State leads the college ranks with 373 draftees overall. The Sun Devils had six players drafted this year to add to its impressive total of draftees. But I found it really weird that the one eligible player who was NOT selected in this year’s draft was CWS hero Kole Calhoun. The junior who hit .565 with 10RBI in Omaha will now presumably return to Tempe for the 2010 season and wreak havoc on college pitchers for his senior season.

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Okay, that’s enough for now. Hope you’re enjoying your off-season. I’m going hiking in New Hampshire for a few days now. Wanna go?

G’night.