A rainstorm caused an hour-long delay after three innings, but Y-D prevailed with a 3-0 victory at Veterans Field.
Cody Miller got the scoring started on the fifth pitch of the ballgame, hitting a leadoff home run to right field. His third blast of the year traveled 337 feet, coming off the bat at 95 mph. AJ Soldra singled with two outs to continue the inning, but was stranded there.
Coming off a three-inning outing against Falmouth in which he allowed three runs, Carson Ballard took the mound looking to right the ship. His command has been excellent this summer, and he continued that trend on Tuesday. He tossed three scoreless innings, striking out five without issuing a walk in his brief start.
Luke Jackson (Texas A&M) started for the Anglers, entering the game with a 2.25 ERA in his eight innings of work this summer. His fastball hit 96, using his curveball to offer a change in speed. The right-hander struck out 11.8 batters per nine innings in college, but his shortened outing held him to three punchouts.
Miller continued to build an impressive stat line, reaching base after being hit by a pitch in the third inning. His heads-up baserunning took him all the way to third on a failed pickoff attempt by Jackson, resulting in a rare two-base error. Chris Hacopian came to the plate and broke his bat, but the ball got over Jackson’s head. Miller scored his second run of the game, giving Y-D a 2-0 lead.
After the completion of three innings, the umpires sent the game into a weather delay due to lightning in the area. The delay lasted just over an hour, with light rain accompanying the frequent lightning and thunder. Due to the prolonged pause in action, both Ballard and Jackson had their starts cut short.
After the delay, 6'7" southpaw Chris Downs took the mound for Y-D, tossing two scoreless innings to keep the momentum going. Ryder Brooks (UC Irvine) made his Y-D debut, striking out two in a clean inning of work. His slider was sharp, sitting around 81 mph throughout the outing. Dominic Desch followed by continuing his strong summer, lowering his ERA to 0.82 with two shutout innings on Tuesday.
“The biggest thing is going out there, having fun, and pounding the zone,” Desch said on Wednesday. “[When you] have good stuff, just throw it over the plate [and] good things will happen.”
Shortstop Yomar Carreras singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, quickly putting himself in scoring position for Miller. A fly ball to right field moved Carreras to third, and he came around to score shortly after on another wild pitch.
