Y-D and Falmouth traded blows throughout Wednesday’s matchup at Red Wilson Field, resulting in a darkness-shortened 9-9 tie after eight innings.

After Carson Ballard (Georgia Tech) tossed a scoreless first inning on Wednesday, Y-D came out swinging in the bottom half of the frame. With runners at second and first, Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) hit a ground ball through the hole for an RBI single to get Y-D on the board before an out was recorded. Will Baker (Georgia Tech) followed that up by crushing a 94 MPH fastball over the wall in right-center field for a two-run homer to make it 3-0 Y-D.

“I think the boys needed a little bit of a spark to get going early,” Baker said. “And it’s a lot easier to lead than it is to chase.”

As they would all game, the Commodores quickly responded with three runs of their own in the second inning. After the first two hitters reached, Mark Quatrani (Cornell) drove a pitch from Ballard over the head of Baker in right field for a run-scoring double to cut Y-D’s lead to 3-1. With two outs and the lead down to one run, Carl Schmidt (California) looped a base hit into center field to bring home Quatrani and tie the game at 3-3.

Y-D struck right back in the bottom of the second when Jake Bold (Princeton) hit a chopper over the head of Schmidt at third base for a two-run single to put Y-D in front 5-3.

Ballard loaded the bases with two outs in the third inning on a hit-by-pitch and a walk, then Cody Miller (East Tennessee State) committed an error on a ground ball from Ashton Wilson (Florida) that scored two runs and tied the game at 5-5.

Some defensive miscues by Falmouth in the bottom half of the third allowed Y-D to regain the lead. AJ Soldra (UConn) reached on an error to lead off the inning before moving over to second base on a wild pitch and advancing to third on a balk by Sheerin. Yomar Carreras (Rutgers) drove Soldra in with a perfectly placed bunt that resulted in an RBI single.

Chris Downs (Cal Poly) came out of the bullpen for Y-D in the fourth to make his first appearance of the summer after being activated by the team on Tuesday. Schmidt greeted him by hitting a 377-foot homer over the left field wall to tie it up once again at 6-6. Schmidt’s long ball marked the sixth consecutive half inning where a team scored at least one run.

Following Falmouth’s first scoreless frame of the day in the fourth, Downs settled in for Y-D by getting David McCann (Virginia Tech), Quatrani and Wilson to all strike out swinging in the fifth inning.

Jackson Vanesko (Bryant) was on the verge of giving Falmouth its second straight shutdown inning out of the bullpen in the fifth, but Dean Carpentier (USC) had other plans with two outs and a runner on first. Carpentier lined a fastball that just snuck over the wall in center field for a two-run home run to give Y-D an 8-6 advantage. Carpentier has caught fire recently, going 6-14 in his last five games with four doubles and three RBIs.

Like Downs, Ty Bayer (Kennesaw State) came in to make his first appearance for Y-D in the sixth inning and allowed a home run to the first hitter he faced, Chris Newstrom (Tennessee), to make it 8-7. Schmidt lined the next pitch into left field for a single, collecting his fourth hit of the game. A passed ball, balk and wild pitch allowed Schmidt to come in to score and knot things up at 8-8.

The two sides continued to go blow-for-blow, as Bold and Brayden Dowd (USC) walked to begin the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Hacopian scorched one off the glove of the pitcher, and it trickled to Adrian Lopez (USC) at shortstop, who made a throwing error that brought Bold in to score and put Y-D ahead 9-8.

“Today was pretty back-and-forth, but I think it says a lot about the boys really fighting,” Baker said. “When they scored, we came back and scored and put together some really good at-bats.”

Falmouth instantly got runners at the corners with no outs in the seventh and used some crafty baserunning to bring the tying run across the plate. Newstrom was caught stealing second by Bold, but Justin Osterhouse (Purdue-Fort Wayne) scored from third on the throw. The run marked the fifth time that the Commodores came back to tie the game in the half inning after Y-D took the lead.

Bo Rhudy (Tennessee) shut things down out of the Y-D bullpen in the eighth inning, setting Falmouth down in order. Robby Porco (West Virginia) was lights-out down the stretch on the other side, throwing 2.2 hitless innings with five strikeouts and just one baserunner allowed to complete the 9-9 tie.

Following the tie, Y-D remains at the top of the East Division standings at 10-3-2, holding a four-point lead over second-place Brewster. Y-D will hit the road to take on the West Division leader, Hyannis, at 6 p.m. on Thursday.