Wareham, Mass. 一 Round 3 against the Cape League’s top team was competitive until the very end.
The Gatemen fell in two prior matchups to the Red Sox, the first at Spillane Field and the second at Red Wilson Field, but came into this matchup with wins in two of its last three outings. Although the Red Sox lost to Hyannis, a West Division team, their 16 wins and 9-1 road record was all the resume they needed.
Unlike the previous games between the two squads, neither side could craft an early advantage. Y-D’s Kevin Takeuchi (USC) reached base with a leadoff single, but then Wareham didn’t allow another man to reach base until the top of the fourth inning.
The Gatemen experienced similar early-game offensive struggles against the Cape League’s best defensive team: after Levi Clark (Tennessee) earned a free pass, they didn’t reach until the bottom of the fourth frame with a second Clark walk.
When the Red Sox opened the scoring in the fourth inning, the Gatemen responded with a Tony Lira (Arizona) double to score Clark and Nate Novitske (Arizona) to tie up the ballgame. Y-D racked up two runs again in the top of the seventh, and Wareham punched back with Clark’s single to give RJ Hamilton (Duke) his team-high 11th run of the summer. Wareham fought back against a Y-D squad that had mostly taken a lead and cruised to a win for a large part of 2026.
“It's good to see it (A close game against the Red Sox). It means we're starting to play better baseball,” Gatemen manager Ryan Smyth said. “They weren’t great games against them (Y-D) before, but we learned a little bit. We've gotten better as a team, and played a close one with them. Had some opportunities there, just didn't come through, but overall a pretty good cape league game.”
Y-D has scored the most runs in the CCBL (129) and hosts the league’s highest batting average (.252). In his first start of the summer, Colton Sampson (Transfer Portal) kept their bats in check. He didn’t allow a single walk, struck out a man, and allowed just three hits on the night. After notching a 4.30 ERA against wood bats in 2025, Sampson lowered his CCBL ERA to 3.24.
Sampson only allowed one score over his previous three relief outings, but he stepped up with the schedule change after Tuesday’s league-wide rainout and postponement. Although he only threw 17 pitches a week ago, Sampson saved his fellow pitchers with 61 pitches that will pay dividends with four consecutive games looming.
“We felt like playing five straight一as opposed to having the Thursday day off一it was just it set us up for the rest of the week,” Smyth said. “The only thing the rain did is kind of stopped our momentum a little bit. We got a win, and then you go into it one day off, and then it turns into two days off because of the weather, but we came out with some good energy tonight. We found ways to put ourselves in position, just didn't come up with a big hit.”
Wareham fell for the third time in the month of July, but it has competed in every contest. The Gatemen often let a rough inning ruin an entire game back in June, but they have learned to fight back into games against the Cape League’s best teams.
Wareham faced a top West Division team, Bourne, twice in July. Now it faced the best team in the entire CCBL. All five matchups this month, win or loss, have been competitive.
“I think we're putting together really good at bats. There's a few that we let slip away, but for the most part we're striking out less, we're finding more ways to put balls in play, we're scoring more runs,” Smyth said. “I think there's a vibe of they know they can do it now, and they're adjusted to the wood (bats), and now it's just about going out and playing baseball, and they've been doing that pretty well. And I would just want to continue to see that happening.”
Tuesday’s league-wide rainout delayed Wareham’s first trip to Chatham of the summer. The Gatemen split matchups against the Anglers at Spillane Field, but now head to historic Veterans Field. Wareham can return to its winning ways at 7:00 on Thursday.
