In a six-day span, the teams with the two best records on the Cape faced off in three separate one-run games, with Y-D winning two of three over Hyannis.
The first game during this stretch on June 29 was one to remember, as Y-D and Hyannis went back-and-forth throughout the night at Red Wilson Field, ending with a Y-D rally in the ninth inning for a walk-off victory.
Both Y-D and Hyannis had high-octane pitchers on the mound to start game one. Dylan Tate (Oklahoma) toed the rubber for Y-D, holding Hyannis’ league-leading offense to only one run in 4.1 innings pitched. For the Harbor Hawks, Carson Jasa (Nebraska) was dominant in his 2.2 scoreless innings of work, racking up six strikeouts with one hit allowed.
Y-D jumped out in front 3-0 in the fourth inning thanks to three consecutive hits from Will Baker (Georgia Tech), Garrett Wright (Tennessee) and Jack Bell (TCU).
Hyannis clawed back with a couple of runs in the fifth inning to make it a one-run ballgame. Santi Garcia (Central Arizona) tossed four shutout innings out of the Harbor Hawks bullpen to keep the game within reach.
With no outs and a runner on first in the eighth inning, Gabe Camacho (UC San Diego) shot a line drive down the right field line for an RBI triple to tie it up at 3-3. Andrew Williamson (UCF) hit a sacrifice fly to bring Camacho in to score and give Hyannis its first lead of the day.
Y-D didn’t back down in the ninth inning, as Dean Carpentier (USC) scorched a double off the left field wall to put the tying and winning runs into scoring position with one out. After Brayden Dowd (USC) got intentionally walked, Avery Ortiz (Oklahoma State) hit a fly ball that fell in front of the center fielder for a two-run walk-off single to give Y-D a 5-4 win.
The thrilling win not only kept Y-D at the top of the Cape League standings but also marked its ninth consecutive victory, which matched the longest streak in team history (during the Cape League Modern Era).
The second meeting between Y-D and Hyannis came on Thursday at McKeon Park. In a rain-shortened game, Hyannis got its revenge by scoring a run in the eighth inning to secure a 3-2 victory.
Once again in game two, Y-D got on the scoreboard first when Carpentier crushed a breaking ball from Richie Roman (Houston) 380 feet over the left field wall for a two-run homer in the second inning. The Harbor Hawks responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning on a pair of two-out RBI hits from Jeff Lougee (Duke) and Hayden Federico (Ole Miss).
Roman and the Hyannis bullpen shut down Y-D’s bats after the Carpentier homer, allowing just four baserunners the rest of the way. Michael Catalano (Oklahoma) matched all the zeros out of the Y-D bullpen, with six strikeouts in 3.1 innings, until the eighth inning when Ryan McKay (Michigan State) and Jaxon Willits (Oklahoma) hit back-to-back doubles to bring in a run.
Shortly after Hyannis took the lead in the eighth, the game was called due to dangerous weather conditions, evening up the season series. This set up a Fourth of July rubber match between the Harbor Hawks and Y-D the next day back at Red Wilson Field.
The third game was just as nail-biting as the first two, as Y-D held off a late rally from Hyannis to pull off a 2-1 victory in a pitcher’s duel. Brady Hamilton (Wichita State) was spectacular on the mound for Y-D, tossing five scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 1.00.
Hamilton got run support from an RBI triple down the right field line from Dowd in the third inning and a run-scoring double from Baker in the fourth.
“When you have a guy like Brady on the bump, who’s pitching so well, that’s the type of guy you want to score even more for,” Dowd said following the game on Friday. “You just know if we can get a run or two here for him, he’s going to be able to lock it down.”
After the Harbor Hawks got a run back in the sixth inning, Y-D’s defense helped preserve the one-run lead in the seventh. AJ Soldra (UConn) made an outstanding running catch at the wall in left field, and Cody Miller (East Tennessee State) made a heads-up play to cut down a runner trying to score to end the inning.
Bo Rhudy (Tennessee) entered for Y-D to try and secure the tense victory in the ninth inning. Hyannis pushed a runner to third with just one out, but Rhudy delivered his biggest pitches of the season when he struck out both Charlie Bates (Stanford) and Matthew Miura (Hawaii) on 90 MPH fastballs at the top of the zone to complete the 2-1 win.
Following this potential Championship Series preview, both Y-D and Hyannis still lead their divisions. Y-D also has a three-point advantage over Hyannis for the best overall record in the Cape League.
The final meeting of the regular season between Y-D and the Harbor Hawks will be on July 15 at 6 p.m. in Hyannis.
