Just about five hours after suffering a crushing 7-6 defeat in Game 2 of the East Division Championship Series, Y-D responded by taking down Harwich 7-1 in a winner-take-all Game 3 at Whitehouse Field on Sunday to clinch a spot in the Cape League Championship for the first time since 2016.

Whitehouse Field was the same location where Y-D’s season came to an end a year ago when the team was swept in the Division Championship Series by the Mariners. Y-D flipped the script on Sunday by getting widespread contributions in a 7-1 victory to eliminate Harwich.

Y-D picked up some crucial early momentum when Jayce Tharnish (Kentucky) got hit by a pitch from Tanner Duke (Kansas State) to lead off the game, then quickly moved over to third on a stolen base and a groundout by Will Baker (Georgia Tech). After Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) also got plunked, Ryan Niedzwiedz (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville) drove a 1-2 fastball into deep center field for a sacrifice fly to give Y-D an immediate 1-0 lead.

Evan Mobley (Florida Southern) took the mound in the bottom half of the first, making his debut as a member of Y-D in the biggest spot that one could imagine. He tossed a scoreless first frame on Sunday, only allowing one baserunner on an error.

Harwich struck back in the second inning by taking advantage of multiple fielding miscues by Y-D. With Jake Koonin (Princeton) on first base, Mobley attempted to pick him off but made a throwing error to allow Koonin to get into scoring position. In the same at-bat, Sam DeCarlo (Washington) hit a soft grounder to Yomar Carreras (Rutgers) at second base, who made a wild throw to first, allowing Koonin to score and tie the game at 1-1. Mobley escaped the inning without any further damage by making an excellent play on a chopper from Sam Harris (Duke) and getting Niko Brini (Wofford) to ground out to first base.

Duke started to really find a groove on the mound for the Mariners, allowing just three baserunners in four hitless innings with five strikeouts.

Following a couple of two-out hits from Harwich in the bottom of the fourth inning, Y-D manager Scott Pickler called on Joshua Landry (Hope International) out of his bullpen to work out of the jam. Landry got the job done when he got Brini to hit a chopper over to Hacopian at first base to end the inning.

Y-D was finally able to string a rally together against Duke in the fifth inning, which was all started by a fielding error by DeCarlo at shortstop on a grounder by Connor Capece (Creighton). After the error, Nick Costello (UC San Diego) crushed a 2-0 fastball beyond the reach of a diving Brini in center field for an RBI triple to give Y-D its first hit of the night and a 2-1 lead.

“I was doing some stuff before the game, and you kind of just have to remind yourself to be athletic sometimes and that you’re a good hitter,” Costello said. “Before that inning, Jeff [Pickler] brought us all together and was like, ‘Hey man, don’t try to do too much; when you get ahead in the count, just swing.’”

Two batters after the Costello triple, the Y-D offense continued to roll when Baker lined a first-pitch breaking ball down the right field line for another RBI triple to give Y-D a 3-1 advantage. Y-D had just two triples during the regular season and matched that total in the span of three batters on Sunday. In the next at-bat, Hacopian hit a 91 mph fastball into center field for a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 Y-D.

Landry provided a much-needed shutdown inning in the bottom half of the fifth, as he recovered from a leadoff walk to Aiden Robbins (Texas) to set down the next three hitters, capping off the frame by striking out Patrick Fultz (Wright State) with a breaking ball in the dirt.

Jack Volo (Georgetown) entered the game for Harwich in the sixth inning and worked out of a jam after allowing the first two hitters to reach base on an error and a single, keeping the game at 4-1.

Despite the teams combining for six errors in the contest, Y-D displayed some excellent defense in the bottom of the sixth to preserve its three-run lead. After Koonin walked to begin the inning, Tharnish made an outstanding running catch on a liner to center field from DeCarlo, Landry executed a glove flip to first base on a soft ground ball by Kyle Wolff (Boston College) and Hacopian made a leaping grab on a line drive from Harris to end the inning.

Y-D added a key insurance run against Volo with two outs in the eighth inning when Costello hit a soft liner that fell in front of Ryan Gerety (Northeastern) in right field for a run-scoring single to make it a four-run ballgame.

“It’s huge getting to that four [run lead] where [the opponent] needs to have bases loaded and multiple hits; it’s bigger than [them needing] a walk, single, and all of a sudden a homer ties the game,” Costello said. “Landry pitched a great game, and he was comfortable out there, which always helps.”

Landry remained comfortable on the mound in the eighth inning, where he worked a 1-2-3 frame, officially marking his longest appearance of the season with 4 1/3 stellar innings.

Y-D started to put the game to bed in the ninth inning when Armando Briseño (Cal State Fullerton) came up with runners at second and first and delivered by lining a first-pitch breaking ball into right field for an RBI single. In the next at-bat, Bell scorched a ground ball past the diving Fultz at third base for another run-scoring single to put Y-D ahead 7-1.

With just three outs to go, Landry came back out to the mound and won a seven-pitch battle with Wolff to begin the ninth inning by getting him to fly out to left field. Following a walk to Harris, Brini hit a line drive to Briseño at shortstop, who made the catch and doubled off Harris at first base for a series-ending double play. The decisive 7-1 victory clinched Y-D’s spot in the Cape League Championship for the first time since 2016.

“The fans out here are amazing; we got little Brady, who I’ve never seen cheer so hard as in the last three innings, and he wanted revenge on [Harwich] from last year,” Costello said. “I’m just happy to do it for the fans and for these guys who live it every year. … This is probably the most fans I’ve ever played in front of, so it’s just cool to get it done and celebrate.”

Y-D will begin the Cape League Championship Series against the top seed in the West Division, Bourne, on the road at 6 p.m. on Monday.