July Fourth baseball won’t be on Red Wilson Field in 2026, but Y-D’s bats provided enough fireworks Friday night.
The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox surrendered a leadoff homer yet went on a home run tear to dismantle the Hyannis Harbor Hawks 17-1 in a seven-inning mercy-rule victory. In a league with so much parity and a talent pool at its peak, Y-D continues to separate itself from the rest of the league. The four homers (three of which were three-run home runs) by Y-D marked a single-game season high and brought its on-base-plus-slugging percentage to a league-best .756.
One of Y-D’s newest additions, Dante Vachini (Cal Poly), who arrived in Yarmouth less than a week ago, already feels the confident and upbeat energy surrounding the club during its 15-1-1 start. Vachini recorded his first homer of the season on a three-run blast in the fifth inning to center field.
“These guys have treated me like one of them, and it's one of the greatest examples of team camaraderie I've definitely been around,” Vachini said. “I've been on a lot of teams in my life, and it's really easy to play here with these guys. Playing or not, it's really fun out here.”
The game didn’t start all too easily, though. Hyannis’ Liam Barrett (UC Santa Barbara) smoked a leadoff homer to make it the quickest deficit of the season for Y-D. The Red Sox were able to get out of the first frame after the homer and faced Kyle Alivo (Iowa) on the mound for Hyannis. Alivo hadn’t allowed an earned run in eight innings against teams that aren’t Y-D. His only rough start coming into Friday was against Y-D exactly a week ago, and Y-D jumped on him again.
Y-D loaded the bases and went up 2-1 without an out thanks to Tommy Goodin’s (Vanderbilt) RBI single, and Avery Ortiz (Oklahoma State) launched his first home run on a first-pitch fastball as Y-D’s launch party had begun in the first inning. Goodin had a two-out, two-run double before Mateo Serna (Alabama) drove him in on a single to make it 8-1 in the second inning. Goodin is batting .467 (7 for 15) with two outs, which is the fourth-best mark in the CCBL.
Another storyline developing for Y-D is Lucas Franco (Texas Christian). In his freshman season, Franco experienced his fair share of highs and lows and has used that experience to become a Cape League pitcher’s worst nightmare. In the third inning, Franco sent a belt-high fastball sky-high and over the right-field fence for another Y-D three-run shot.
“I was looking for a fastball. I saw a good amount of curveballs that at-bat. He landed two to get ahead in the count, and then tried to go back to it, and I fouled him off,” Franco said. “I was waiting for the fastball. I knew it had some ride, so I was just looking a little bit down, trying not to chase it up, and I got exactly what I wanted.”
Through six games with Y-D, Franco is batting .615 with four walks and four strikeouts. Although he hit a home run against Hyannis, the Texas native isn’t trying to be the hero on Y-D.
“I’ve just been sitting back and seeing the ball, not trying to do too much, not trying to hit home runs,” Franco said. “You come out here to develop and just get better, and I’m loving that process.”
Two more home runs were added in the fifth inning, with Kevin Takeuchi’s solo blast coming on the pitch immediately after Vachini’s homer to build a 16-1 lead. Y-D’s pitching was clean throughout and left nine runners on base, which has become a trademark of the 2026 Y-D Red Sox. Easton Teel (Oral Roberts) recovered after surrendering the leadoff homer, Rhett Vaughn (Florida State) tossed three hitless frames, and Cameron Teper (Cal Baptist) finished the mercy-rule victory with a scoreless inning in his first outing for Y-D.
Manager Scott Pickler and the red-hot Sox hope to bring their own fireworks to Hyannis when they play the Harbor Hawks again on the Fourth of July.
“They're gonna come after us tomorrow,” Pickler said. “We can't wait. Today's over. We will go there tomorrow and hopefully come ready to play.”
