July 10, 2005
The popular Summer Baseball Diaries have returned to und.com for the 2005 season, with rising junior catcher Sean Gaston providing the first entry as a member of the Cape Cod League’s Cotuit Kettleers. Gaston has made the most of his opportunities in the nation’s premier summer wood-bat league, currently ranking fourth in the CCL with a .315 batting average while helping Cotuit contend for the western division title.
Cotuit has reached the midpoint of the ’05 season with a 10-9-1 record, ranking third in its division but within close range of the Bourne Braves (13-6-1) and Wareham Gatemen (11-7-1). Only three regulars in the league own a better batting average than Gaston’s .315 (17-for-54): Cal State Fullerton infielder Justin Turner (.345, with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox), LMU outfielder Chris Pettit (.329, with the Orleans Cardinals) and Gaston’s teammate Bryan Harris (a first baseman from LSU who is hitting .324).
Gaston – whose batting mark is 75 points about the team average (.240) – also ranks fourth on the team in RBI (7), with his other stats including a triple, a pair of doubles, three runs scored, two sac. bunts, a hit-by-pitch, seven strikeouts and 0-of-1 on stolen bases in 14 games played (with 12 starts, all at catcher).
The contributions of Gaston have been all the more impressive considering the fact that Cotuit lost two top catchers prior to the season, as Tennessee’s Jonathan Arercibia and Georgia Tech’s Matt Wieters both were named to Team USA for the ’05 summer season.
Lowell Park – home of the Cotuit Kettleers – is carved out of a wooded area near the water in Cape Cod.
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Gaston joins two of his Notre Dame classmates – pitchers Jeff Manship and Derik Olvey – as members of the 2005 Kettleers (Manship will submit a diary entry later in the summer). Another rising junior pitcher, Dan Kapala, also plays for a team in the CCL’s western division (his Falmouth Commodores squad is 4th in the standings, at 8-11-1) while senior-to-be outfielder Craig Cooper is back with the Brewsters Whitecaps (4th place, 8-12-0) in the eastern division.
Former University of North Carolina head coach Mike Roberts (father of current Baltimore Orioles all-star second baseman Brian Roberts) has seen Gaston deliver some big hits in the first half of the ’05 season. He hit 4-for-4 in a 4-3 win over the Hyannis Mets on June 26, hitting an RBI double and scoring a run before adding an 8th-inning double that led to the winning run. Gaston also hit 2-for-4 in an 8-2 win over Falmouth on June 18 (2 RBI) and 2-for-5 in a 9-0 win over Wareham on July 1 (2 RBI).
Cotuit provides free internet broadcasts of all their games at www.kettleers.org.
The Summer Baseball Diary schedule has been updated (see below) due to a back injury suffered by sophomore-to-be second baseman Brett Lilley, who played a handful of games with the Delaware (Ohio) Cows before suffering the injury. Lilley has returned to his hometown of North Canton, Ohio, for the rest of the summer while undergoing rehan on his back.
Sean Gaston – wearing his familiar #11 – tags out a runner at the plate during his 4-for-4 game in the 4-3 with over the Hyannis Mets.
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Rising junior outfielder Danny Dressman will step in to provide a bonus diary entry on July 24. Dressman currently is playing in the Northwoods League – where Gaston played in the summer of ’04, with the Waterloo Bucks – as a member of the Madison Mallards. Junior-to-be 1B/LHP Mike Dury also will submit a diary entry later in the summer, as he completes his second stint with a Madison team that averages nearly 5,500 fans per game. Dressman currently ranks second among the Madison regulars with a .333 summer batting average.
Here’s the updated schedule:
Notre Dame Baseball 2005 Summer Diary Schedule:
Sun., July 10 – Sean Gaston (Cotuit Kettleers; Cape Cod League)
Thur., July 14 – Cody Rizzo (Mat-Su Miners; Alaska League)
Sun., July 17 – Wade Korpi (Staunton Braves; Valley League)
Thur., July 21 – Dan Kapala (Falmouth Commodores; Cape Cod League)
Sun., July 24 – Danny Dressman (Madsion, WI, Mallards; Northwoods League)
Thur., July 28 – Tony Langford (Euless Lone Stars; Texas Collegiate League)
Sun., July 31 – Ross Brezovsky (Hays, KS, Larks; Jayhawk League)
Thur., Aug. 4 – Jeff Manship (Cotuit Kettleers; Cape Cod League)
Sun., Aig. 7 – Alex Nettey (Fayetteville, NC, Swamp Dogs; Coastal Plains League)
Thur., Aug. 11 – Mike Dury (Madsion, WI, Mallards; Northwoods League)
The Cape Cod League features some of the elite college baseball players from throughout the nation.
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Notre Dame 2005 Summer Baseball Diaries – Entry #1 (Sean Gaston; Cotuit Kettleers, Cape Cod League)
“Hello again to all you Irish fans out there from the lovely village of Cotuit on Cape Cod. I guess I did not embarrass myself or Notre Dame too much with my last journal entry (from Waterloo, Iowa), as here I am writing again.
“The season out here is flying by as we just played our 20th game last night, which I know means absolutely nothing to my teammates out in the Northwoods League who are playing game number 40 right now, but 20 games puts us at the halfway-point out here.
Sean Gaston has helped the Cotuit Kettleers contend for the Cape Cod League’s Western Division title.
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“So far, the summer has been incredible. The team is full of a great group of guys from all over the nation – of course dominated by the good ol’ Southern boys who find it hard to believe we can play baseball up in the North and find it even harder to believe that games are not cancelled when you start to see your breath. It is rather hilarious to watch the guys from Florida and Louisiana get ready to play a game when it is 50 degrees. Listening to them, you would think the next Ice Age is coming or at the very least they sound like Ross Brezovsky did on the first cold day in the `Bend’ when 35 degrees and some flurries signified the end of the world.
“And, of course, our team has some interesting characters. Our bullpen consists of a closer who talks to himself on the mound as he delivers his nasty stuff, a lefty addicted to E-Bay, another southpaw who also serves as our emergency catcher (and does a great job) and then we have our starters who include Jeff Manship (who is starting to throw the ball real well) and Derik Olvey (who has been dominant over his last three outings) and other guys who do nothing to dispel the normal rumors about pitchers.
“As for position players, we have some unique guys there. We have a strong group of Spanish-speaking players who add some international flare to our team. One guy who stands out in the group is a great guy, Roberto Lopez from USC (yes, I know, a bitter rival and Roberto had to prove himself through the obvious prejudice that is included in coming from USC). Roberto has coined the word `muff’ to be the word of the summer. Muff” can mean anything from the common usage of muffing a ground ball, which is synonymous with the Notre Dame phrase “banfr” [spelling may or may not be correct] (courtesy of Danny Dressman), to the price of gas at $2.50 dollars being straight “muff.” I think that this word will start to catch on all over the nation as the players spread out from this league, as it has already caught on with the players of the team.
LSU first baseman Bryan Harris – shown here during 2004 action with Cotuit – is one of just three CCL regulars with a higher 2005 batting avg. that Sean Gaston’s .315.
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“In his spare team, Roberto invents dances such as the “muff dance” which is a combination electric slide and the Frankenstein walk. He is a six-year favorite (and camp counselor) at the Cotuit Kettleers baseball camp that I work at. The “muff dance” is easy to teach, fun for kids and saves you from having to try to throw a ball directly into little Timmy’s glove during pop-fly drills.
“Outside of the players, the rest of the Kettleers organization is great as well. Mr. Murphy, our GM, and Mrs. O’Melia, our housing director, have been great and put up with all my issues from equipment to moving. Our coaching staff is top-notch. Our pitching coach, coach McIntosh, is a great guy who in addition to being a great baseball mind is able to share invaluable information about fishing, which is by far the most popular off-the-field activity.
“Coach Terhune, our hitting coach, is awesome. In addition to keeping my swing going (and doing a great job at that), coach has introduced me to the concept of “rodeo,” which basically means a circus or anything you want it to mean. Coach is also good for extra BP, long tossing and keeping us light before the games. His experience in professional baseball has been priceless to me as I try to hone my skills and mental approach. Finally, coach Roberts, our manager, is an amazing coach. He has helped my in everything I ask for, from working on my base-running (something I hope to use more next year for the Irish) to my footwork behind the plate. His knowledge and approach to the game have made this summer a truly special one so far.
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“Off the field, the summer is pretty much spent doing three things: working camp, fishing and sleeping. The camp already has been mentioned and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved. The fishing out here is awesome. I have been fortunate enough to go out on two big fishing trips since being here. The first trip saw me net five bluefish in an hour (and learn that removing bluefish with your hands is not such a great idea since they can bite your fingers off … vital info. given to me as I neared the fish’s mouth). The second trip involved being locked out of one of the player’s car with his keys inside, dropping a $75 dollar rod and reel into a 55-foot-deep lake and paddling for about an hour in the rain after the motor on our boat died. Two great trips I never will forget.
“Another part of this summer I never will forget is my host family, the Kipnes’s. They took me in and instantly have made me a part of the family. I am going to start catching lessons for the youngest child, Jake, here shortly in exchange for some cooking lessons from master chef Chuck, my host dad. Matt, their oldest son, is my video-gaming opponent. Robyn, my host mom, has been terrific and is often willing to overlook things like chicken livers in the fridge and catfish on her side porch.
“Well, I have many more stories to tell and people to describe but I think I better be wrapping this up as I already feel like Tom Thornton writing a wicked-long journal entry. I will leave the rest to `Manny’ when he writes at the end of summer. I would just like to end by saying `hey’ to all my teammates throughout the nation and that I cannot wait to see you guys in the fall.
Sean Gaston – who overcame a midseason back injury to rank as one of Notre Dame’s top hitters in the final month of the ’05 season – has continued to swing a hot bat during the summer of ’05.
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“To all the Irish fans, thank you for your support and I am excited about next season just as I hope many of you are. I hope I did not take up too much of your time with this rambling but, if I did, I hope the least I can do is burn some on the clock time for all you Irish fans. See you in the spring and GO Irish!!!”