A matchup between the two best teams on the Cape lived up to the hype at Red Wilson Field on Sunday, as Y-D rallied back in the ninth inning to take down Hyannis 5-4 for its ninth consecutive victory.
Sunday’s showdown was a case of the best offense in the league facing off against the best pitching staff. Hyannis entered the day leading the Cape League in batting average, OPS and runs scored, while the Y-D pitching staff came in with the best ERA and fewest runs allowed.
Dylan Tate (Oklahoma) took the mound for Y-D, trying to keep the momentum of a unit that allowed just five combined runs in the prior three games. Tate began his day by putting up a scoreless first inning with the help of a diving play from Brayden Dowd (USC) in right field to end the frame.
Tate continued to cruise on the mound early, needing only 34 pitches to get through three scoreless innings with one baserunner allowed. On the other side, Carson Jasa (Nebraska) showcased dominant stuff, with six strikeouts in 2.2 scoreless innings and 15 whiffs in 60 pitches.
With the game still tied at zero, Hyannis put up its first threat of the day in the fourth inning when Gabe Camacho (UC San Diego) ended a stretch of 10 straight batters retired by Tate with a base hit. Camacho moved over to third with two outs on a couple of wild pitches, but Tate worked out of the jam by getting Andrew Williamson (UCF) to ground out to second base.
After Will Gasparino (Texas) walked to begin the bottom of the fourth, Will Baker (Georgia Tech) hit a grounder into right field to put runners at the corners with no outs. Garrett Wright (Tennessee) and Jack Bell (TCU) kept the line moving with a couple of ground ball hits, both resulting in RBI singles to make it 2-0 Y-D.
“When runners are in scoring position, I just try to get something to hit and put it in play,” Bell said. “I was a little out in front, and it luckily got through.”
Y-D added another run when Wright came across to score on a double play. Hyannis responded immediately as Stone Lawless (Tennessee) crushed the first pitch of the fifth inning over the wall in left field to make it 3-1. After a single from Jason Walk (Oklahoma) put runners at second and first with one out, Zach Harris (Georgia) came in to replace Tate on the mound for Y-D.
Harris committed an error on a pickoff attempt that made it 3-2 and pushed the tying run up to third; however, he was able to escape with the lead by painting a fastball on the inside corner to Jaxon Willits (Oklahoma) to end the inning.
Harris pulled off a magic act with bases loaded in the seventh inning by inducing a 5-6-3 double play off the bat of Ryan McKay (Michigan State) to preserve Y-D’s one-run advantage.
Bo Rhudy (Tennessee) came into the game for Y-D in the eighth to face 3-4-5 in the Hyannis order. Following an infield hit from Willits, Camacho lined a fastball down the right field line that rolled all the way to the wall for a game-tying RBI triple. With one out, Williamson sent a fly ball to left field deep enough to score Camacho from third and give Hyannis its first lead of the day.
Santi Garcia (Central Arizona) was stellar out of the bullpen for Hyannis, tossing four hitless innings with two walks and four strikeouts. He set down Y-D in order for the second straight inning in the eighth, putting Y-D on the brink of its first loss since June 17.
With no hits since the fourth inning, Y-D had to try and rally against Ryan Speshyock (Stanford) out of the Hyannis bullpen in the ninth. Speshyock retired Wright to start the inning, but Bell put together a seven-pitch walk in the next at-bat to put the tying run on base.
“I took a strike to kind of see what this pitcher was going to throw me,” Bell said. “He was attacking with the fastballs, but just not around the zone, so I knew he was going to throw a ball eventually.”
Dean Carpentier (USC), representing the winning run, scorched a breaking ball 102 MPH off the left field wall for a double to move Bell up to third. After Hyannis intentionally walked Dowd, Avery Ortiz (Oklahoma State), who was playing in his first game since June 17, delivered a fly ball that fell in front of the center fielder for a walk-off two-run single to give Y-D a thrilling 5-4 victory.
With the win, Y-D moves to 10-2-1 and has matched the longest winning streak for the team since 2017 at nine games.
“It’s just playing one pitch at a time,” Bell said. “I don’t think the inning or anything gets too big for us, so if we play it one pitch at a time, we’re going to come out successful.”
After an off day on Monday, Y-D will look to extend its winning streak to double digits when it travels to play Cotuit at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
