Sean Youngerman (Oklahoma State) dealt 4 ⅓ scoreless innings and matched his Cape career high with seven strikeouts as Yarmouth-Dennis toppled Wareham, 4-1, on Wednesday at Spillane Field.
Youngerman made his fifth start of the summer in the battle of the two division leaders and lowered his ERA from 3.52 to 2.75 in his second-longest outing. Wareham entered the contest leading the Cape League in batting average, slugging and OPS but were silenced by Youngerman, who utilized his slider effectively in two-strike counts and has gone the last 12 ⅔ innings scoreless.
The transfer from Division II Westmont College to Oklahoma State has 28 strikeouts in 19 ⅔ innings with a 1.12 WHIP, and opponents are hitting a lowly .200 against the 6-foot-3 right-hander.
The Red Sox registered their 12th win in games decided by three runs or fewer, are 12-2 when scoring first and are 11-0 when leading after seven innings. Y-D ended its four-game winless skid and has allowed five or fewer runs 18 times to move to 16-8-2.
Wareham was held scoreless until the bottom of the seventh and was 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The Gatemen fell to 17-9-1, made four errors and left nine runners on base despite holding Y-D to four runs on five hits.
6-foot-4 right-hander Darin Horn (Coastal Carolina) made his third start with the Gatemen and entered his outing with 7 ⅓ scoreless innings. Horn recorded his shortest start and was charged with two earned runs — three total — on one hit over three innings.
The Red Sox opened the scoring after an Ethan Petry (South Carolina) walk was followed by a Jackson Chirello (Kennesaw State) single to have runners on the corners and no outs. Gavin Gallaher (North Carolina) roped a first-pitch sacrifice fly to score Petry, and Chirello scored after tagging up from second on an error to give Y-D a 2-0 lead.
Will Tippett (South Carolina) led off the third with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on an error. Y-D had runners on first and third with no outs again after Phoenix Call (UCLA) was hit by a pitch. RJ Austin (Vanderbilt) scored Tippett on a sacrifice fly and extended the Red Sox's lead to 3-0.
Ryan Sprock (Elon) led off the top of the fifth with a single and entered in the bottom half on the mound. Sprock inherited a runner on first, hit Sam White (West Virginia) with a pitch and got Murf Gray (Fresno State) to fly out to Chirello just shy of the warning track.
Toran O’Harran (Stanford) replaced Sprock in the bottom of the seventh after the latter tossed 1 ⅔ scoreless innings. O’Harran allowed runners on second and third after a leadoff walk and a double from Jacob Jarrell (Clemson). Michael Lippe (Louisville) brought home the Gatemen’s first run with an RBI groundout, but Trevor Moore (Stanford) stranded runners on the corners to end the frame.
The Red Sox erased the five-inning scoreless drought when Call had a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth. Moore shut the door on the Gatemen with four strikeouts in 2 ⅓ scoreless frames and got his league-leading seventh save. Moore has 26 strikeouts in 13 ⅔ innings and has yet to allow a run.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
