“You saw one of the greatest baseball games that I've seen as a coach on the Cape tonight,” said Y-D Assistant Coach Craig Giannino.

Yesterday, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox lost 9-5 to the Chatham Anglers in game one in the best-of-three CCBL East Division Series. Today, Y-D won 1-0, but did so with a more relaxed demeanor heading into the game. Only hours before the first pitch of the game that had the potential to end their season, Y-D regrouped to find its footing—not on the field taking batting practice, but at the beach eating hot dogs.

“I think doing what we did today, going to the beach, jumping in the ocean, having some hot dogs, having some Lil’ Caboose ice cream with some Y-D sprinkles…It said to ‘em, ‘Hey, you're playing a child's game. Hey, we've been here before. We've been resilient all year,’” said Giannino.

Ryder Robinson, one of Y-D’s two switch hitters, was a demonstration of this resilience tonight when hammered the go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth for Y-D’s second hit of the game.

After grounding out in his first at-bat and striking out in his second, Robinson prepared to hit right-handed in his third plate appearance against left-handed pitcher Kyle England (Lubbock Christian) of the still-scoreless game. As he approached the right-handed box with his righty bat, Chatham removed England and replaced him with right-hander Ty Thames (Rice). This forced Robinson to switch to the lefty box despite the challenges that come with making the sudden adjustment.

“On the on-deck circle, you’re kind of preparing the whole time one way, and then you get in the box the other way, so it kind of throws you off,” said Robinson.

After switching sides, Robinson kept his right-handed bat instead of switching it out with his left-handed one.

“It was funny…I didn’t want to come back [to grab it] and I just decided to keep it in my hands and swing it lefty,” said Robinson.

When Robinson homered in his first at-bat with Y-D against the Brewster Whitecaps on July 21, he homered with his righty bat because he was hitting righty. Since the bat had touched a home run ball in the past, he thought it could work this time, too.

Robinson was not the only clutch player this evening. Y-D’s pitchers also put on performances to remember.

Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) started on the mound for Y-D. The two-way player, who batted fifth today, recorded nine strikeouts and only two hits over 5 2/3 innings. Giannino was floored by the southpaw’s performance.

“Ketelsen gave us everything, and more, that we needed,” said Giannino.

With big shoes to fill from Ketelsen, Peyton Rodgers (UC-Irvine) competed the final 3 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and no hits allowed.

After Robinson’s home run, Rodgers was ready to close out the win.

“I was super excited because I knew that we could win this game, and I was going to come shut the door,” he said.

Chatham’s pitching did not give Y-D an easy time at the plate. Christian Chatterton (Auburn) allowed no hits for the first five innings, which made it difficult for Y-D to ignite an early offensive spark.

Looking ahead to game three, Giannino has a prediction.

“Tomorrow is going to be all about will, man. It ain't about the skill tomorrow. It's going to be who's the toughest, who's the most resilient, who's the grittiest,” Giannino said.

Y-D will attempt to keep the season alive tomorrow, August 6, at 4:00 pm EDT at Red Wilson Field.