March 22, 2011
Collegiate National Team plans NECBL tour
by NEBJ Staff/
Maine pitcher Stephen Perakslis is one of seven New England college players slated to play for Wareham on the Cape. (photo: Peter Buehner)
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the March 2011 issue of New England Baseball Journal.
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will visit New England this summer in a tune-up tour for its bi-annual competition against Japan.
Team USA will play the Holyoke Blue Sox, Keene Swamp Bats, New Bedford Bay Sox, Newport Gulls and North Shore Navigators in late June.
“We think it’s a great way for us to train before our Japan series,” Team USA general manger Eric Campbell said. “We’ll be playing our peers; they’ll be playing their peers. We’re typically non-draft eligible players, so freshmen and sophomores.”
The Team USA roster for the 38th Collegiate All-Star Series against Japan will be finalized in June just before the series of exhibition games. Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson will manage Team USA.
Alumni of the Collegiate National Team over the past five years include some of baseball’s top young prospects, including David Price, Stephen Strasburg and Justin Smoak.
The five-game series against the Japan college stars begins July 3 with four games in North Carolina and concludes July 8 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
The two countries play every other year, alternating as event host. At the 2009 series, host Japan won, three games to two. The United States leads the all-time series, 21-16, with an overall record of 117-93-1.
Futures at Fenway
The Red Sox will put their top two minor-league clubs on center stage Aug. 20 with the sixth annual Futures at Fenway doubleheader.
The Double-A Portland Sea Dogs will play the Binghamton Mets at 1:05 p.m. at Fenway Park, and the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox will play the Syracuse Chiefs in the second game.
The Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs agreed to a two-extension, keeping the Sox’ Double-A affiliate in Portland through the 2014 season.
Headed to the Cape
More than a dozen of college players from New England colleges are already committed to the Cape Cod Baseball League, including five from nationally ranked UConn.
UConn outfielder John Andreoli (Shrewsbury, Mass.), infielder LJ Mazzilli (Greenwich, Conn.) and pitcher Daniel Feehan (Nashua, N.H.) are slated to play for Wareham this summer, while Huskies pitchers Will Jolin (Guilford, Conn.) and Brian Ward (Milford, Conn.) will pitch for Bourne.
Three Dartmouth players are ticketed for the Cape: catcher Chris O’Dowd to Cotuit, pitcher Kyle Hendricks to Brewster and pitcher Kyle Hunter to Orleans.
University of Maine infielder Alex Calbick and Jeffrey Gibbs are headed for Chatham, and collegiate teammate pitcher Stephen Perakslis (Abington, Mass.) is slated to play for Wareham.
The Gatemen already have seven New England college players on their roster. A pair of Harvard players — infielder/catcher Jeff Reynolds and pitcher Brent Suter — and Franklin Pierce pitcher Joe Flynn (Plymouth, Mass.) are scheduled to join Perakslis and the UConn trio.
Boston College catcher Matt Watson (Portland, Maine) is headed to Yarmouth-Dennis this summer.
The Cape Cod Baseball League will adopt the 20-second pitch/between innings clock protocol that has been introduced by the NCAA for the 2011 season.
Wolfpack win at Disney
The Boston Wolfpack of the Boston Men’s Baseball League were crowned co-champions of the 45+ Division at the MSBL Disney Holiday Classic in January in Orlando, Fla.
The Wolfpack went 5-0, winning four pool-round games and defeating the San Antonio Bombers in the semifinals, before being raining out in the finals. The Wolfpack and Tampa Bay DJ’s were named co-champs.
Another BMBL team, the Boston Braves, advanced to the semifinals of the 30+ division. The Braves went 2-1 in pool play and beat the Rhode Island Riptide in the quarterfinals before bowing to the Birmingham Twins.
Baylock wins Gomez
Former UConn head coach Andy Baylock recently received the 50th Lefty Gomez Award, one of the most prestigious awards in amateur baseball. The award, named after Hall of Famer Vernon“Lefty” Gomez, is presented by the American Baseball Coaches Association to an individual who has distinguished himself among his peers and contributed significantly to the game.
Baylock coached baseball for 39 years at UConn before his retirement in 2003, winning two Big East championships and taking the Huskies to the College World Series three times. …
Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz was honored by his former minor-league team, receiving the 2011 Dick Berardino Award at the Lowell Spinners Alumni Awards Dinner in January. The Spinners also honored Tom and Sheri Gay — the husband-wife team that leads the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape League — with the Greg Montalbano Award.
Management moves
Mike Torrez — the former Red Sox pitcher remembered for allowing the infamous Bucky Dent home run in the AL East playoff in 1978 — has signed on to become the general manager of the Newark Bears of the independent Can-Am League. … The Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am League hired Ed Riley as manager. Riley, a sixth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1988, pitched 13 seasons in the minor leagues. He replaces Rich Gedman (Worcester, Mass.), who managed the Tornadoes for six seasons before taking over as hitting coach for the Single-A Lowell Spinners this season. … The Pittsfield Colonials of the Can-Am League hired Jamie Keefe (Rochester, N.H.) as manager. … The Holyoke Blue Sox of the NECBL hired Kirk Fredriksson (Torrington, Conn.) as general manager. Fredriksson has spent 14 years as an NECBL general manger, starting the organization in Torrington in the 1990s. … Daniel E. Bosley (North Adams, Mass.) was named president of the North Adams SteepleCats in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Bosley served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1987 until January.
