America's League

Where the Stars of Tomorrow Shine Tonight!

League News

Y-D Red Sox 2008 Season Review

09/09/2008 2:33 PM

Article By:

Y-D Red Sox 2008 Season Review 

Pitching Woes Kept Y-D Red Sox
From Capturing Third Straight
Cape League Championship in 2008

SOUTH YARMOUTH, Mass. – The 2008 season did not go the way manager Scott Pickler and his Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox wanted. 

     Champions of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 2007 and 2006, the Red Sox spent nearly the entire season in last place, due in large part to a pitching staff which was unable to live up to expectations. 

     Yarmouth-Dennis made a late playoff push, but it was too little, too late. 

     It took the Red Sox a long time for the team to come together, but once they did the wins started to pile up. Y-D found itself just five points out of second place with four games to go, but the season ended with a three-game losing streak. 

     “It took this group a little while to come together, a little bit more than any other year,” said Pickler. “A lot of individuals.”

     Pitching woes hurt most. Y-D’s 4.28 staff ERA was the league’s highest and the Red Sox were one of two teams to give up more than 400 hits.

     Most effective of the Y-D hurlers were Tyler Waldron (Pacific) and Craig Fritsch (Baylor) with ERAs of 2.92 and 3.43, respectively. Fritsch struck out 44 batters in 44.2 innings while Waldron fanned 33 in 37 innings.

     Boston College’s Tony Sanchez batted .326 to lead the offense and hit three home runs, which tied him for second on the team. Andy Wilkins hit a team-high five homers with 26 RBI and Nick Liles (Western Carolina) batted .291 with 22 RBI.

     Yarmouth-Dennis demonstrated good speed and compiled a league-high 71 stolen bases, 19 more than runner-up Orleans. Liles had 14, Keenan Wiley (Kentucky) had 12 and DeAngelo Mack (South Carolina) swiped 10 to lead the way on the base paths.

     Three Red Sox players were included in Baseball America’s top 30 Cape League prospects list. Jeff Inman (Stanford) was the highest rated Y-D player at No. 9. Shawn Tolleson (Baylor) was rated 15th and Fritsch was ranked 18th. Sanchez was named to the All-League Team at catcher. 
Despite its disappointing record, Y-D finished third in attendance and first among the three teams that started their games at 5 p.m. Over the course of the season, 36,521 fans showed up at Red Wilson Field, an average of 1,660. Y-D trailed only Orleans and Chatham in total attendance.
 

Phil Garceau, CCBL Intern ([email protected])
 

John Garner, Jr.
Director of Public Relations & Broadcasting
(508) 790-0394
[email protected] 

Joe Sherman
Web Editor
(508) 775-4364)
[email protected]

Interns: Chris Blake, James Chandley, Ashley Crosby, Phil Garceau, Stefanie Marini, Laura Rasmussen