Ethan Firoved (Pittsburgh) recorded his Cape career high with eight strikeouts in five scoreless innings and Talmadge LeCroy (South Carolina) went 3-for-4 as Yarmouth-Dennis fell to Falmouth, 4-2, on Monday at Guv Fuller Field.
The 14-19-1 Commodores ended the Red Sox's three-game win streak and moved the season series to 2-1-1 in the first matchup at Guv Fuller Field between the across-division foes since June 29. The Red Sox went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base, including three in a bases-loaded situation in the seventh.
The 21-10-4 Red Sox are still two wins away from Scott Pickler’s 600th as manager and maintained the most points in the league. Y-D tallied a hit in each inning except the ninth and outhit Falmouth nine to six. Y-D pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts and allowed five or fewer runs in a game for the 24th time.
Firoved made his second start of the summer with the Red Sox and posted his most strikeouts in a game since his days at Tallahassee State College when he punched out eight on April 23, 2022. The left-hander didn’t allow a base runner until the bottom of the third, threw 68% of his pitches for strikes and walked just one.
Right-hander Sean Brennan (Keystone College) matched Firoved throughout his fourth start with Falmouth and worked around five hits to go five scoreless innings. Brennan posted his first scoreless outing of the summer and struck out six Y-D hitters, which is his personal best with the Commodores.
Skylar King (West Virginia) recorded his first hit of the summer in the top of the third, but the Red Sox were unable to score a runner from scoring position in the second, third and fourth frames. Y-D also stranded Jackson Chirello (Kennesaw State) at third with one out in the top of the fourth. King was 2-for-4 and Chirello went 2-for-4 at the plate.
The first walk of the game from either Firoved or Brennan came from the former in the bottom of the fifth as Scott Mudler (Oklahoma) led off the inning with a free pass. Mudler moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and tried to score on a single from Isaiah Barkett (Stetson) but was thrown out at home by center fielder Phoenix Call (UCLA), who held the score at 0-0.
The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth as two fast outs were followed by Ethan Petry (South Carolina), who was hit by a pitch. Chirello registered his second hit in as many at-bats to move Petry to third as runners were on second and third for LeCroy, who had an infield single to drive in Petry and Chirello, who sprinted home from second.
Falmouth responded in the bottom of the sixth as Gavin Jones (Kent State) entered out of the bullpen for Y-D. Jones was one strike away from getting out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs before Mudler hit a two-run single through the left side. Jones was pulled for left-hander Jakob Russell (Long Beach State), who made his Cape League debut and stranded the bases loaded to maintain the 2-2 tie.
The Red Sox had the bases loaded in the top of the seventh with two outs and Petry at the plate but were unable to score. Russell held serve in the bottom half to go 1 ⅓ innings scoreless and the score remained 2-2 going into the eighth when the Commodores scored a pair without the ball leaving the infield.
Dylan Delvecchio (St. Mary’s) allowed his first earned runs since June 28 when two walks and a hit-by-pitch were sandwiched between two outs. Delvecchio allowed an RBI infield single to Gavin Turley (Oregon State) and then balked home a run as Falmouth took a 4-2 lead.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
