Baseball pair spends successful summer in Cape Cod League

Coming off strong Ivy League seasons, the baseball team's starting catcher Devin Thomas '07 and infielder Matt Nuzzo '09 were invited to the open tryouts this summer for the Cape Cod Baseball League, the nation's premier summer program for college players and major league prospects.

The two Bears beat out hundreds of other hopefuls who gathered in Wareham, Mass. in late spring to vie for spots on the 10 teams.

"I would love to get drafted (by a Major League Baseball team), but this is a tough business to crack," Thomas said. "Especially coming from a school like Brown, you have to make your own breaks."

This season was Thomas' second on the Cape. He gained valuable experience in the league playing for the Cotuit Kettleers in 2005. This year, he impressed scouts again with his improved skills at the plate and behind it. The Harwich Mariners jumped at the chance to sign the three-time All-Ivy team member, offering Thomas a full contract a mere 25 minutes into his tryout.

In the Cape League, the open tryout serves as an opportunity for new and former players to sign with any team that they want. Often, a bidding process can emerge for players, as was the case with Thomas.

"It was one of the shortest tryouts there," said Dan Dunn, the assistant general manager for the Falmouth Commodores.

However, as Nuzzo soon learned, the selection process for underclassmen is far more nerve-wracking. The league focuses on providing exposure for collegiate upperclassmen, especially rising seniors, who are hoping to enhance their draft status in the eyes of major league scouts. Therefore, Cape League general managers habitually offer qualified rising sophomores temporary contracts. Once these expire, the majority of rising sophomores are cut from the 25-man rosters and only 15 to 20 of these players remain in the entire league.

Nuzzo, who was "just grateful for the opportunity to play," signed a two-week contract with the Commodores to fill a spot on their roster until the completion of the College World Series. After the arrival of players from powerhouse schools such as Clemson and Oregon State universities - the runner-up and champion of the 2006 NCAA tournament, respectively - extending Nuzzo's contract would be entirely dependent on his performance.

Making the transition tougher for most young players is the Cape League's requirement that hitters use wood bats, which is a big difference from collegiate baseball where teams use aluminum bats.

Thanks to his four years of experience in his high school's wood bat league and a relaxed attitude, Nuzzo flourished in an environment in which lesser players would have succumbed to the pressure. He wasted no time, as his general manager Dunn put it, "making his presence known."

Against the Bourne Braves on June 16th, Nuzzo hit a home run on the first pitch of his first at-bat, securing his spot on the Commodores' roster and in the record books. Only two other players in the league's 114-year existence have accomplished this feat: Carlton Fisk and Kevin Eustace.

"I didn't want to let the fact that I made history go to my head," Nuzzo said. "Just to be in the same category as those players is an honor in itself. It is definitely my dream to play in the Major Leagues one day and playing in the Cape was definitely a stepping stone toward that goal."

With their play, Thomas and Nuzzo earned some respect for the Ancient Eight - and for themselves. Thomas made the Mariners' quick offer at the tryouts look like a steal. He manned the outfield and caught for the team, playing in 34 of the Mariners' 44 games. Thomas' .263 batting average ranked third on the team and he tallied 11 RBIs and six doubles. Over the course of 30 games, Nuzzo batted .230 with three home runs and six RBIs. He split time at second base, third base and shortstop.

The lower averages are common in a league in which pitchers tend to be ahead of hitters in terms of development and where the wood bat rule deadens averages.

"You can typically expect a 100-point drop in your batting average going from college to the Cape," Dunn said. "These guys are facing the fiercest pitchers in the nation under the most grueling schedule they have experienced."

Among only a handful of Ivy League players in the Cape League, the two Bears bonded together and even forged a friendly rivalry throughout the season. Thomas and Nuzzo's teams met three times in league play, and in the first two contests, Thomas' Mariners defeated Nuzzo's Commodores 9-3 and 11-6. In Harwich's second win, Thomas had a "monster game," going 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

The competition between the two ignited in the teams' final match-up. Nuzzo hit a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to carry the Commodores to a 3-2 victory. His excitement was infectious as he rounded the bases, and even Thomas, watching from the opposing dugout, couldn't help but let a tiny smile creep across his face.

"I was definitely proud of him," he said. "And I was happy for the players on my Cape team to see another player from the Ivy League be successful."

Though Nuzzo and Thomas acknowledged some teammates were skeptical of the abilities of Ivy League players, both reported that such doubts disappeared once they showed they could hold their own with players from more nationally recognized baseball conferences.

"The other guys were great," Nuzzo said. "They treated me like I was a first-round draft pick."

In fact, both players felt the camaraderie among their teams was the highlight of their time in the Cape Cod League. Thomas said he keeps in touch with many of his Mariner teammates. Both players emphasized that being a part of the communities for which they played and being surrounded by the best college players in the nation was what made the summer so meaningful.

"The Cape Cod League was everything it was hyped up to be … the experience was second to none," Nuzzo said. "It was the best summer of my life."