The Hyannis Harbor Hawks suffered a hard-fought 4-2 loss to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on Wednesday night. Through eight innings, the Hawks were hitless at the plate, battling to attempt a comeback late in the contest.

In the top of the ninth inning, down by four runs with no hits on the board, Hyannis showed its first moment of offensive production of the night, with Alex Lodise leading things off with a deep fly ball into left-center field, clearing the wall for a solo home run. The bomb came in just the eighth at-bat in the second game of the Seminole’s career in the blue and orange.

“It takes a little time for our offense to adjust from metal to wood, and [the new guys] have made a nice transition,” head coach Mitch Karraker said. “It’s good to see them have some early success, and hopefully we can build on that.”

Wallace Clark was the second batter of the inning, following in the footsteps of Lodise with a deep fly of his own, this time smashed over the wall in right field for back-to-back homers. The second solo shot brought the deficit to just two runs, with still no outs.

The fans at Red Wilson Field thought they witnessed a third home run in a row with Dalton Bargo blasting a ball toward the wall in right field after a Y-D pitching change in the at-bat after Clark’s. The ball ended up just short of clearing the fence, getting down for a double.

A strikeout and a walk set up runners on first and second with one out in the inning, but the Harbor Hawks were unable to capitalize, with the second strikeout of the frame and a groundout to third ending any hopes of a comeback.

“Our guys did a good job of finally getting some swings off,” Karraker said. “Our timing was terrible early in the game… It was good to see our guys show a little fight and give ourselves a chance to at least tie that thing up there in the end.”

Y-D got the scoring started in the bottom of the third inning, plating four runs in the frame. To kick things off, Pierce Coppola struck out the leadoff man. A hit-by-pitch and another K followed, giving Hyannis its second out.

A walk set up runners on first and second, and with the help of a hit-and-run, a single into left field scored the game’s first run. Just one batter later, a deep fly ball to center field made its way into the trees over the wall for a three-run homer, giving the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.

The pitching staff for Y-D had an unbelievable eight innings on the mound before the top of the ninth, allowing just a few free passes and striking out 12 as a group.

Coppola got the start on the mound for the Harbor Hawks, bringing great stuff with seven strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. Despite the high number of K's, the tall southpaw’s command was a little off in his first outing, walking three and plunking two Red Sox batters. This, along with allowing four hits, eventually led to four earned runs on the board.

Casey Hintz got in for 3 2/3 innings of work for Hyannis, coming into a first-and-second, one-out jam in the bottom of the fourth inning. He worked through that situation with a groundout and a flyout, completing the rest of his night only allowing one base runner. His final line featured six strikeouts, no walks and no runs with one hit allowed.

“[Hintz’s] stuff was really, really good,” Karraker said. “He was down in the zone. He was able to mix some speeds; slider, changeup, fastball, all of it was working for him [Wednesday].”

Drake Meeks pitched the last inning of the contest for the Hawks in his first Cape League outing, working through a bases-loaded jam to keep the game scoreless in the eighth.

Despite the loss, Hyannis showed fight against Y-D, not giving up through an off game, battling to complete what seemed to be an impossible comeback. The Harbor Hawks will get a quick chance at redemption against the Red Sox, hosting them not even 24 hours later at McKeon Park on Thursday at 6 p.m.

“[This game] showed a lot about this team and how we stay together,” Hintz said. “No matter what inning it is, we have no hits, we have 10 hits, it just shows how everyone sticks together, and we play till the end.”

Mike Maynard can be reached at mikemay62@gmail.com and followed on Twitter/X @mikecmaynard.