For the 15th time in the past 16 seasons, Y-D secured a spot in the Cape League postseason on Thursday by jumping ahead early on its way to a 6-4 victory against Harwich.
Both Y-D and Harwich entered Thursday’s showdown as part of the jam-packed, four-team race for the East Division title in the final few games of the regular season. The Mariners came into the matchup as the division leader but only sat one point ahead of Orleans and two points ahead of both Y-D and Brewster.
Derek Schaefer (Arizona State) took the mound for Y-D to make his fourth start of the summer, looking to build off his previous two starts where he allowed one earned run in a combined 7 2/3 innings pitched. Harwich was able to strike first against Schaefer on Thursday when Patrick Fultz (Wright State) hit a grounder into left field for a two-out, run-scoring single to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
After hitting a leadoff home run on Wednesday against Orleans, Brayden Dowd (Florida State) once again got the Y-D offense started right away in the bottom of the first by lining a fastball in front of the diving Niko Brini (Wofford) in right field for a single. Following a base hit from Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) that put runners at the corners, Armando Briseño (Cal State Fullerton) scorched a first-pitch fastball into right field to bring in Dowd and tie the game at 1-1.
Y-D continued to put together comfortable swings against Olin Johnson (North Carolina) to start the bottom half of the second inning, as A.J. Nessler (Pittsburgh) walked on seven pitches, and Yomar Carreras (Rutgers) looped a single down the left field line.
Johnson got a couple of pop outs before walking Hacopian to load the bases for Jack Arcamone (Georgia). Arcamone delivered in the big spot by attacking the first pitch and grounding it up the middle for a two-run single to give Y-D a 3-1 lead. With the two-run hit, Johnson had already allowed more earned runs on Thursday than any of his other six appearances this summer.
Harwich immediately responded in the third inning when Tanner Marsh (Liberty) and Brini hit back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Aiden Robbins (Texas), the league leader in OPS, looped a changeup into left for an RBI single to cut Y-D’s lead to 3-2 with still no outs. Schaefer wiggled out of the jam without any further damage by getting a 5-3 double play and striking out Jake Koonin (Princeton) on a breaking ball to preserve Y-D’s lead.
For the third consecutive inning, Y-D put the first two runners on base against Johnson when Will Baker (Georgia Tech) lined a double down the right field line and Jayce Tharnish (Kentucky) hit an opposite-field single. After an RBI groundout from Nessler made it 4-2, Y-D added another insurance run by playing some small ball, as Carreras executed a squeeze play by laying down a bunt to third base to score Tharnish.
A couple of walks by Schaefer in the fourth inning put runners at second and first with one out, forcing manager Scott Pickler to turn to Michael Malki (Cal Baptist) out of the bullpen for his Y-D debut. Malki was able to work out of the jam and maintain Y-D’s three-run lead when he struck out Marsh on a breaking ball and Arcamone cut down a runner at third base for the final out.
“I just wanted to pick up my pitcher and help him get out of the inning,” Malki said. “Just had to get our offense back swinging the bat because they had a great day today.”
After Scott Doran (Coastal Carolina) entered the game for the Mariners in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Y-D offense stayed hot when Briseño collected his second RBI of the game by hitting a grounder into right field for a base hit to make it 6-2 Y-D.
Both Malki and Doran started to cruise on the mound, each retiring the side in order in the fifth inning. Malki got a flyout to begin the sixth inning, but a walk and a stolen base from Koonin quickly put a runner in scoring position with one out. Following a strikeout from Ernie Echevarria (Pennsylvania), Sam Harris (Duke) hit a breaking ball up the middle for a two-out, run-scoring hit to cut into Y-D’s lead.
Harwich got another run back in the seventh inning when a wild pitch from Malki allowed Brini to score with one out to make it 6-4 Y-D. Malki was able to prevent any more damage by getting Dee Kennedy (Kansas State) to ground out and Fultz to swing and miss at a curveball for his fifth strikeout of the game.
“The curveball was great today; I was able to use it really early on,” Malki said. “Then, the fastball was also really helpful.”
After a torrid start to the game, the Y-D offense remained quiet the rest of the way against Doran. Doran ended up tossing five innings out of the Harwich bullpen with only four hits and one run allowed.
Malki began the eighth inning by hitting Koonin to bring the tying run to the plate, which caused Ryder Brooks (UC Irvine) to come into the game after 3 2/3 innings of impressive work from Malki. Brooks got the job done in relief by retiring three consecutive hitters to put Y-D three outs away from clinching a playoff spot.
Brooks slammed the door with a perfect ninth inning, capping off the 6-4 victory by getting Robbins to ground out to Briseño at shortstop to send Y-D back to the postseason. With the win, Y-D moved to 19-15-3 and is now in a three-way tie for second place in the East Division with Harwich and Brewster, who all sit one point behind Orleans with three games to play.
“It’s great [to clinch a playoff spot],” Malki said. “Now we hope to make a deep playoff run and win a championship.”
Y-D will look to build off this victory when it travels to face Brewster for another key matchup at 4 p.m. on Friday.
