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Bourne vs Orleans Championship Series

08/10/2003 9:37 AM

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for immediate release: 10 August, 2003
      

Bourne and Orleans
vie for Cape League Championship Tonight


CAPE COD, Mass. – The final step to the Cape Cod Baseball League Championship will be attempted beginning tonight when the Bourne Braves take on the Orleans Cardinals in the league championship series in Game 1 at Eldredge Park at 7 p.m.

     It is the first finale appearance for the Bourne Braves, which began as a Cape League franchise in 1988 while the Cardinals have actually captured nine CCBL titles dating back to 1946, including their last in 1993 when they swept Wareham, 2-0. Orleans lost to Wareham in the finals last season. The Braves reached the finals for the first time be defeating the Hyannis Mets, two games to one, while the Cardinals swept the Brewster Whitecaps, two games to none.

     Left-handed pitcher David Purcey (Oklahoma) has been given the starting nod for Game 1 by Orleans field manager Carmen Carcone, while Bourne manager Harvey Shapiro was still undecided on his opening game starter.

     Game 2 is scheduled for Monday at 3 p.m. at Coady Field in Bourne, while Game 3 (if necessary) will be played in Orleans at 7. CCBL Championship Series Televised on CSTV.  All two or three (if necessary) games of the league championship series will be televised on College Sports Television (CSTV). Jack Edwards will provided the play-by-play, while Malcolm Moran of USA Today and field manager John Schiffner of the Chatham A’s will be color analysts. The games will be televised on a tape delay basis on CSTV (channel 610 on DirecTV) with Game 1 scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m., Game 2 Thursday at 8 and Game 3 (if necessary) Friday at 8 p.m.

League Championship Broadcast Live on WCIB, Cool 102 and Free Teamline

     The CCBL Championship series will be broadcast live on WCIB, Cool 102 (101.9 FM) and through Free Teamline (www.capecodbaseball.org). Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) will be broadcast on Coo1 102, while all games will be broadcast on Teamline, including Game 1 in Orleans. Larry Egan and John Garner will be the broadcasting duo for Cool 102. 

Bourne outlast Hyannis Mets to Capture West Playoffs

     Michael Butia's (James Madison) single in the 13th inning gave the Bourne Braves the only run of Game 3 of the West Division Playoffs against the Hyannis Mets Saturday at Coady Field. The Braves recovered from a Game 1 Hyannis 8-0 win with two straight victories, 6-0 and 1-0, securing their first finals appearance in franchise history. This deciding game of the series proved to be one of the most dramatic games in the Cape League this season. The winning run was scored by Sean Dobson (Toledo), who led off the 13th with his second hit of the game. Picking up the win for the Braves was reliever Tim Grant, who was untouchable in six innings of work coming one day after a perfect ninth inning against the Mets in Game 2. Grant fanned two and walked one, giving up no hits and retiring 13 batters in a row between the eighth and 12th innings. He preserved the shutout started by Vincent Bongiovanni (Miami), who allowed four Hyannis hits in seven-plus innings. Hyannis starter A.J. Shappi (Cal/Riverside) fired 10 shutout innings and allowed four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. The loss for Hyannis went to Graham Taylor, who put the eventual winning run on base in the 13th. He went 2 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and the one run with two walks (one intentional) and one strikeout. - Will Bussiere, Hyannis Mets

Cardinals Sweep Brewster Whitecaps

     The Orleans Cardinals rode the record-setting power surge of Clay Harris ((LSU) and Cesar Nicolas (Vanderbilt) into the 2003 Cape League finals with a four-home run outburst to defeat Brewster 7-2, after Orleans defeated the Whitecaps, 1-0 in 14 innings in Game 1. Harris and Nicolas each hit two home runs, a solo shot and a two-run blast for both. This was the first time teammates hit two home runs each in a playoff game. Harris’ first came in the second inning and was a two-run blast to center field, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. Nicolas followed with a solo shot to left in the third while Harris led off the fourth with his second circuit clout. Nicolas closed out the scoring with a two-run shot to left in the fifth giving Orleans a 7-2 lead. The beneficiary was Rhett James (Florida State), who was 7-1 with a 2.60 ERA in the regular season. James, tossed his first complete game of the summer, allowed nine hits, two runs, walked one and struck out six. Robert Ransom (Vanderbilt) started for Brewster and took the loss going four innings, giving up five hits and five runs while walking one and striking out three. Nicolas and Harris each went 3-for-4 with three RBI while Nicolas scored three times and Harris twice. For Brewster it was a bittersweet end to an outstanding season. Manager Bob Macaluso (Muhlenberg) was named Manager of the Year for guiding the Whitecaps to a share of the Eastern Division title in his first year as manager. J. C. Holt (LSU) won the batting title with a team-record .388 average and was also named MVP. Jarrett Santos (UNC Greensboro) won the Top Relief Pitcher Award as he led the league with 11 saves. The four-homer game was the first in the playoffs since 1986 when Orleans had four in the first game of the finals. Gary Alexander hit a playoff-record three home runs in that game. - Bruce Hack, CCBL Historian

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