On their off day last Thursday, many of the 2026 Bourne Braves had an opportunity most people could only dream of. The players spent the day in Boston at one of the most iconic ballparks in the major leagues: Fenway Park.<\/p>\n
As part of the Cape Cod Baseball League\u2019s Fenway Day, a majority of the Braves’ position players travelled to Boston on Thursday morning. The event gave players a chance to demonstrate their skills in front of scouts for all 30 MLB franchises. The day consisted of a two-hour session, split with another team, where the Bravos fielded their positions in the infield and outfield and took batting practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the coolest ballparks I\u2019ve ever stepped foot on,\u201d said Luke Costello (South Carolina). \u201cTo be able to hit here and be with the boys here, it\u2019s such an awesome experience.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best field I\u2019ve ever been on,\u201d said Blake Schaaf (Wake Forest). “I asked the guys who were hitting to us if I could stay here and take ground balls all day.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lee Ellis (left) and Blake Schaaf (right) fielded balls at shortstop during IO drills (Photo credit: Kori Meissner)<\/p>\n
For many Braves\u2019 players, this was not their first time at Fenway. The experience helped them reminisce on previous experiences from when they were younger. For John Stuetzer (Florida State), returning to Fenway reminded him of a goal he set for himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came here as a kid to watch a couple games, but it\u2019s definitely the first time I\u2019ve been on the field,\u201d said Stuetzer. \u201cIt was great. One of the players gave me a bat and it\u2019s always been my dream to do the same one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bourne outfielder Cal Sefcik (USF) had been to the home of the Boston Red Sox only once before; for Fenway day with the Braves in 2025. According to him, having a chance to see the stadium from the field was his favorite part of the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a big league ballpark, it\u2019s a lot different being on the field than it is seeing it on TV. It\u2019s just really cool to experience that before you get to professional baseball,\u201d said Sefcik. \u201cWe get to see what big leaguers get to look forward to every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Blake Schaaf stepped into the ballpark, he got to experience the joy of visiting his favorite team\u2019s stadium. Despite being from Oakland, California, Schaaf grew up a Red Sox fan. His first opportunity to visit Fenway came a handful of years ago to see one of the biggest rivalries in sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came in the summer of either 2018 or 2019 and watched a Red Sox-Yankees game and the Red Sox took care of business,\u201d said Schaaf. \u201cI came with some family-friends from back in California and they took me to a game. We were sitting right above the third base dugout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from the two-hour practice session, the Bravos in attendance also got to tour around the historic park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much history around here,\u201d said Matt Bolton (Binghamton). \u201cLike the red seat in right center where Ted Williams hit a home run. It\u2019s a really cool experience to be here.”<\/p>\n
Some of the players also got the chance to take part in certain traditions at the park. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to sign the pesky poll,\u201d said Luke Costello. \u201c I was hoping to maybe get into the Green Monster, but we didn\u2019t get a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bravos that travelled to Fenway took advantage of the experience, signing their names on the Pesky Pole in right field (Photo credit: Josie Cancro)<\/p>\n
Though the event was a serious opportunity for the Bravos to showcase their skills in front of scouts, they also had some fun with it. During batting practice the players held a competition to see who could hit the most home runs over the Green Monster, Fenway\u2019s notorious 37-foot wall in left field. Though the winning Brave had two, what stood out more from the competition was a mammoth home run from John Stuetzer that hit the DraftKings banner well past the wall in left center.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking BP was my favorite part of the day,\u201d said Stuetzer. \u201cDefinitely just seeing that ball fly. It\u2019s something special playing on these big fields.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Stuetzer hit one of the longest home runs by any team on Thursday, using batting practice to demonstrate his strength at the plate (Photo credit: Josie Cancro)<\/p>\n
Two hours after taking the field, the players finished up and made the trip back to the Cape, turning their attention to the next game. But this is one afternoon they probably won’t forget anytime soon. Plenty of people spend a lifetime dreaming of stepping onto the field at Fenway Park. The Braves won\u2019t have to dream though \u2014 they\u2019ve done it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On their off day last Thursday, many of the 2026 Bourne Braves had an opportunity most people could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-747968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}