By Paul Casey Gotham
With milestones reached both on and off the field, the 2010 Webster Yankees marked their spot in time. From professional contracts, to franchise marks, to a playoff appearance, the pinstripes proved their worth.
Dave Brust’s Webster nine opened and closed their campaign with losses to Allegany County: 2-0 in the season opener and 3-2 NYCBL West Division semi-finals. In between, the home nine established new standards for fielding, theft and professional contracts signed.
Brust’s defense established new marks – some that could be measured, and others incapable of putting on paper. Monte Marrocco (U Mass-Lowell) and Matt Boulter (So. New Hampshire) led a group of gloves that set a new Webster standard for efficiency (.966) – a number that finished fourth in the New York Collegiate Baseball League just one percentage point behind a group of three including eventual league champion, the Amsterdam Mohawks.
Boulter led the way with 232 chances and finished second in the league with 147 assists. The native of Wrentham, Mass. led the Yankees in at bats (145), hitting (.331), runs scored (29), hits (48), slugging (.434) and hit the only home run out of a park this summer.
Marrocco finished the ledger without an error. Nine others did that this season, and many have accomplished that feat of perfection in the past, but none with as many chances – 108. He bumped Adam Perlo from the top spot in club history. Perlo went without an error in 94 chances during the 2007 campaign. Marrocco hit .326 including 10 hits in the final six regular season games as the Yanks clinched a spot in the playoffs.
Webster also set a new club record for double plays turned (38). That number was good enough for third in the league.
Those numbers are clearly defined. What is not so clear is the effect Brust’s outfield had on every game. On paper, Wes Winkle (Ball State) made 48 plays, Tyler Grogg (Toledo) 100 and Matt Francis (U of R) 57. What the numbers can not tell is the number of bases taken away by the speedy outfield. Night after night, fans were treated to as fine a display of outfield work one can get. Winkle, Grogg and Francis made the extra-ordinary look ordinary. The trio regularly went into gaps and took away sure extra-base hits.
The finest of which happened in Hornell on July seventh.
Hornell’s Craig Schafer (Webster College) opened the bottom of the fourth with a single to left. Dane Frazier (Central Methodist) followed with a bunt single. Hornell looked poised for a rally when Kyle O’Boyle took an Eric Kline (Iowa Western) pitch deep to left center. But Winkle sprinted into the gap, lunged and, with his back to home plate, made the diving catch. With the runners thinking it was a sure hit, Winkle alertly got back on his feet and fired a strike to Matt Boulter (So. New Hampshire U) at second for the force. Boulter then tagged Frazier for the unconventional triple play.
“That was the finest play I have ever seen in this league,” said Brust.
The trio’s speed on the base paths gave opposing pitchers headaches. Grogg finished second in the league and set a new franchise record with 19 thefts during the regular season. The native of Springfield, Ohio finished just one off the league lead, and one can only imagine how many bases Grogg would have swiped had he not missed six games recovering from an injury sustained when he took a pitch off the hand. Grogg stole three more bases in the playoffs.
Francis and Winkle added 11 and 13 stolen bases repsectively. All together the 2010 team set a new club mark with 65 steals.
Shawn Bailey (2009) held the previous individual single-season mark with 14 and last year’s club stole 57 bases. Bailey still holds the career mark for the club. Playing parts of four seasons, Bailey collected 25 steals.
Grogg hit .324 for the summer. In all, five Basket Road Bombers went .300 or better as the team finished .279 good for third in the league behind finalists Amsterdam and the Elmira Pioneers.
Matt Delewski (Toledo) hit .317 and shared the team RBI lead with 22. Delewski and the denizens of Basket Road Field established a flair for the dramatic early in the season. Delewski sparked an eight-run comeback as Webster shocked Elmira. Two days later, Delewski returned for an encore against Allegany County and then scored the game-winner in a late-inning comeback over Niagara.
Grogg and Delewski combined for nine hits and six RBI in the three playoff games.
Corey Goeggleman (Waynesburg St.) hit .323. The Fairport, New York native swatted three hits as Webster pounded Niagara, 9-4 on June 19th.
In his second tour of duty with Webster, Ollie Bertrand (Flagler) made the most of his opportunities. Bertrand finished with just 29 hits, but the native of Saint-Adele, Quebec shared the team lead with 22 RBI. Bertrand earned all-league honors a year ago. This season he proved himself to be the rudder of the ship with several clutch hits including a 12th-inning walk-off double to beat Niagara.
Bertrand was not alone in returning for a second stint. Bryant Guilmette (U Mass-Lowell) came back for another summer along the shores of Lake Ontario. Last year, Guilmette made 17 appearances all out of the bullpen. This summer, the southpaw tossed 61 innings (second in the league) in nine starts over two months. He earned Performance-of-the-Week honors for a complete shutout of the Geneva Red Wings.
Guilmette’s ERA of 2.49 topped the list for starters. Collectively, the staff’s 3.72 ERA was good for fifth in the NYCBL.
Tim Johnson (St. John Fisher) led the way with an ERA 1.67. The right-hander from Williamson, New York tied for first in the league with 21 appearances. Johnson got the home crowd ready for Genesee Beer as he ended 15 contests and struck out 25 while walking 12. Johnson’s six scoreless stanzas led the Yanks to an extra-inning triumph at Geneva.
As a staff, the Yankees held opposing batters to .243 with 326 hits and 183 runs allowed – all ranking fourth in the respective categories.
Jared Locke (Toledo) allowed just 35 hits while holding opposing hitters to .213 at the plate. That number put Locke third in the league. The 6’3″ right-hander from Dundee, Michigan won three and dropped two fanning 28 in 44 frames of work.
Jason Gardner (Tusculum) led the way with four wins. His outing against Alfred clinched the playoffs for the good guys. In 38 and a third innings, Gardner struck out 27 while walking 14. Gardner was set to pitch the opening game of the NYCBL West Division finals.
G.C. Yerry (Stonybrook) saved his best for last. After going 2-0 in the regular season with an ERA of 3.27, Yerry outdueled the league’s top pitcher for eight innings as Webster grabbed game one of the post-season.
Michael Sandman (Ball State) made 20 appearances in relief. The native of Newark, Ohio held Elmira without a runner for three innings as Webster completed a doubleheader sweep of the first-place Pioneers.
Pat Corrigan (MCC) left everybody looking to the future. After red-shirting for a season, Corrigan found his groove by the end of the season. The native of Henrietta, N.Y. retired five of the six batters he faced (fanning two) in the playoff loss to Allegany County.
Kyle Raleigh (Ball State) notched two wins. Eric Kline (Iowa Western) added one. Joe Akel (Canisius) and Adam Sullivan (Canisius) both earned wins in relief.
Johnny Brill (Rollins) knocked Webster’s only home run at “The Basket.” The speedy outfielder found the gap in right center and scampered around the bases. Brill chipped in with 20 hits and 10 RBI.
Blake Beemer (Ball State) spent just a few games playing right field, but the native of Clayton, Ohio left a big impression. Beemer took away a pair of hits early in the season when he quickly charged singles into right and fired peas to first to retire the unsuspecting batter. Beemer had 20 hits and a boat load of enthusiasm. His endless encouragement sparked teammates on several occasions.
Chase Grissom (UNC Pembroke) added 16 RBI with 23 hits. Evan Wexler (Niagara) chipped in three RBI with 16 hits. Nick Carlson (Ithaca) knocked five hit and Bryan Deuel (U Mass-Lowell) contributed three.
Thomas Kufel’s (Mercyhurst) season was cut short by a hamstring injury. Before going down, Kufel tripled and doubled twice in 26 at bats.
Webster’s 22 wins to go with 19 losses marked the first time above .500 since 2006 when the franchise was known as the Rochester Royals.
Amid all this on-the-field success, the Webster organization received affirmation for its efforts. For the first time in club history, multiple players signed professional contracts. Cory Brownsten (2008) and Dan Jurik (2009) both earned draft status when chosen by the Atlanta Braves in the 2010 MLB Draft. Two days later, Marcus Nidiffer (2007) inked a free agent deal with the Houston Astros. The trio joins three other Webster Yankee alums in the professional ranks: Pat Urckfitz (2008), Gray Helmick (’06, ’07) and Jason Stifler (’06, ’07).
The organization also unveiled the first book written about the NYCBL: Everybody On, Nobody Out follows the 2007 team throughout its season. The book gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at life in a summer wood bat league.
The Yankees also added several key staff members this season. Jason Freeman, Travis Larner, David Malerk and Matt Moodie along with Kevin Thompson and yours truly took care of game-day responsibilities.
The most telling of measurements is the number of contests the Yankees played that were decided by one run. Of their 41 regular season games, the Yankees took part in 15 contests decided by a single tally. The Yanks won six of those games. The trend continued in the playoffs as Webster fell twice by that margin. On the other hand, the Yankees managed a winning record against the Elmira Pioneers – the top team in the West Division.
The measure of the 2010 Webster Yankees could come in the future. This year’s group raised the bar. It won’t be long. Brust with his assistants, Ryan Sullivan and Adam Curynski will begin preparations for 2011. Another season full of possibilities await.
The New York Collegiate Baseball League is a summer wood bat league sanctioned by the NCAA and partially funded by MLB. Each of the players on the field in front of you have used at least one year of eligibility and have at least one year of college eligibility remaining. Major League Baseball’s 2010 amateur draft included the names of 36 players with ties to the NYCBL. In the last three drafts 112 former NYCBLers have heard their names called. Current major leaguers Brad Lidge, Dallas Braden and Hunter Pence have all spent at least one summer playing in the NYCBL.
The NYCBL – sending players to the pros since 1978!
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