There were few throughout the season who would argue that the Wilmington Sharks brought together a dug out full of great baseball talent from around the country. Though, the results do suggest that there was just something that didn't connect.

The club ran out of the gates nipping at first place, and closed the season with wins in six of eight. In between there were struggles. While that takes away from post season thrills, it should still take nothing away from what these young men brought to the field each and every night and the passion with which they played the game, no matter the summer's ups and downs.

From a stalwart pitching staff, to solid defense and hitting that came and went, the Sharks showed up to play, and put on a show more often than night on this season of 2009.

An area of consistency for the Sharks, pitching. The club ended the year with a 3.48 team ERA the fifth lowest mark out of the 14 teams in the CPL. They are the only non play-off team in the top five in that category. Of the 15 Sharks used as pitchers in 2009 ten finished the year with an ERA under four.

Leading the way, a pair of right handers who kept their club in ball games, start after start after start. Combining to make 21 starts over more than 150 innings, Daniel Cropper and J.C. Casey mowed through innings like Ciscel and Ebert put away popcorn. But it was more than throwing for the sake of throwing, both carved out sub 3 ERAs, as they carved up the CPL south.

UNC-Wilmington SeaHawk Daniel Cropper posted a 2.05 ERA in 11 appearances over 10 starts. He ended the season with the 9th lowest ERA in the league and the fourth most strike outs with 68. His work in the first half of the season earned him election to the 2009 CPL All-Star game in Wilmington where he threw a scoreless frame of relief for the National Squad. Cropper, drafted by the Washington Nationals early in the summer, is set to return for a junior season at UNCW, with a great summer body of work under his belt.

While Cropper electrified crowds with more strike outs, and held opponents to a lower season average at the plate, he still had to vie with a teammate all season for the moniker of Ace of the Staff.

Jonathan Michael Casey, you know him as J.C., was at the axis of event for some of the most thrilling games of the Sharks season, setting up those thrills more often than not with his dominant pitching. Just two times this year, the Missouri State righty went less than seven innings in a start, while three times he threw into the ninth inning and beyond. That trifecta included an unthinkable 10 inning performance on the first of July. Casey ended the year the league leader in innings pitched with 80.1 and an ERA of 2.79.

Rounding out a solid rotation a Tennessean named Ryne, not Ryan, Harper worked a 3.69 ERA out of nine starts. He struck out 34 batters while walking just 16, and will head back to Austin Peay with at the very least a bit more strength in that right arm.

One started late, and another was plagued with pain but Max Friedman and Adam Schrader both were solid contributors in a combined 16 starts this season. Friedman, a JuCo National Champion, came to the Sharks shortly after the season began. He brought his ERA down to a season ending 4.12 with a solid seven innings in his final start. Schrader worked through arm troubles in the middle of the summer to bounce back and finish out the year with a 4.91 ERA.

Behind those five, a bullpen with numbers to match any. Only two members of the Sharks pen ended the year with ERA's higher than 3.99, though only one had a winning record. That 3-1 mark belonged to Sean Toler, who ended the season as well as any reliever could hope. The tall, hard throwing right hander had his struggles out of the gates, but with a final dominant 6 an one third inning scoreless performance in his last start, Toler ended the season with a streak of 16.1 frames without allowing an earned run. Over the stretch he struck out 13, walking only four.

While Toler led the way with a winning record, one Shark appeared in more games than any other. Ryan McGrath, a Demon Deacon from Wake Forest, was the go to guy for late innings, extra innings, any innings. In 21 appearances the submarining righty compiled 36.2 innings pitched, holding opponents to a .192 batting average on his way to posting a 1.72 ERA. Six of McGrath's seven decisions came in extra innings as he was called on time and time again when the game seemed it would roll on and on.

Kyle Smith, with the Sharks on day one, appeared in just 13 games over the course of the year, but often throwing multiple innings, he wound up with 20 innings under his belt. The Mule from Central Missouri allowed just seven runs to post a final ERA at 3.15 on the season. Providing double barrel action since the season's opener, lefty Chris Kennedy made eight appearances out of the pen early on, then five starts late in the year. All in all, the North Carolina native posted a 3.99 ERA, striking out 32 batters.

Lefties D.J. Nordquist and Tyler Andersen made late entries to the "Shark Tank" but both proved reliable, no matter the orientation of the opposing batter. Used in 9 games after the 26th of June, Kalamazoo, Michigan's own Nordquist allowed just three earned runs over 12.2 innings. While he struck out just six batters, the lefty held opponents to a .204 batting average. Andersen, the only Shark from west of the Great Divide, worked in 10 games, compiling 20.1 innings and a 3.98 ERA.

With the pitching in the top five, the Sharks had a defense strong enough to match. With at one point as many as four short stops on the roster at one time, the infield defense for the Sharks was spectacular. Jesse Bosnik, Curt Courtwright and Michael Rooney all split time at six, with often the other holding down the opposites side of the key stone at second. With the surplus of middle infield talent, second baseman Adam Gray, slid over into the roll of first sacker, while across the diamond on the other corner, Greg Bachman held down as good a third base glove as any in the league.

In the outfield the Sharks had athletes that could slide from corner to corner and even stop in between. From the opening day line-up with Adam Eggemeyer in center flanked by Andrew Guerra and Graham Fronk, to line-ups with both those corner outfielders in center or even Trevor Willis, with Christian Overstreet and Alex Hill down the lines.

Three catchers, with Curt Courtwright making an appearance as a fourth, saw time for the Sharks. The trio was led by local product Allen King, who posted a perfect fielding percentage on the season. Drew Wingo and second year Shark Kolby Epley split time as more than capable back stops for that aforementioned Sharks staff.

From the pitching and defense that buoyed the team, to an offense that at times appeared to sink the ship.

Just one batter, Jesse Bosnik, ended the year with an average at the .300 mark. A team that once held the top spot in the league, ended the year at the very bottom with a .217 mark as a team. Production however, goes further than the average, as still five Sharks drove in at least 15 runs on the season.

Bosnik, one of two offensive All-Star's for the Sharks, closed the season with 64 hits, the fifth highest total in the league. The St. Bonaveture Bonny led the club with 31 knocked in. Adam Eggemeyer, after a torrid pace to start the season and earn player of the week honors, cooled to finish with a .258 average and a second place RBI finish with 29.

Though most of it came through a late push, Andrew Guerra proved a steady offensive stick throughout the campaign. Ending the year with a .287 average the Texan knocked in 22 while posting the highest on base percentage on the team at .384. That marked edged out likely lead off man Michael Rooney. After a late start to the season, Rooney slid into the top spot in the line-up and hit just an even .200 but drew a team high 30 walks in just 36 games for a .373 on base percentage.

Greg Bachman, though struggling with the average, rounded out the 20 RBI club for the Sharks in 2009. The Austin Peay third baseman, though without the benefit of a hit, could oft be found in the box score figuring out a way to get the run home. And who will ever forget the mad dash he made from first to third, then the final 90 feet to walk off with a late season thriller.

Four times this year a Shark had at least four hits in one game of plate work. While Eggemeyer, Overstreet and Guerra all did it before he did, Alex Hill topped them all with a CPL season record tying 5-for-6 night in the seasons last week. Hill slapped out five singles and drove in four runs in his big game, to help prop his average to a final .225.

When it comes down to it, while winning and losing are tracked, and it's hard for everyone to take the latter rather than the former, the 2009 Wilmington Sharks, to a man, will all have an experience to take away from the Summer of 2009. Whether on to bigger and better on the diamond or in points beyond, lessons learned and character built on the CPL circuit will never fade.