10-Time Cape Cod Baseball League Champions



Gem From Jacome, Bickford Launch Sox To Finals

By Anthony Santaniello

Box Score

HARWICH, Mass. ? Justin Jacome pitched 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball and Phil Bickford came in for a 2.2 inning save to put the Y-D Red Sox into the 2014 Cape Cod Baseball League Finals.

After Harwich?s impressive offensive output in Game 2 of the East Division Finals, the Mariners only mustered 4 hits against Y-D?s pitching. The Red Sox didn?t have a great offensive performance by any standard, but it was the timely hitting that ended up giving them the victory.

The action started in the top half of the second inning, when Sox first baseman Josh Lester (Missouri) singled to centerfield. Rob Fonseca (Northeastern) followed that up with another single to left field to put a runner into scoring position. In the ensuing at bat, Joey Armstrong (UNLV) grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, which advanced Lester to third. Filling in for Jesse Jenner (San Diego) behind the plate, Marcus Mastrobuoni (Cal State Stanislaus) hit a chopper to third base. Mariner third baseman Danny Zardon (LSU) bobbled the ball and it escaped his glove, bringing Lester around from third to score the first run of the game.

Continuing with the theme of the postseason for Y-D, any type of run support would suffice.

The one run of support would give Jacome (Cal Santa Barbara) plenty of room to work with. He shut down 11 straight batters, starting in the bottom of the second inning and going all the way to the bottom of the fifth with two outs.

The fifth was really the only hiccup of the night for the Y-D pitching duo, as Harwich had runners on first and second with two outs before Jacome got Joe McCarthy (Virginia) to ground out to AJ Simcox (Tennessee) to end the threat.

Phil Bickford (Cal State Fullerton) came in with one out in the seventh inning and was as lights out as a pitcher could be. Out of the nine batters he faced, only one reached base. He handled the Home Run Derby champion Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) with two outs in the ninth, by delivering a 95 mph fastball at the eyes to get Annunziata swinging to end the series.

Y-D moved past the top two teams in the East Division, and now have a date with the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League Finals. Game 1 is set for Wednesday night at 6:30 at Arnie Allen Diamond in Falmouth.


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