On Saturday, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox lost 5-4 to the Orleans Firebirds in ten innings to make a 19-3-1 record this season. Although Orleans earned a walk off win in the tenth inning, courtesy of a ground ball to right field by Orleans’ Johnathan Gomez (Fairleigh Dickinson), Y-D had solid performances across the roster. Players combined to create an offensive rally, put up gold-glove caliber defense, and dominate pitching.
The biggest inning for Y-D’s offense was the third, which began with an RBI double from Phoenix Call (University of California Los-Angeles). Minutes later, Reid Howard (University of Virginia) hit a two-run RBI to center field to put Y-D ahead 2-1.
Then, Kevin Takeuchi (University of Southern California) doubled to advance him to third, which put Howard in position to score on a Jake Souders (Mississippi State) sacrifice fly to center field. This gave Y-D a 3-1 lead.
Call was not only an igniter of the third inning’s offensive rally, but held his own on the defensive end as well. In addition to the ball traffic to center field this game, one of Call’s catches was not simply routine but majestic; a ball was hit over his head and he caught it while running full speed and facing the home run fence.
“I kind of just put my head down and ran…I don’t know, I wasn’t going for a read, I was just trying to get to the ball,” Call told Y-D sideline reporter Olivia Lambert.
This catch was only a few feet away from a similar catch Call made for Y-D back in 2023, where he was also running toward the fence and snowconed the fly ball.
On the mound for Y-D, Dimitri Angelakos (Georgia Tech) pitched the first three innings, where he allowed three hits, one earned run, and one walk with one strikeout. The right-hander now holds a 1.23 ERA this season.
Two-way player Brock Ketelsen (Stanford University) followed Angelakos for 1 and ⅔ innings with two hits and two earned runs allowed, but managed three strikeouts. Charles Andrews (Arkansas-Little Rock) followed for 1 and ⅓ innings with one hit and one walk allowed, and three strikeouts.
Then, Andrew Wright (Cal State Fullerton) came on the mound with one of his strongest outings this summer. Over three innings, the left-hander allowed no hits and earned two strikeouts, all while keeping his 0.00 ERA.
“I feel like really all of [my pitches] were working, I was just locating them well for the most part,” said Wright. “Both [against] left and right-handed hitters, I was able to set my four seam in the zone enough to just keep them off balance and keep them guessing.”
To add to the excitement of his strong performance, Wright was named to the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game only a few hours before Saturday’s game. He shared his reaction to hearing the news.
“I was just pumped up. I was really excited, felt great.”
Y-D will look to revive its winning streak on Sunday, July 12 against the Harwich Mariners, at home, at 4:30 pm EDT.
