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Sports
Gatemen keep chin up
By Tim Weisberg
Correspondent
It wasn’t the dream season they’d hoped to give John Wylde, but the Wareham Gatemen and their president certainly have reason to be proud.
The Gatemen overcame a number of obstacles heading into the season, and nothing was bigger than the news that came last fall that Wylde, the team’s president and general manager, was suffering from inoperable liver cancer. On the field, they faced the loss of many key players from last year’s team, including six who were selected for Team USA.
But a number of new Gatemen stepped up, and the team posted a record of 17-26-1 on the season, and kept an outside hope for the playoffs all the way until early August.
They wrapped up the season this past week with three games in two days. First, they won 5-3 in Falmouth after scoring two runs in the top of the 10th inning. Blake Dean (LSU) singled to short to score Jake Lemmerman (Duke) for the tying run, and later in the inning, Brett Eibner (Arkansas) drew a walk to plate Shea Vucinich (Washington State) with what would prove to be the game-winner after a scoreless bottom of the 10th from reliever Austin Graham (Alabama).
Lemmerman led the offense by going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Eibner (1-for-4, two RBI) and Dean (1-for-5, RBI) also had big hits, with more hits coming from Vucinich, Aaron Baker (Oklahoma) and Kipp Schutz (Indiana).
The Commodores had eight hits on the night, led by two apiece from Joey Wong and A.J. Pollock.
Gatemen starter Brandon Workman (Texas) threw seven innings, allowing three runs off six hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. Graham turned in three scoreless, and was touched for only two hits.
On Thursday, Wareham wrapped things up with a double-header at Spillane Field. In game one, they defeated Chatham, 5-4. Each team posted nine hits, with the Gatemen once again led by Lemmerman (3-for-4, two RBI, run) and Baker (1-for-3, two RBI). Raynor Campbell (Baylor) added a home run, and more hits came from Dean, Baker, Schutz, Connor Rowe (Texas) and Tom Stack-Babich (Harvard).
Yan Gomes led the A’s, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Robby Broach (Tulane) threw 5.1 innings for Wareham, allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts. Zach Brewster (Georgia Tech) closed it out with 3.2 innings of two-hit scoreless ball, adding four more strikeouts.
Then in the season finale, the Gatemen fell 2-1 to Bourne. Jimmy Saris (Georgetown), Wareham’s go-to guy in the bullpen, got the start and went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts, but his five walks proved costly. He walked the Braves’ Jamie Johnson with the bases loaded in the top of the third to allow Bourne to score the go-ahead run. Pierre LePage and Marc Krauss led the Braves with two hits apiece.
Matt Way (Washington State) threw the final three frames for Wareham, allowing just two hits while walking one and fanning three.
The Gatemen posted only three hits in the game, from Campbell, Dean and Baker. Braves starter Ricky Bowen threw seven innings of three-hit ball to shut down the Wareham offense for the game and the season.
The Cape Cod Baseball League championship series is now set, with Cotuit facing Harwich. The Kettleers reached the finals after beating Falmouth in three games, and the Mariners swept Orleans in two games to advance. | |
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