The Hyannis Harbor Hawks defeated the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on Sunday night, 7-1. While the Hawks (24-14-2) always play to win, this game against Y-D (24-12-4) wasn’t crucial. Saturday night, Hyannis clinched the first seed for the West Division for the first time since 2015, meaning that Sunday’s game was just a formality.
In the third, the Hawks broke it open with two back-to-back bombs. Cannon Peebles (Tennessee) launched one to deep right for the team’s second run of the game. Dalton Bargo (Tennessee) joined the home run club by also slamming one over the right field fence, making the score 3-1.
“[Bargo] looked really good in [batting practice] today,” head coach Mitch Karraker said. “He’s been tweaking some things in his swing and it transferred over and into the game.”
Both homers broke 400 feet. This is the second time this season that the Harbor Hawks hit back-to-back home runs. The first occurrence of this also happened at Red Wilson Field on July 3, when Alex Lodise (Florida State) and Wallace Clark (Duke), who both left Hyannis for the summer, hit homers to almost tie the game.
The Hawks added two more in the top of the seventh. Eddy Pelc (GCU) led off the inning with a walk, and Peebles was hit by a pitch in the following at-bat. With runners on first and second, J.P. Acosta (Fresno City College) singled to right field, allowing Pelc to score and Peebles to reach third. An infield grounder by Eddie Saldivar (Fresno State) allowed Peebles to eventually score.
The Hawks came back fast in the top of the second by pushing one across to even the score. Bargo walked to lead off the inning. Acosta singled on a ground ball to right, advancing Bargo to third. Dawson Bryce (UNC Charlotte) doubled to left, scoring Bargo in his first game on Cape.
Hyannis added another run in the fifth. Bargo reached base on a bunt for a hit. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch. On a fielder’s choice by Acosta, Bargo was unable to reach third and Acosta was safe at first. He stole second, and with a throwing error and a wild pitch, Acosta made it home. The score at the end of the inning was 4-1 Hawks.
Alizaeh Gutierrez (Angelo State) was on the bump for the Harbor Hawks to start on Sunday night. He allowed one earned run in the first by giving up a home run to go along with two K's.
In relief for Gutierrez was Paul Schimtz (Houston). In his two innings he only allowed two hits. Maison Martinez (Virginia Commonwealth), Kade Brown (Sac State), Dominick Carbone (Coastal Carolina) and Casey Hintz (Arizona) also added to the arms that faced Y-D. The pitching staff held it down, only allowing one run across in the eight innings.
“I was really encouraged with [the pitching staff],” Karraker said. “I felt like they could give us a chance if we needed them for a hitter or an inning, maybe even two.”
The last run of the game was scored by Kane Kepley (UNC) in the eighth. He initially led off the inning reaching first base on an infield error. Pelc singled to center, allowing Kepley to score, and reached second base safely on another error committed by the Red Sox.
The game ended due to weather in eight complete innings. The Harbor Hawks will now take on the Bourne Braves at McKeon Park for the first game of the playoffs, on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
