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1 July 2009
Lights, Camera and Cape League Action in Bourne
BOURNE, Mass.—“This was the best crowd we’ve had all season,” said Grant Tunkel, the Bourne Braves play-by-play man as he wrapped up his equipment after Bourne beat Cotuit in a 2-1 thriller on Monday.
But the fans at Doran Park would not be the only ones to see Monday night’s game. This game was the first of several that will be broadcast on Comcast’s Community Access Channel 13 in Bourne. These ‘Game of the Week’ replays will run on Saturday nights at 7PM, Tuesday afternoons at 1PM and Thursday mornings at 8:30AM.
“Whenever I’ve missed a Bourne Braves baseball game, I would find myself wishing I could catch it on TV,” said Braves chairman of the board John Doran. Doran was instrumental in forging the partnership between Comcast and the Braves. “Comcast has been great. They turned around on a dime for us, and they really have been wonderful.”
“We started talking to Mr. Doran in the spring,” said Dick Anderson of Comcast. “Things went really smoothly, the Braves were very easy to work with. We’ve been hoping to do this for a few years, and this year, it all came together.” Anderson added that Comcast is very excited about the new partnership and is looking forward to several Braves games that it plans to tape this season.
As for game one of the television series, the action could not have been more exciting. Bourne’s Bryan Morgado (Tennessee) started the Braves pitching staff off by striking out 13 batters in only five innings. Jake Buchanan (N.C. State) threw six shutout innings of his own to keep Cotuit around despite Morgado’s dominance. While Cotuit scored the game’s first run in the top of the eighth, Bourne would come storming back to the 2-1 victory. It is safe to say that when the Comcast viewers catch this game, they may head out to Doran Park themselves for the next game.
Bourne is now the first Cape League team to have any of its regular season games played on local television on any kind of schedule. “I think it’s going to be a great precedent in the Cape League,” said Doran of Bourne’s unique new broadcasting program. “I think once this is a success, and I do believe it will be a success, you will see Comcast do the same in Hyannis, in Chatham, and so on.”
By Jim Chandley, CCBL Intern, [email protected]
Interns: Chris Blake, James Chandley, Ashley Crosby, Phil Garceau, Michael Campbell, Katy Ann Fitzpatrick
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