On Friday, Y-D routed Hyannis in a 17-1 onslaught. The Harbor Hawks clearly took the beatdown personally, rallying 24 hours later to defeat Y-D 9-2 at McKeon Park on the Fourth of July.
Defensively, Y-D hadn’t been at its best in recent games, and it ultimately cost the Red Sox on Saturday. A season-high four errors proved to be the difference, with three directly leading to Hyannis runs. In the first inning, Avery Ortiz (Oklahoma State) sailed a throw to first, bringing in Hyannis’ first run of the contest. Another throwing miscue by Ortiz drove in two runs during a four-run fifth inning, as the Harbor Hawks took a 6-1 lead.
Connor Hamilton (Vanderbilt) battled through those miscues, keeping Y-D within striking distance before Brison Tweedy (South Florida) and Nolan Bernard (Portal) followed in relief.
Through five innings, Y-D managed just one hit: a Reid Howard (Virginia) double that drove in Ty Mainolfi in the third. Despite the lack of results, the Red Sox consistently made hard contact, striking out only six times while repeatedly hitting balls directly at Harbor Hawks defenders.
Much of that bad luck came because of Hyannis’ defense.
Harbor Hawks shortstop Jordan Lodise (Georgia) made a handful of eye-popping plays, preventing multiple Y-D baserunners. His brother, Kyle, was drafted by the White Sox in 2023, and his cousin, Alex, was a second-round draft pick by the Braves last year. For Lodise, defense is something he’s always focused on.
“Growing up I’ve always thought I was the best defender in the family,” Lodise said. “Over the last year my defense has gotten a lot better, and no matter what happens at the plate, I know my play in the field will stay strong.”
Hyannis tacked on its seventh run after a potential double-play ball in the sixth resulted in another Y-D error. Y-D’s Caleb Daniel (Georgia Tech) scorched a homer in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to 7-2, but Hyannis answered with another run in the bottom of the inning to restore its six-run lead.
Despite the loss, Y-D’s outlook remains more than positive.
Y-D lost its first game on June 19 against Cotuit and hadn’t lost another until Saturday night, marking its first road loss of the season after starting 9-0. The Red Sox still own a league-leading 15-2-1 record and remain seven points ahead of Harwich in the Cape Cod East Division.
There are four other teams in the league with a positive run differential besides Y-D. Combined, those four clubs have a plus-57 run differential, which still falls short of Y-D’s plus-72. An insane feat that proves how dominant Y-D has been.
The roster changes are in full effect, but pitching coach Eric Beattie’s philosophy stays consistent.
“Believe in yourself, pound the zone with different speeds of pitches, and do not ever give the hitter less credit,” Beattie said. “That's how we keep our guys in attack mode. We got a lot of guys getting their first outing right now, and some of them haven’t pitched since early May, late April. So we're getting some feet wet, and we've seen some things that we need to get better at with guys coming in, and I know we’ll be better.”
For Bernard, he's also looking for consistency.
“I’m just trying to find consistency in pitches,” Bernard said. “Not trying to hang sliders, and getting more carry on my fastball is what I’m trying to do [with Y-D].”
Y-D won’t have much time to dwell on the loss, returning home Sunday to face Orleans at 4:30 p.m. on Red Wilson Field.
