Drew Burress (Georgia Tech) hit his first Cape League home run in a 2-for-3 performance, RJ Austin (Vanderbilt) made his return to the Red Sox with three RBI, and Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas) hit a three-run homer as Yarmouth-Dennis bounced back to beat Orleans, 11-4.
Burress was 2-for-29 with Y-D before playing with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and made an emphatic return as he blasted the first pitch he saw in the first inning for a home run. Austin and first baseman Anthony Martinez (UC Irvine) also played with Team USA as the latter was one of eight different Y-D batters who recorded a hit.
The Red Sox scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, which became the eighth time this season Y-D has scored four or more runs in an inning. Y-D is now 8-1 when scoring first and scored at least one run in six different innings to extend its record to 12-5.
Aloy hit his league-leading eighth home run in the eighth inning as he has six home runs in the last four games and has a hit in 12 of the last 13 games. The Red Sox scored a season high in runs, tied their season high in hits and matched their largest margin of victory.
Right-hander Dylan Vigue (Michigan) made his third start of the summer and came one out shy of matching his Cape career high in innings by dealing 5 ⅓ frames against Orleans. Vigue stranded four base runners and held the Firebirds to 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. In his last 11 innings, Vigue has 14 strikeouts and allowed three runs.
Vigue escaped with runners on second and third in the top of the first and allowed both of his two runs in the second**.** Vigue was dynamic with his offspeed in two-strike counts and worked five strikeouts to just two walks. Vigue has three walks to 18 strikeouts in 15 innings with the Red Sox.
Matthew Dalquist (UC San Diego) also made his third start with the Firebirds and allowed six runs across eight hits in 3 ⅔ innings. Dalquist has allowed 18 hits on the season, which ranks the third most in the CCBL.
Burress was named the D1Baseball.com National Freshman of the Year on Friday and deposited the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for his first Cape League home run to give the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Burress scored four runs in Y-D’s win.
The Firebirds responded in the top of the second without the ball leaving the infield as an Austin Smith (San Diego) single that dribbled away from Vigue and a hit by pitch set the stage for an RBI infield single from Lorenzo Meola (Stetson) and a RBI groundout from Hudson Shupe (Gonzaga).
Burress ignited the Red Sox offense in the bottom of the third with his second hit of the game, which was lined down the left field line for a leadoff double. Burress advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored after an RBI groundout from Austin, who recorded his first RBI of the season.
Phoenix Call (UCLA) extended Y-D’s lead in the third with an RBI infield single to score Ethan Petry (South Carolina). The Red Sox continued their stretch of runs in the frame after a wild pitch from Dalquist scored Easton Carmichael (Oklahoma) and a two-run double from Austin that was pushed inside the third base bag to give Y-D a 6-2 lead.
Orleans cut into the lead in the top of the seventh with an RBI double from Landon Moran (Stetson), but Aloy cut down the second runner at the plate on the relay throw. Y-D scored quickly in the bottom half as Martinez scored on a passed ball to extend the Red Sox's lead to 8-3.
The Red Sox expanded their lead to 11-3 in the bottom of the eighth as Aloy hit the first pitch of the at-bat over the right field fence for an opposite-field blast. Y-D has not lost back-to-back games this season with a seven-run win over Orleans.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
