For the second consecutive game, Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) led an offensive explosion for Y-D with four hits in the 8-5 win against Chatham on Friday.
As the regular season gets into the homestretch, Hacopian is starting to catch fire in the middle of the Y-D lineup. Over the past two games against Brewster and Chatham, he’s gone 7-10 at the plate, which has raised his batting average from .221 to .267 and his OPS from .614 to .704.
“Our coaches put in so much effort with us behind the scenes that not a lot of people see,” Hacopian said. “The coaches are putting everything they’ve got into us, and we’ve been working a lot on different things, and I think it’s just starting to come to fruition now.”
After the first two Y-D hitters were set down by Duke Stone (Mississippi State) on Friday, Hacopian kept the first inning alive by looping a slider into right field for a base hit. Stone was stellar in a start against Y-D on July 13, when he tossed five scoreless innings with only one hit allowed. Friday was a totally different story, however, as Y-D racked up nine hits and seven runs against Stone in just 3.1 innings.
“[Stone’s] a good arm for sure,” Hacopian said. “But, I think when you see a guy before and now you understand how he’s going to attack you, it gives you a better understanding of your approach.”
In his second at-bat of the night, Hacopian scorched a 93 MPH fastball up the middle for another single to lead off the third inning. The base knock left the bat at 98 MPH and secured the second consecutive multi-hit game for Hacopian after going 3-4 with two doubles in the 9-3 victory over Brewster on Thursday. Prior to this stretch, Hacopian had just three multi-hit games in his last 20 contests.
Hacopian was right in the middle of the action when Y-D pulled away with five runs against Stone in the fourth inning. After Y-D had already scored four in the inning, Hacopian kept things rolling by lining a fastball 100 MPH into left-center field for his third single of the day to put runners at the corners with one out. Following the base hit, Jack Arcamone (Georgia) came in to score on an RBI single from Armando Briseño (Cal State Fullerton) to give Y-D a commanding 7-1 advantage.
Not only did Hacopian make an impact at the plate throughout Friday’s game, but he also shined with a couple of key plays at third base. He ended the bottom of the fourth inning by making an outstanding backhanded play on a ground ball from Isaiah Lane (San Diego) and firing to first base for the final out.
With Y-D clinging to a three-run lead in the eighth inning, Hacopian made the biggest play of the day when he fielded a chopper from Jake Hanley (Indiana) and threw across his body to get the force out at second base. The play from Hacopian kept the tying run from reaching the plate and allowed Chris Downs (Cal Poly) to escape the inning unscathed.
“I went into this summer with a chip on my shoulder about trying to get better on defense,” Hacopian said. “It’s definitely something that I wanted to improve, and I think we have a great staff here with [Assistant Coach Chris Vopinek] and Pickler. Again, it’s just been a lot of work behind the scenes, and I think it’s starting to show.”
Hacopian capped off his huge day offensively in the top of the eighth inning by driving a pitch into the gap in left-center field for his fourth hit of the night. Although he got thrown out at second base, the single gave Hacopian his first four-hit day of the summer and pushed his OPS above .700 for the first time since June 28.
Hacopian has given the Y-D offense a massive spark in a couple of key division battles over the past two nights, as the team has combined for 17 runs. They will look to maintain this momentum when they welcome Orleans to Red Wilson Field at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
