Donovan Burke (James Madison) dazzled for the Mariners with one run allowed over eight innings and Harwich eliminated Y-D from the Cape League playoffs with a 5-1 win on Thursday at Whitehouse Field.
Harwich is set to make its first championship series appearance since 2019 as Burke posted the longest outing of his collegiate career. Burke effectively pitched-to-contact with 15 groundouts, generated four strikeouts and threw 69 of his 106 pitches for strikes.
The Mariners swept the best-of-three series against the Red Sox who went a combined 2-for-24 with runners in scoring position and stranded 25 runners on base during the playoffs. Y-D tallied 15 hits in the three playoff contests with a .161 batting average.
Left-hander Will Jones (Northeastern) made his second start with the Red Sox and allowed four runs - three earned - over 3 ⅓ innings with four strikeouts. Jones had one run come across in the first on an error and three in the fourth with a bases clearing double.
Harwich opened the scoring for the second straight game in the bottom of the first after a one-out single from Aiden Robbins (Seton Hall) was followed by a double from Cade Kurland (Florida). Will Tippett (South Carolina) couldn’t corral the ball cleanly in left field on Kurland’s two-base hit and Robbins scored to put the Mariners ahead 1-0.
The Red Sox didn’t have a base runner until the top of the third when Talmadge LeCroy (South Carolina) worked a 12-pitch walk. LeCroy and Tippett reached third and second, respectively with one out but were stranded.
The Mariners went scoreless in the second and third before adding to their lead in the bottom of the fourth. Macon Winslow (Duke) had the bases loaded with one out and cleared them with a three-run double as Harwich moved its lead to 4-0.
Sean Youngerman (Oklahoma State) entered out of the bullpen and inherited Winslow on second in the fourth. Youngerman struck out four hitters in a row and Tippett threw out Kurland who tried to extend a bloop single into a double to end the fifth inning.
Ethan Petry (South Carolina) extended his on-base streak to 20 games with a two-out walk in the top of the sixth. Anthony Martinez (UC Irvine) reached second on double and moved Petry to third but Y-D was held scoreless by Burke.
Eight of the 11 outs Youngerman recorded came by way of the strikeout as he tallied a season-high in punch outs. Youngerman went 3 ⅔ innings with one run allowed and pitched on just one day of rest.
Matt Scannell (Wake Forest) led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and later scored after Youngerman’s throwing error in an attempt to retire Jake Ogden (Miami) who bunted. Harwich extended its lead to 5-0 with six outs to go.
The Red Sox scored its first run of the game in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI single from Ryan Sprock (Elon) but Kevin Zarnoch (UMass-Lowell) retired the next three hitters to end the contest.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
