The playoffs are two weeks away, so it’s a little early, but the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox are tapping into some of their late summer magic.
The Red Sox beat Harwich 4-2 Tuesday night for their second consecutive extra-inning win and their fourth straight victory in which they scored the decisive runs in their final at-bat. They won on a walk-off Saturday. The other three games were on the road, and Y-D took the lead for good in the top of the ninth, 12th and 11th innings.
Tuesday’s match-up was a pitchers’ duel as Harwich’s Jake Agnos (East Carolina) delivered a dominant start. With nine strikeouts on the season coming in, he fanned 11 in five scoreless innings.
Harwich touched up Y-D starter Tim Brenann (St. Joseph’s) for two runs, but the Red Sox hinted at more magic when they tied the game in the eighth on a two-run homer by Nico Hoerner (Stanford). In the 11th, Luke Miller (Indiana) drew a walk, took third on a double by Connor Kaiser (Vanderbilt) and scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball. A bunt by Hoerner plated Kaiser to make it 4-2.
The Y-D bullpen finished off the comeback win, as Brendan Nail (Western Carolina) worked around two hits in the bottom of the 11th for the save
Y-D is now 18-11-1.
Orleans 2, Falmouth 0
It was an even better pitchers’ duel that went to extra innings at Eldredge Park. Orleans’ Logan Gilbert (Stetson) struck out eight in five scoreless innings to take over the league ERA lead at 0.71. Falmouth’s Matt Mercer (Oregon) struck out seven in seven innings of one-hit baseball for his best start of the summer. The teams combining for just seven hits through nine innings. The bullpens kept the game scoreless until the 10th, when Orleans broke through. Jimmy Herron (Duke) hit a walk-off two-run home run and Orleans won for the fifth straight game.
WATCH: @Jimbabwe_III (@DukeBASE) walks off on the Commodores with a 2-run HR in the 10th.
🎥: @ryanerickson5
🎙️: @TylerAki_ and Noah Johnson pic.twitter.com/IH0XO0EUhm— Orleans Firebirds (@FirebirdsCCBL) July 19, 2017
The walk-off made a winner out of Josh Hiatt (North Carolina), who tossed two hitless innings of relief. Orleans has gotten dominant pitching in its five-game win streak, with starters allowing five earned runs over 22.2 innings of work for a 2.02 ERA in the stretch.
Chatham 5, Brewster 3
The Anglers saw their scoreless inning streak end but not their win streak. They pushed it to four and jumped over Brewster into third place in the East. Johnny Aiello (Wake Forest) had two hits and an RBI while Nick Patten (Delaware) went 2-for-4 and drove in a run. Shea Langeliers (Baylor) hit his sixth home run. Boston College teammates Jacob Stevens and Daniel Metzdorf combined for the first seven innings on the mound, with just an unearned run coming across. Josiah Gray (LeMoyne) earned the save.
Wareham 10, Hyannis 1
The Gatemen got a third consecutive dominant pitching performance and easily made it stand up with a 17-hit attack. Following shutout starts by Griffin Roberts (Wake Forest) and Miller Hogan (St. Louis), Joey Matulovich (California) went five scoreless innings with four strikeouts and allowed just two hits. Grant Wolfram (Davenport) struck out five in three innings to keep the shutout going before Hyannis scratched a run across in the ninth. By then, Wareham was in complete control. Tanner Dodson (California) had two hits and three RBI. Tristan Pompey (Kentucky) and Jake Anchia (Nova Southeastern) had three hits each. Steven Kwan (Oregon State) had two hits and two RBI. Robert Metz (George Washington) also drove in a run. Wareham improved to 14-15-1, tied with Falmouth for third place in the West. Hyannis dropped its fifth straight game and fell to 11-18-2.
What to Watch
The top two teams in the league get together at Red Wilson Field as Orleans visits Y-D. Though the Firebirds lead the division, Y-D has a 3-1 edge in the season series. Joey Murray (Kent State), who has a 1.22 ERA, is due to get the ball for Orleans. Josh McMinn (Oral Roberts), who has a 5.17 ERA but beat Orleans early in the season, goes for Y-D.