Martellini, Wareham Claim Cape League Championship

The summer season ended on August 13, far from where it started. Gian Martellini joined the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League on June 16 and went 0-for-2 with a walk in a 2-0 loss at Harwich. On the Cape for the second summer in a row, Martellini, who played for Cotuit in 2017, was on a temporary contract and didn't see game action again until a brief appearance in a blowout win over Hyannis on June 30.

Nearly two months after his summer debut, Martellini was behind the dish catching strike three before embracing with his pitcher at the mound as they were engulfed by teammates in a dogpile; celebrating the Gatemen's Cape League championship.

Wareham went 25-17 to win the regular season title and then ran through the playoffs to double down on its summer of championships.

"It was pretty awesome," recalled Martellini. "We went through our playoff run 6-0, which I don't think has even been done before by a number-one seed. We started off with Cotuit; beat them both games. Then we played Falmouth and beat them both games. And then we played Chatham and beat them both games."

Martellini played in five of six playoff games and hit .333 (7-for-21) with four RBI and two doubles. He drove in a pair of runs with a double in Wareham's 9-3 championship-deciding win over Chatham, which was spread across two days.

"The championship game, we played at seven o'clock at their place, but it fogged out in the sixth inning," explained Martellini. "We went back to Wareham [that night], got back on the bus at 10 a.m. and finished the game at one o'clock.

"We picked it up in the bottom of the sixth. We had this kid Zach Hart, he's from Franklin Pierce. He came in for us in the bottom of the sixth and stayed in until the last out of the game. It was pretty awesome. He did a great job on the mound for us."

Fittingly, the game paused just like Martellini's season. Following a brief release in June, he was reactivated and worked into a regular rotation behind the plate. Wareham carried three catchers and Martellini began to catch every third game. He started to swing the bat well in early July with a home run and three RBI in a 2-for-5 game and a 2-for-4 result; both at Cotuit.

"I started to hit more and more as the season went on," continued Martellini. "The pitchers got more comfortable with me so I started to play a lot more. I would catch every other night and the day I didn't catch I would DH."

In 14 regular season games, Martellini, who hit .230 at BC as a junior, hit .243, slugged .432 and owned a .317 on-base percentage. He became a staple in the lineup during the postseason; finishing the summer on a five-game hit streak, including a 3-for-5, two-RBI game at Cotuit to knock the Kettleers out of the playoffs. Against his former team, Martellini hit .500 (9-for-18) in five games.

"[The experience] was very similar in the case of the talent," Martellini said of his summers in Cotuit and Wareham. "The Cape League has got the best kids from all over the country. Every single night, you're facing somebody's ace or their best arm from out of the bullpen.

"Cotuit seemed to have more fans during the regular season. In the playoffs, the stands were packed every single playoff game in Wareham and the fans made their way down to Cotuit and Falmouth and all the way down to Chatham and were on the field celebrating when we won the championship."

Boston College has a built-in advantage to placing talent in front of scouts on the Cape League due to its proximity; just 66 miles separating its Chestnut Hill campus and the Bourne Bridge. Martellini was one of six Eagles to spent time on the Cape playing summer ball this year. He and outfield Chris Galland (Harwich) and left-handed reliever Joey Walsh (Cotuit) were all on temporary contract, but played into larger roles with their respective teams and ended up seeing the summer through to the end.

The summer experience can turn college players into pro prospects, but for many players it is best served as a training ground. A workshop for improving your game in a competitive environment and bringing that back to campus to spread to your college team.

For Martellini, his goal this summer was to become more consistent at the plate and to return to BC with an improved approach and an ability to share what he learned with his teammates.

"I struggled at times, especially with the pitching that you face there," admitted Martellini. "Once I got in there more and more, I felt pretty comfortable. I just wanted to go in there and play hard. I'll bring all that back to BC; all the little things I picked up. Playing with all these guys on the Cape, we talk to each other about things that we try to do, things that we see at the plate. Having conversations with one another can go a long way."

Martellini is one of eight seniors returning this fall for BC and one of 18 upperclassmen heading for the spring 2019 season. As a freshman, he experienced the high-water mark in program history this point; an appearance in the 2016 NCAA Super Regionals and one game away from a trip to Omaha. After back-to-back appearances in the ACC Championship for the first time this decade, BC's 2018 campaign ended shy of the conference tournament with a 17-32 record, but Martellini sees the program as being close to returning to the height it was at early in his career.

"Moving forward, coming back for my senior year, I'm going to take on the role of a leader as best I can and get everybody moving in the same direction. We do have the talent, there's no doubt about it. We can pitch it, we can play defense and we can hit. We just need to do it and execute it at the right time and do it on a consistent basis.

"I think we could have a serious run this year because we're very upperclassmen heavy and from my understanding the freshmen that we have coming in should play a part as well. I think if we get everyone moving in the same direction from the second we get on campus, get in the weight room, doing the right things, making the right decisions and working hard at practice every single day I think something special could come out of this year."

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The fall semester starts for the Eagles on Monday, August 27. This fall marks the first for Boston College on its new turf field at the Harrington Athletics Village.

Martellini, Wareham Claim Cape League Championship

Players Mentioned

Chris Galland

Gian Martellini

Joey Walsh

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