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Emaus and Henry Push Red Sox Past Whitecaps

08/10/2006 9:56 AM

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10 August 2006

THIS WEEK IN THE CAPE LEAGUE
Championship Week

Emaus and Henry Push Red Sox Past Whitecaps

 

SOUTH YARMOUTH, Mass. – Red Wilson Field, home of the Y-D Red Sox, was center stage on Thursday for one of the best games played in this 2006 Cape League season. It was a battle that had everything: great pitching, incredible hitting, thrilling defensive plays – and of course, a home team victory for the Red Sox, who advance to the Cape League Finals with a 6-5 win over the Brewster Whitecaps.


Y-D Red Sox win the Division !
photo swilson / ccbl 

     A strong wind gusted across home plate and pushed its way out to center field as the game began. It was that wind which set the tone in the top of the first inning, as Matt LaPorta (Florida) hit what looked like an routine fly ball, but which ultimately ended up over the fence in straightaway center. With that, Brewster jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

     Brad Emaus (Tulane) responded with his own two-run shot, putting a Barry Enright (Pepperdine) high fastball up into the jet stream, driving in Alden Carrithers (UC Santa Barbara) to tie the game at 2. Three batters later, Buster Posey (Florida State), a favorite of Red Sox fans, drove in Steve Strausbaugh (Western Carolina) to take the 3-2 lead.

     After Emaus’ erased the mistakes Y-D made in the first, Bryan Henry (Florida St.) bore down, snapping off ferocious curveballs that quieted the Brewster bats. Henry held the Whitecaps to only one hit between the second and seventh innings. 


Brad Babineau catches Danny Lehmann.
photo swilson / ccbl

     Enright, the starting pitcher for the Whitecaps, looked to be improving on the mound after seeing what the wind could do to a routine fly ball. He began to pound the bottom of the strike zone with fastballs, but the skilled bats of the Red Sox found a way to dig out those low strikes and drive them into the outfield for hits. Y-D brought in two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Danny Lehmann (Rice) was caught being greedy as he was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

     Evan McArthur (Cal State Fullerton) drove in the deciding run of the game off Cole DeVries (Minnesota) with a single to left in the fifth inning. The next two innings were all about pitching, as both Henry and DeVries made quick work of the other’s lineup.

     The Whitecaps appeared to be getting their momentum back when they led off the eighth inning with consecutive hits, driving ground balls through the hole between third and short. Y-D’s head coach, Scott Pickler, decided to make a call to the bullpen. 


Danny Lehmann knows how to catch also.
photo swilson / ccbl

     Brewster was threatening a come-from-behind victory, scoring three times in the eighth, but thanks to the efforts of Daniel Turpin (Oregon State) and a shoestring catch from Strausbaugh in left field, the Red Sox escaped the inning clinging to a 6-5 lead.

     The Red Sox went down in order in the bottom half of the eighth inning, and the tension in the crowd increased further as the numbers were slowly read off for the 50/50 raffle, with total winnings of over $1,600. 

     After the eighth inning dramatics, David Robertson (Alabama) came in to close in the ninth, shutting the door with a Papelbon-esque performance: striking out the side to end the game and stave off the resurgent Whitecaps.


Michael Fisher applies the tag and no doubt about the call.
photo swilson / ccbl

     Following the game, Pickler pointed out what he felt was most important to Y-D’s victory. “We got a gutty performance out of Bryan Henry. He went longer than we needed him to, and we needed that after the long game on Monday … Emaus, answering the call in the first inning, when you’re down two and he comes up and hits it and brings us back even, I think those things were key.”

     “Answering back always gives your team a little bit more momentum,” Emaus said, celebrating his Eastern Division Championship with a bite to eat from the concession stand after the game.

     Y-D will play Wareham at Red Wilson Field in South Yarmouth on Friday, August 11 at 3 p.m. in the first game of the 2006 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship. On Saturday, Wareham will host the second game of the best-of-three series at 7 p.m. at Spillane Field. There will be a third and deciding game on Sunday, if necessary, at Red Wilson Field.

By Adam McGillen, CCBL Intern [email protected]

 

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

Will Bussiere
Web Editor
[email protected]

Interns 2006 : Chad Burkart, Johnna DeChristoforo, Jonathan French, Michael Kydd, Lauren Malone
Adam McGillen, Nicholas Mucci, Courtney Reilly, Daniel Scalia, Shannon Taylor, Kevin Wolfe