When the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox tied up the game 6-6 against the Chatham Anglers, it was clear that the team was capable of riding highs in games, but also taking lows and turning them into highs. One of those lows for Y-D occurred when Chatham held a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning.
“The guys hung in there, they stayed in the fight,” said Gianinno. “To be able to come back from five runs down says a lot about the DNA of this group and the identity of this group.”
Y-D’s bats were virtually silent for the first half of the game, largely thanks to Anglers pitcher Jack Ohman (Yale University) who only allowed four hits and one earned run over five innings.
Y-D has proven to hit more aggressively on the road than at home. The team ranks sixth in the league in hits, seventh in slugging percentage, and eighth in on-base percentage at home, but leads the league in batting average, on-base percentage, and hits on the road.
Prior to the fifth inning, it seemed like the team’s dislike for hitting at home was coming through, as the squad only produced three hits until then.
Gianinno saw the offense struggling against Chatham’s pitching, but he wasn’t worried.
“That’s just the ebb and flow of baseball,” he said.
The fifth inning began with a fly out by Ethan Ball (Virginia Tech) to right field for the first out. Then came new arrival Reid Howard (Virginia), who welcomed himself to Red Wilson field with a deep drive into left field for a double. Then, Y-D’s Caleb Daniel (Georgia Tech) walked, Howard stole third, and Phoenix Call (University of California-Los Angeles) shot an RBI ground ball to third baseman Tyler Lichtenberger (Clemson) to score Howard.
Although Y-D only left the inning with one run on the board, it seemed to give the momentous push the offense needed. What followed, in the sixth inning, was a Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt University) single to left and a two-run home run from Mateo Serna (University of Alabama) to narrow Chatham’s lead to 5-3.
“To be honest, it’s like they don’t panic,” said Gianinno. “They sort of stay their course and play on pitch at a time. There’s a ton of resilience in this group.”
This showed in the bottom of the seventh when Chatham was ahead 6-3, and Daniel and Call began the inning with a strikeout and ground out. It was then that Y-D entered two-out-rally mode. Kevin Takeuchi singled, Brock Ketelsen doubled, Avery Ortiz walked, Tommy Goodin knocked in two runners, and Serna drove in the tying run.
“Was it unfortunate to go down and not have the good vibes for part of the game? Sure, but we got the momentum back,” said Gianinno.
Even with a struggling offense, Y-D never relented and fought to extend their winning streak to nine games. This is the mindset that has filled the 13-1-1 team throughout the historic season, Gianinno explained.
“It’s just, it’s part of this,” Gianinno said. “You’re seeing something you’ll never see again in your life.”
