The race for the CCBL East Divisional Title just got scarier for the first place Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, who fell 8-4 to the second place Brewster Whitecaps and narrowed their divisional lead to one game. Y-D entered today’s second game only a few hours removed from a 9-6 morning win against Orleans while Brewster lost 9-0 against Chatham in a CCBL-wide doubleheader day.
Instead of riding Y-D’s morning high to earn a victory, Brewster attacked Y-D’s pitching and their bats were unable to answer. However, there were reasons for optimism, like Connor Hamilton’s (Vanderbilt) performance from the second inning until his exit in the fifth.
In the first inning, Hamilton gave up an RBI double and a two-run home run to put Brewster ahead 3-0. Once the second inning started, he didn’t allow a hit for the rest of his outing, and recorded three strikeouts and two walks.
The right-hander, who now posts a 3.29 ERA this season, broke down how he regrouped to turn his disastrous first inning into a solid one.
“It's like one of the toughest things in baseball,” said Hamilton. “You can't let the last inning affect the next one, so you literally just have to have the shortest memory and just move on.”
To avoid dwelling on the first inning, Hamilton let his desire to win lead him to success.
“Dude, I wanted to win so bad,” said Hamilton. “I didn’t want to go back out there and just give up. I wanted to actually compete.”
To "actually compete”, Hamilton sped up the time he took in between pitches to avoid overthinking on the mound.
“When I get too slow, I start trying to get picky with my pitches, and everything kind of sprays. But if it's like consistent pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch, you don't really think about the last one. It's really just a continuous rhythm,” said Hamilton.
Two-way player Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) followed Hamilton on the mound. The left-hander, who was given the loss, pitched for two innings and allowed three earned runs, one home run, and five hits. John Lobs (Western Carolina) entered in the eighth and gave up two home runs, one walk, and three hits. Brisen Tweedy closed the game and allowed no hits with two strikeouts.
Despite Y-D’s relievers allowing five runs, Y-D Pitching Coach Eric Beattie isn’t worried.
“I'm not worried about our bullpen. Not one bit,” said Beattie. “Every area where I feel like we're a little bit weak, we can get better there, and we're going to.”
Beattie said that some of the bullpen arms are working to strike a balance between trying to produce speed while controlling the ball out of their hands.
“They're finding how to not do too much, but also do enough to be effective. There's a fine line there, and I think some of them have gotten caught between overthrowing and trying to be in control, and they're a little too in control,” he said.
On the offensive side, Y-D’s usual suspects were in commission. Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt) went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, and Kevin Takeuchi (University of Southern California) went 2-for-4 with two RBI from the cleanup spot. Phoenix Call (UCLA) was hit by two pitches for a league-leading 13 this season.
Y-D will continue its fight for the top divisional spot on Saturday, August 1 at 6:00 pm EDT, away, against the Bourne Braves.
