Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas) blasted his league-leading fourth home run of the season, right-hander Sean Youngerman (Oklahoma State) threw five hitless innings, and the Red Sox carried a combined no-hitter into the ninth as Yarmouth-Dennis toppled Hyannis, 4-2, on Wednesday at Red Wilson Field.
Wednesday’s game was the first time the Red Sox and Harbor Hawks faced off this season and marked the opening of back-to-back matchups between the across-division foes. Y-D won its ninth game decided by three runs or fewer and held Hyannis to a 3-for-30 mark at the plate to extend its record to 11-4 while Hyannis fell to 8-6.
The Harbor Hawks entered the game as the No. 1 scoring offense in the league with the second most hits and Youngerman allowed just three base runners to drop his ERA from 7.36 to 4.38. Eight of the 15 outs the Division II All-American generated came by way of the flyout as his deceptive windup kept Hyannis hitters off balance.
Three days after announcing his decision to transfer from Westmont College to Oklahoma State, Youngerman got his third start of the summer and dealt his first scoreless outing with four strikeouts to just two walks.
The four, five and six hitters of Ethan Petry (South Carolina), Aloy and Gavin Gallaher (North Carolina) for the Red Sox combined for a 4-for-11 mark, including Aloy’s three-run homer, with four RBI and a pair of runs. Petry raised his batting average to .455 with at least one RBI in five of his six games, Aloy has a hit in 10 of his last 11 games, and Gallaher has three doubles on the season.
Six-foot-8 left-hander Pierce Coppola (Florida) made his first start with Hyannis fresh off a career-high nine strikeouts against No. 2 national seed Kentucky in the College World Series. Coppola struck out seven over 3 ⅓ innings and allowed four runs, all in the third inning.
Petry opened the scoring for the Red Sox in the bottom of the third with a single to score Phoenix Call (UCLA). Moments later, Aloy blasted a 1-2 pitch from Coppola and touched the top of the trees beyond the wall in center field to give Y-D a 4-0 lead. All four of the Red Sox's runs came with two outs and marked the sixth time the Red Sox have scored four or more runs in an inning.
Right-hander Carson Ballard (Georgia Tech) made his Cape League debut in the top of the sixth and made quick work of the Harbor Hawks in the frame. Catcher Charlie Saum (Stanford) recorded his first hit of the season and stopped his 0-for-20 skid in the bottom half, but right-hander Casey Hintz (Arizona) posted 3 ⅔ scoreless with six strikeouts out of the bullpen for Hyannis.
Ryan Sprock (Elon) entered in the top of the seventh and continued the dominance on the mound as he recorded five of his six outs with the strikeout. Y-D pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts with just four walks and allowed six Hyannis base runners.
Sprock allowed back-to-back Hyannis home runs from Alex Lodise (Florida State) and Wallace Clark (Duke) with no outs in the top of the ninth which forced head coach Scott Pickler to put Trevor Moore (Stanford) into the game. Moore faced the go-ahead run at the plate but struck out three in the inning to garner his league-leading fifth save.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
