When Y-D looked over at McKeon Park's scoreboard on July Fourth, the last three numbers in its row were tough to look at: a 2 under runs, a 3 under hits and, most glaringly, a 6 under errors — the most by a CCBL team since Wareham committed seven errors on July 5, 2025.
One of the best parts about the Cape League, though, is that it rarely gives teams much time to dwell, with less than 24 hours separating almost every game. Y-D knew its fielding had to be better moving forward, and it responded on July 5 with what may have been its best defensive performance of 2026. The outfield was stellar, the infield looked sharp, and even the pitchers got in on the fielding excellence in Y-D’s 4-1 win over Orleans on Sunday.
“We just came out flat,” assistant coach Craig Gianinno said when asked about Saturday’s game. “I think the lesson learned in that game was you have to show up every day ready to play if you want to get to the big leagues. There's no days off. We weren't ourselves last night. I didn't quite recognize our guys last night. Tonight was who we are, and it was a great team win.”
The Red Sox committed just one error on Sunday, and it came on a pickoff attempt that got away from Dimitri Angelakos (Georgia Tech) in the sixth inning, but the hard-throwing right-hander more than made up for it later in the frame. With one out in the sixth, Orleans’ Corey Nunez lined a ball right back toward Angelakos. It deflected off his right forearm before popping into his glove for what looked like a routine out. Angelakos finished with 2 1/3 scoreless innings.
“Dimitri is an athlete,” Gianinno said. “A big-time athlete. That was a big-time play, and we made so many others like that tonight too.”
The “others” Gianinno referred to included left fielder Dante Vachini’s (Cal Poly) diving catch in the fifth inning, as well as Vachini running down a line drive in the eighth to prevent extra bases for Orleans. Lucas Franco (Texas Christian) turned a 6-3 double play to end the seventh inning with runners on the corners and Y-D leading 2-1. Avery Ortiz (Oklahoma State) had a great day not only at the plate, going 1-for-3 with an RBI double, but also looked clean at third base after committing two errors Saturday. He made a diving stop to his left in the fourth before firing to first for the out.
“I hold my priority and emphasis on my defensive game, just because I feel like defense is so underrated,” Ortiz said. “I feel like I'm starting to see some of the work that I put in this offseason.”
The Red Sox defense has been strong for most of Y-D’s first 19 games during its 16-2-1 start. Y-D has allowed just seven unearned runs, by far the fewest in the Cape League. The Red Sox look to continue their momentum when they host Brewster at Red Wilson Field at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
