The Y-D Red Sox came out with a 5-1 win over the Harwich Mariners on Thursday evening at Red Wilson Field. Ethan Petry of South Carolina smashed two home runs in the win for Y-D, bringing his season total to six and placing him fourth in the league for home runs.
On the mound, the lucky number was four for LSU’s Micah Bucknam in Thursday’s game. The right-handed pitcher had his fourth start of the season for Y-D, pitched four innings, and struck out four batters.
In the second, he collected two back-to-back strikeouts and helped lead Y-D’s defense to a spotless 1-2-3 inning. Bucknam’s batting average against is now .250 and he has 19 strikeouts this season, right behind Y-D’s Dylan Vigue, Trevor Moore, and Sean Youngerman.
The first three innings were scoreless for both sides. Early hits for Y-D included singles from Vanderbilt’s RJ Austin and South Carolina’s Talmadge LeCroy in the first and second. Will Tippett also had a single in the third, beating out the throw to first to get on base. For the Mariners, second baseman Cade Kurland and right fielder Cam Maldonado collected singles in the first and third innings.
On the mound, Donovan Burke started for Harwich and recorded four strikeouts across five innings. He helped the Mariners’ defense keep the game scoreless until the fourth inning when the pace shifted offensively for both sides of the diamond.
Inning four brought out big hits for both teams. Catcher Luke Heyman hit his second home run of the season over center field to put Harwich on the board first. Y-D quickly responded with a clutch go-ahead two-run homer from South Carolina’s Ethan Petry—his first of two in the game to give Y-D the one-run lead.
Texas’ Aiden Moffett entered the game in the fourth and helped Y-D hang on to the lead through the middle innings. He threw for 3.2 innings and notched six strikeouts—matching his in-game season high at LSU this past spring. The right-handed pitcher kept the Mariners hitless and scoreless during his time on the mound.
Sam Tookoian threw the last three innings for Harwich and had five strikeouts. While the seventh inning stayed quiet on offense for Y-D, the eighth was a different story for this comeback crew.
Austin kicked off the bottom of the eighth inning with his second hit of the day, setting up an eventful inning for Y-D. Petry then crushed his second homer of the game, his sixth of the season, to bring in three runs and extend Y-D’s lead further in the eighth.
Petry now leads the league with a slugging percentage of .754 and an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.254. With a batting average of .368, he sits right behind Cotuit’s Jarren Advincula for the league lead.
To close the game for Y-D, Dylan Delvecchio pitched the final two innings of the game. He collected a strikeout and notched his first save of the season as well, wrapping up a successful win for the team.
Y-D is now 17-8-2, still sitting atop the East Division. They have nine come-from-behind wins this season and they have 13 wins in games decided by three runs or less. On Friday, the Red Sox will take on the 7-19 Firebirds in Orleans at 6:30 p.m.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
