The hottest team in the league when the playoffs began is out. And now someone else is pretty hot in their own right.
Y-D finished off a sweep of top-seeded Orleans by winning an 11-10 slugfest with four runs in the ninth. Wareham also swept, rolling to a 12-3 victory over Bourne, the seventh win in a row for the Gatemen.
In the other two series, Falmouth and Harwich forced rubber games today.
Y-D had been labeled by many as a dark horse, and the Red Sox took game one behind a dominant pitching effort from Mark Appel. Game two was a lot shorter on pitching — the teams combined for 33 hits — but the Red Sox still found a way.
The Red Sox trailed 10-7 in the ninth, and trotting in from the bullpen was Orleans closer Trevor Gott (Kentucky), the Cape League’s Relief Pitcher of the Year.
That didn’t stop them. Y-D made it 10-8 with a James Ramsey (Florida State) solo home run. Stephen Piscotty (Stanford) then walked and Matt Reynolds (Arkansas) singled, but Gott induced Mason Katz (LSU) to pop out for the second out. Then Tyler Hanover (LSU) came through, hitting a single to score two and tie the game. Connor Harrell (Vanderbilt) followed with a walk-off double to plate Hanover with the winning run.
The loss was a heartbreaker for the Firebirds, who had rallied from a 5-1 deficit to take the lead. But the Red Sox had too much in the end. Ramsey, Katz, Hanover and Matt Wessinger (St. John’s) each had two hits, with Ramsey driving in three runs.
As for the other sweep, Wareham didn’t need any heroics in the 12-3 victory. The Gatemen trailed 2-1 early but scored five in the fourth and three in the sixth and never looked back. L.J. Mazzilli (UConn) had a homer and four RBI, while Robert Refsnyder (Arizona), Johnny Field (Arizona, Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech) and William Carmona (Stony Brook) all had two hits.
The big story for Wareham was starting pitcher Brent Suter (Harvard), who tossed a complete game, striking out eight and allowing two earned runs. Suter had been solid this season but not spectacular. On this night, he turned in — believe it or not — the first nine-inning complete game in the Cape League this summer. The only previous complete games had been in seven-inning doubleheaders. Heck of a time for the first one.
Elsewhere
What to Watch
Brewster at Harwich and Falmouth at Hyannis are both scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight, but the weather isn’t looking so good. Keep an eye on the Cape League’s twitter and Facebook pages for updates.