The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox fell 4-3 to the Cotuit Kettleers in the team’s first loss of the 2026 season on Friday. Y-D, now 5-1, is in first place in the Cape Cod East Division and has the best record in the CCBL but faces divisional competition against the 4-1, four-game win-streak Harwich Mariners.
In tonight’s game, Y-D experienced its largest round of sluggish bat fever this season.
In previous games, the team had often scored runs in the back half of games through big hits or aggressive baserunning, putting up insurance run upon insurance run. But the offense was unusually quiet this evening.
Although the team recorded a run in the bottom of the second, courtesy of a Kevin Takeuchi (University of Southern California) leadoff walk, a subsequent Takeuchi steal, and an RBI fielder’s choice grounder by Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt University) to knock in Takeuchi, they did not score again until the eighth inning.
By the eighth, Y-D was down by two but scored two in the bottom of the inning to force a 3-2 lead. They were struggling to get the big hits, so in pure Y-D fashion, they stayed on their toes and adjusted their playing style, mid-game, to small-ball.
Down 2-1, Ty Mainolfi (Boston College) singled to right field and stole second, displaying aggressiveness on the base path. Jake Souders (Mississippi State) then grounded out to advance Mainolfi to third.
With a runner on third and one out, Phoenix Call (University of California-Los Angeles) pinch hit for slugger Ethan Ball (Virginia Tech) after a Cotuit pitching change.
Call, a small-ball connoisseur with a niche for getting on base often (he had a .387 on-base percentage last season), laid down a picturesque bunt down the first-base line to knock in Mainolfi for a 2-2 tie.
Call thanked his “West Coast baseball” playing style for teaching him to execute small-ball tricks, like that bunt, in high-pressure moments.
“It felt really good,” Call said. “I think, I mean, it’s kind of just what West Coast baseball is about. So, it was just taking what we do back home and just trying to involve it here.”
After a sacrifice fly to drive in Call to give Y-D the 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, unfortunately for Y-D, Cotuit took a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth with an RBI knock from Seojun Oh (High Point) to center field.
Although Y-D’s Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) earned a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, followed by a Goodin hit-by-pitch, Y-D left both a tying and winning runner stranded to finalize the 4-3 loss.
Call summarized what Head Coach Scott Pickler had to say to the team after the underwhelming finish.
“Just focus on tomorrow. Don’t dwell on [the loss] because there’s a lot of games, so just worry about tomorrow and put this behind us.”
Small-ball-Call and the Y-D Red Sox will look to snap their one-game losing streak on Saturday, at home, against the Bourne Braves at 4:30 EST.
