Y-D started strong in Friday’s playoff matchup. A Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt) RBI single in the first inning, and a Jake Souders (Mississippi State) RBI double followed with a Phoenix Call sacrifice fly in the second inning earned them a 3-0 lead to gain early offensive momentum.
The lead didn’t last long.
Once the third inning hit, though, Harwich’s offense answered back with a Ty Smolinski (Kansas State) RBI to shorten Y-D’s lead to 3-1. This was only the beginning of Harwich’s aggressive bats. In the fourth inning, Y-D’s Evan Hoeckele (St. John’s) replaced Connor Hamilton (Vanderbilt) on the mound and gave up a two-run home run to Niko Brini (Wofford). This gave Harwich a 5-3 lead.
Despite a Ryder Robinson (BYU) home run that lessened Harwich’s lead to 5-4, and a five-run rally in the ninth inning, Y-D never saw a lead again.
“We had a very good opportunity in the first three innings, and we made some mistakes. We didn't have very good approaches earlier in the game,” said Y-D Manager Scott Pickler.
Despite Harwich’s win and their 12-4 lead heading into the ninth inning, both teams ended with 14 hits. For this reason, Pickler will likely not make any changes to Y-D’s batting order.
“We had 14 hits. I don’t think I need to change anything,” said Pickler.
Nine Y-D hitters recorded a hit this game. One of those bats was Souders, who went two-for-four with one run and one RBI. After a slow July, where he posted a .183 batting average, a .265 on-base percentage, and a .317 slug, Souders has shown signs of a postseason offensive breakout. Over the past four games, Souders has hit.500 with a .583 on-base percentage and a .900 slug.
“[In July] I just wasn't able to string things together consistently. I was hitting balls hard [with] just a lot of bad luck,” said Souders.
This changed when his dad arrived a few days before playoffs.
“My dad got here and we hit BP, made little bit adjustments that I was doing earlier in the season that I wasn't doing, I guess, in July. [We] kind of changed things with just my hands and my load, and [I] fell back to where I was,” said Souders.
Y-D’s pitching, which allowed six home runs by six different batters, was the team’s biggest weakness of the evening.
Hamilton allowed six hits, four earned runs, and two walks with four strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings; Hoeckele pitched 2/3 innings and allowed five earned runs; Joe O’Regan pitched 2/3 innings with three walks and two strikeouts; Kadan Roach pitched 2 1/3 and allowed three home runs; and Peyton Robidoux pitched the final two innings and only allowed one hit.
Pickler didn’t sugar coat the bullpen’s faults.
“It wasn't very good,” Pickler said.
Still, he’s not letting the bullpen’s inconsistent day overshadow the fact that the team had the best regular season record in the CCBL.
“We got the best team in the League. [Tomorrow], go out and see if we can do it the hard way,” Pickler told his players after the loss.
Y-D will attempt to keep its season alive on Saturday, August 8 at 5:30 pm EDT against the Harwich Mariners at Whitehouse Field.
