For the third time in the span of a week, the two best teams on the Cape battled in a one-run contest as Y-D held off Hyannis for a 2-1 victory at Red Wilson Field on Friday.
Friday’s matchup marked the second day in a row where the East and West Division leaders faced off against one another, with Hyannis pulling off a 3-2 win in a rain-shortened game on Thursday. Y-D won the first meeting between the teams in a thrilling 5-4 walk-off victory on Sunday, setting up Friday’s game to break the tie in the season series.
Hyannis and Y-D entered the game at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the Cape League OPS leaderboard. However, pitching was the story on Friday, beginning with Brady Hamilton (Wichita State) on the mound for Y-D. Hamilton wrapped up a scoreless first inning by getting Gabe Camacho (UC San Diego) to chase a slider in the dirt for a strikeout.
On the other side, Tsubasa Tomii (Pima CC) toed the rubber for the Harbor Hawks and set down Y-D 1-2-3 in the first inning without throwing a single fastball. He ended the frame by catching Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) looking at a slider on the outside corner, marking the first time that Hacopian went down on strikes all season after 61 plate appearances without a strikeout.
Tomii held Y-D hitless with his unique pitch arsenal until the third inning when Brayden Dowd (USC) came to the plate with a runner on first and one out. Dowd lined a slider down the right field line and raced into third for an RBI triple to put Y-D in front 1-0.
“I think the first time around, the entire order wasn’t really sure what to expect from [Tomii],” Dowd said. “Second time around, we were really able to capitalize. We saw what he was trying to do in each at-bat; we were able to take advantage and hunt our zones.”
The run-scoring triple not only provided an early spark for Y-D as a team but also snapped an 0-14 stretch at the plate for Dowd.
“The greats always say, ‘When you get in a slump, that’s kind of the best feeling because you know you’re due,’” Dowd said. “I knew I just had to stick to my plan, and eventually it was going to start to turn around. Still, there’s a lot of progress to be made by me, but it definitely felt good to strike first today.”
After Hyannis brought Mason Russell (Arizona) in from the bullpen, Y-D tacked on an insurance run in the fourth inning. Will Baker (Georgia Tech) chopped a ball down the right field line for a double, scoring Avery Ortiz (Oklahoma State) all the way from first.
Hamilton continued to cruise on the mound, needing just 24 total pitches to retire six consecutive hitters in the fourth and fifth innings. With five shutout innings on Friday, Hamilton lowered his ERA to 1.00, which is the lowest mark among starting pitchers on the Cape.
Y-D turned to Derek Schaefer (Arizona State) out of the bullpen in the sixth, who ran into some trouble. The Harbor Hawks put runners at the corners with two outs when Stone Lawless (Tennessee) lined a 93 MPH fastball into right field for an RBI single to cut Y-D’s lead to 2-1. After issuing a walk to load the bases, Schaefer escaped further damage by getting Hayden Federico (Ole Miss) to fly out.
Schaefer settled down in the seventh inning by retiring the side in just 10 pitches. Meanwhile, Russell and Max Stammel (Duke) held Y-D’s offense in check out of the Hyannis bullpen, with only three hits allowed in five innings between the two of them.
With the help of an impressive running play at the wall by AJ Soldra (UConn), Schaefer worked another scoreless inning in the eighth to preserve the one-run advantage. Y-D turned to Bo Rhudy (Tennessee) in the ninth, who was looking for his third save of the season.
Federico led off the final frame with a line-drive base hit off Rhudy and advanced over to second on a passed ball in the next at-bat. Following a sacrifice bunt from Jake Schaffner (North Dakota State), the tying run was just 90 feet away with one out.
Rhudy buckled down and struck out both Charlie Bates (Stanford) and Matthew Miura (Hawaii) on 90 MPH fastballs at the top of the zone, letting out a jubilant yell as he secured the 2-1 victory for Y-D.
“When you have the fans we do on the Fourth of July, you just want to play,” Dowd said. “It’s a ton of fun to play in front of your home crowd on a holiday like the Fourth of July, and it was awesome to send these guys home happy.”
With the win, Y-D moves to 11-4-2 and remains undefeated at Red Wilson Field this season. Y-D will look to maintain its momentum when it travels to play Bourne at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
