Brady Neal blasted a go-ahead, two-run homer in the top of the eighth and Aiven Cabral (Northeastern) got his third win of the season in relief to give Yarmouth-Dennis a 7-5 comeback win over Falmouth on Saturday at Guv Fuller Field.

Neal’s homer was his first of the summer and his third as a member of the Red Sox after hitting a pair of blasts last summer. The Red Sox scored a combined five runs in the final three innings for their seventh comeback win of the season.

Cabral got an eight-out win to give the Red Sox their eighth win in games decided by three or fewer runs and pushed the Y-D record to 10-3 on the season. The Red Sox are now 6-1 on the road, 8-2 in their last 10 games and are the first Cape League team to 10 wins as Gavin Gallaher (UNC) was 2-for-4 with two RBI in his first Y-D start.

Saturday’s showdown between the Red Sox and Commodores was the second affair of the season between the across-division foes as the former took the first meeting, 10-8, back on June. 20 at Red Wilson Field. Both the Red Sox wins over Falmouth have been comeback efforts as Y-D has 11 combined runs from the seventh to the ninth inning in the two games.

Right-hander Kellan Montgomery (Long Beach State) made his third start and didn’t record a 1-2-3 inning until the bottom of the fourth. Montgomery stranded five Commodores on base and effectively pitched to contact with 10 groundouts during his Cape career-high five innings. Montgomery struck out a pair and was charged for one of four runs, which all came in the fifth.

Right-hander Colby Guy (UNC Asheville) also made his third start of the season and entered the outing with an 11.81 ERA. Guy dealt with control issues in the second inning to allow the only two runs during his four innings of work but retired the last seven hitters he faced to keep the Commodores within striking distance.

The Red Sox opened the scoring in the top of the second inning after a leadoff single from Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas) was followed by back-to-back free passes from Guy, who retired the next two hitters. Guy struggled with command with eight straight balls as he hit Phoenix Call (UCLA) with a pitch and walked Gallaher for Y-D’s early 2-0 lead. Call has been hit by a pitch five times, which is tied for the Cape League lead.

Falmouth came 90-feet from cutting into the Red Sox's lead in the bottom of the second as the Commodores placed runners on the corners with two outs after Donovan LaSalle (Oklahoma State) was hit by a pitch and Karson Bowen (TCU) roped a single. Montgomery escaped the jam with an inning-ending groundout and Y-D maintained its 2-0 advantage.

Falmouth took its first lead in the fifth as an error from Gallaher on a potential inning-ending double play opportunity opened the door. The Commodores converted with an RBI single from Luke Gaffney (Clemson) and a two-out, three-run home run off the scoreboard in left field from Trent Caraway, who gave Falmouth a 4-2 lead.

Right-hander Justin Lee (UCLA) entered for Montgomery in the bottom of the sixth and committed an error as a ground ball scampered between his legs to propel a Commodores rally. Jaxon Willits (Oklahoma) extended Falmouth’s lead to 5-2 with a sacrifice fly to score LaSalle.

The Red Sox offense was held scoreless from the third to the sixth inning as Guy settled down by pounding the strike zone and right-hander Brett Antolick (Texas A&M) allowed just one run over 2 ½ innings in relief with five strikeouts.

Gallaher continued to make an impact in his second game in a Red Sox uniform as he ripped an RBI ground-rule double to the left field corner to make it 5-3. Y-D later tied the game after an RBI groundout from Ethan Petry (South Carolina) with the bases loaded scored Call and a wild pitch scored Gallaher to even the score at 5-5 in the top of the seventh.

The Red Sox regained the lead in the top of the eighth after Cade McGee (Texas Tech) was hit by a pitch and set the stage for Neal, who drove a 1-2 pitch to the opposite field and watched as the ball sailed over the left field wall for a 7-5 Y-D lead.

Despite the Red Sox leaving the bases loaded in the ninth, Cabral went 2 ⅔ innings out of the bullpen and stranded a pair of Commodores runners in the eighth with a pair of strikeouts and induced three straight groundouts in the ninth to propel Y-D to its third win in a row.

Photo by Sophie Solarino