The Y-D Red Sox displayed excellent discipline in Friday evening’s 8-5 win over the Chatham Anglers, walking six times.
Derek Schaefer took the mound on Friday night, making his second start of the season. He saw his season begin to turn around against Orleans last Friday, throwing 4.2 hitless innings with four strikeouts. He followed that up with another strong performance in Chatham, although he only lasted three innings. On Friday against the Anglers, he held the opposition to one run on two hits.
Duke Stone (Mississippi State) entered the game with a 1.53 ERA, having already faced Y-D twice. His previous start against Y-D was excellent: five scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. However, he didn’t fare as well on Friday at Veterans Field, lasting only 3.1 innings. Stone allowed seven earned runs, walked four, and struck out five. Prior to Friday's outing, the right-hander had demonstrated excellent command, issuing only two walks over 17.2 innings. Against Y-D, he walked four.
Chatham got off to a fast start thanks to Daniel Jackson (Georgia), who crushed a solo home run to the opposite field in the first inning. It was Jackson’s fourth long ball of the summer. He recorded three hits in the game, raising his OPS to .955.
Y-D answered back in the top of the second, loading the bases on walks by A.J. Nessler, Will Baker, and Nick Costello. With two outs, Brayden Dowd stepped to the plate and dropped a well-placed single into right field, bringing home a pair of runs.
Garrett Wright came up with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and drilled a two-run double into center field. Jack Arcamone continued his hot start with Y-D, driving in two more with a single. After a base hit by Chris Hacopian, Armando Briseño capped off the rally by bringing in the fifth run of the inning, giving Y-D a six-run lead after four innings.
Jake Hanley (Indiana) reached on a wild pitch and later scored on a wild pickoff attempt and throwing error by Costello. Chase Fralick (Auburn) followed with a double to drive in another run, and Reed Stallman (Mississippi State) added an RBI single to extend the lead.
Y-D tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning, as Briseño lifted a sacrifice fly to Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) in center field. Though the ball wasn’t hit very deep, Dowd’s speed allowed him to beat the throw home. Freeman got a run back in the bottom half of the inning, driving in Hanley with an RBI single to center.
Every Y-D starter reached base on Friday night, but none stood out more than Hacopian. The third baseman collected four hits, raising his batting average to .267 for the year. It was his second consecutive game with three or more hits. His recent surge in hard contact is finally paying off — and it’s one of the key reasons Y-D’s offense has seen a jump in run production.
Another player who has turned a corner is Dowd. Over his last seven games, he’s recorded eight hits and driven in four runs. Friday marked his fifth multi-hit game of the summer. Even when the batted-ball luck hasn’t been on his side, Dowd has consistently emphasized the importance of sticking to his approach — and that mindset is paying off. His steady presence in the leadoff spot has become a major asset for Y-D.
“Sticking to my approach — getting fastballs in counts and locations that I liked, and then putting a good swing on them,” Dowd said after the game on Friday. “It’s always good to strike first in divisional games like this. Being able to get that first knock with two outs to put us up in the second inning was awesome.”
The Y-D offense tallied 12 hits on Friday, their most in over a month. Their season high remains 14 hits, recorded in Wareham on June 24. They’ve now posted nine or more hits in three consecutive games for the first time since mid-June — the stretch when their nine-game winning streak began.
