“Where the Stars of Tomorrow Shine Tonight.” That’s the Cape Cod Baseball League’s motto, a nod to the fact that many of the league’s alumni will one day appear in Major League Baseball. Almost 200 Cape League alumni recently took the first step in pursuing their big-league careers when they were selected by professional teams during the MLB Draft, held July 17 to 19 in Los Angeles. In all, 197 CCBL alum...

Emily Layton arrived at the UMass Amherst campus last month with one goal in mind. After being a key contributor to Monomoy’s field hockey team as a freshman last fall, Layton was excited to represent her hometown of Harwich and her school at College Connection’s Northeast Showcase held at UMass from June 10-12. Still, Layton wanted more. She wanted a Golden Ticket. By the end of the three-day...

ARWICH – Mother Nature held off just long enough for the Harwich Mariners and Brewster Whitecaps to play without any weather interference on Monday. The Mariners, however, must have missed the memo because they did not hold off one bit, smashing three thunderous home runs, including a grand slam, in a 10-4 win over the rival Whitecaps. Not only did the victory give Harwich confidence heading into the final str...

HARWICH – Joe Vetrano made sure the Harwich Mariners started their final regular-season push with a blast. Literally. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound first baseman from Boston College launched a grand slam off Brewster starter Najer Victor (Central Florida) in the second inning of Monday’s game to help Harwich earn a convincing 10-4 victory over East Division rival Brewster at Whitehouse Field. “He ha...

CHATHAM – The Chatham Anglers didn’t need any extra motivation for Sunday’s marque matchup against the Harwich Mariners. The game provided the Anglers with an opportunity to pick up some ground on their crosstown rival in the East Division standings. It also offered both teams a spotlight, as the game was broadcast live on the New England Sports Network (NESN), the television home of the Boston Red Sox. Alt...

For the first time since 2019, the Cape Cod Baseball League will hold an All-Star Game this weekend. Cape League fans from the Lower Cape will be plenty familiar with the East Division roster, as a combined 21 of the 28 players on the team hail from the Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham Anglers, Harwich Mariners and Orleans Firebirds. The defending champion Whitecaps and the Mariners each had six players named to...

ORLEANS – Before every Orleans Firebirds home game, the team’s players show up hours early for batting practice and warm-ups. Although the rest of the field is usually empty before fans begin to roll in, there is another group of people who show up at the same time as the players — the Firebirds’ interns. And, just like the players, the interns get right to work. The Cape Cod Baseball League is universally ...

CHATHAM – Not every ballplayer experiences immediate success upon joining a Cape Cod Baseball League team. In fact, most players struggle mightily for the first couple weeks of the summer and many never really find their stride. After a slow start in which he collected just two hits in his first 37 at-bats, Chatham second baseman Roc Riggio has caught fire in recent weeks. The Simi Valley, Calif. native and...

CHATHAM – America may run on Dunkin’, but the Chatham Anglers run on Sweet Tomatoes Pizza, specifically the establishment’s chicken parmesan subs. For Chatham Anglers players, most days involve baseball, the beach and at least one chicken parm sub, a game-day meal of choice for both Ben Hampton, a sophomore left-handed pitcher from West Virginia University, and Marcus Brown, a junior shortstop from Oklahoma St...

Take a stroll behind the backstop at any Cape Cod Baseball League game and you’ll find a host of Major League scouts taking in the action. Some yield radar guns, while others jot down notes on pads. A few scouts simply sit or stand and watch the action, knowing full well that their professional organization will be provided with all of the advanced analytics needed to evaluate Cape League players before the Ma...

BOURNE – Despite experiencing success the past two springs while pitching at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, AJ Blubaugh still felt like he had something to prove when he joined the Orleans Firebirds. “Even from a young age, I’ve always had a little chip on my shoulder,” said Blubaugh, a 6-foot-3 righty from Belleville, Ohio. “I grew up undersized, so even getting the opportunity to play at Milwaukee wa...

HARWICH – The Harwich Mariners saw seven players leave the team to try out for the Team USA Collegiate National Team two weeks ago. University of Virginia catcher Kyle Teel was the only player of the seven to make the national team, while two other players, third baseman Brock Wilken and left-handed pitcher Jonathan Santucci, recently rejoined the Mariners. Both said the tryouts were an enjoyable experience...