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Brewster Whitecaps 2021 Championship - Photo: SportsPix LLC
04/29/2022 7:57 AM

Article By: Kaley Brown

Excitement is starting to build, with the weather slowly getting warmer and under 50 days left until the 2022 Cape Cod Baseball League Opening Day! The first week of CCBL games is set to be memorable with plenty of compelling storylines attached.

Brewster Whitecaps at Bourne Braves - Sunday, June 12 at 6pm

One of the games on the Cape League’s Opening Day slate includes a rematch of last year’s championship series, Brewster against Bourne, at Doran Park on June 12. The three-time CCBL champion Whitecaps swept the Braves in two games to claim the 2021 League title with the help of a Game 1 shutout of Bourne plus a memorable Game 2 comeback victory to clinch the championship. Bourne scored five runs in the first inning only to see the game tied at six runs apiece through six innings of action. The reigning Cape Cod League champs finished the 2021 regular season atop the East Division with a 22-11-3 win-loss-tie record while Bourne claimed the top spot in the West with a 24-9-3 record. This matchup is sure to be a must-watch as two of the CCBL’s finest organizations go head-to-head to kick off the 2022 season.

Bourne Braves at Wareham Gatemen - Monday, June 13 at 6pm

Longtime Bourne head coach and 2020 Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame inductee Harvey Shapiro took on the skipper role with a new team this season: the Wareham Gatemen. This is, however, not Shapiro’s first stint with the Gatemen as he was an assistant coach for the organization during the summers of 1992 and 1993. He then manned the Falmouth Commodores for four seasons beginning in 1994 to kick off his Cape Cod League head coaching career. Shapiro’s first season at the Braves’ helm was 2003 and helped lead Bourne to their first modern era CCBL championship in 2009. In 17 full seasons as the Braves head coach, excluding 2020, Shapiro coached Bourne to 15 postseason trips. Shapiro assumed the role as Wareham’s skipper following the 2021 season and will quickly face off against his former team on just the second day of the Cape League season at Spillane Field. The Gatemen missed the postseason in 2021, finishing in third place in the West Division; Shapiro will look to turn things around in Wareham, a mere 20-minute drive from Bourne’s Doran Field.

Orleans Firebirds at Hyannis Harbor Hawks - Monday, June 13 at 6pm

The Hyannis Harbor Hawks front office looks a lot different than years past entering the 2022 season. New head coach Eric Beattie (Bourne ‘03), first-year general manager Nick Johnson and the organization’s latest team president Dan Johnson round out Hyannis’ current front office. Monday, June 13 will mark the Harbor Hawks’ first home game under Beattie and the two Johnsons, signaling a new era for the squad that has not finished with a winning record since 2018. This matchup between Orleans and Hyannis will also be the first of 12 CCBL games to be aired over the radio on WEEI this upcoming season.

Orleans Firebirds at Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox - Friday, June 17 at 5pm

This particular contest between the Firebirds and the Red Sox at Red Wilson Field has the potential to make Cape Cod Baseball League history. Yarmouth-Dennis’s longtime head coach Scott Pickler currently has 536 regular season CCBL wins under his belt, just five away from tying former Chatham Anglers skipper John Schiffner’s record of 541 victories. If the Red Sox won their first five games of the 2022 season, a win against the Firebirds on Friday, June 17 would tie Pickler for the wins record. Pickler has manned Y-D since 1998, marking 23 seasons at the helm, excluding the canceled 2020 summer. Schiffner was the Anglers head coach for 25 years.