Pitching Propels Red Sox Past Anglers

(Photo of Landon Beidelschies courtesy of Zachh Foley)

By: Kieran Wilson

The Y-D Red Sox notched their third win of the young season against the Chatham Anglers on Wednesday, June 14, at “Red” Wilson Field. They won the game by a final score of 5-3 behind strong pitching performances by Smith Pinson and Landon Beidelschies.

Of his two pitchers, manager Scott Pickler said, “It was awesome. [Pinson] had a three-pitch mix, he kept them off balance, and after the first two innings, I thought he was electric. I thought he did a very good job, and I thought Beidelschies was outstanding. It was really good.”

Smith Pinson, a right-hander from Kennesaw State, had a relatively easy first inning. He allowed a single to Chatham’s Kaeden Kent and threw a wild pitch, allowing him to advance to second base. But he managed to pick off Kent after he tried to steal third base to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Red Sox offense got the scoring started early in the first inning. The second batter of the inning, Will King continued his hot streak, smoking a first-pitch double into left-center field. Singles by Casey Cook and Max Viera brought King home and gave Y-D a 1-0 lead.

That lead would not last long though, as Chatham’s Lyle Miller-Green hit a leadoff home run to tie the game in the second inning. 

Jakob Christian led off the home half of the second inning with a deep shot to left-center. The center-fielder pursed it well, but couldn’t haul it in, and Christian found himself on second base with a double. Enzo Apodaca followed with a lengthy at-bat, eventually poking a double into right field and driving Christian in, and giving Y-D a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the third, Viera reached first on an error by the shortstop and then promptly stole second. Hunter Hines sent a ball into the gap a few pitches later, driving Viera home and increasing the Red Sox lead to 3-1. 

Pinson gave up a walk to start the fourth inning, but then induced a 4-6-3 double play and struck out the next Angler batter to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, Pinson allowed a one-out walk, and two batters later, gave up an RBI double, making the score 3-2. But he got out of the inning after Chatham’s two-hole hitter flied out to left field. Pinson pitched five full innings, allowing four hits, 2 runs, and striking out 5.

Landon Beidelschies, out of Ohio State, relieved Pinson in the top of the sixth inning. He allowed a single to Miller-Green and then an RBI double to Kyson Donahue, which knotted the score at 3 apiece.

But Beidelschies completely found his groove after the sixth. He ended up finishing the game, pitching four full innings while only giving up 3 hits and striking out five Anglers.

After the game, he revealed that he hadn’t thrown more than two innings in a game since high school. Beidelschies said, “I felt my stuff was good in the pen, really got that changeup going, which I’ve struggled with in the past. Having that pitch there today was pretty effective.”

The Red Sox offense would help out their pitcher in the seventh and eighth innings. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Casey Cook was hit by a pitch. Then, on a perfectly executed hit-and-run, Cook took off for second and Max Viera lined a base hit to center field, allowing Cook to take third base. Hunter Hines followed with a single to right field, putting the Red Sox up 4-3.

In the eighth, Enzo Apodaca, Collier Cranford, and Nathan Archer all singled to load the bases. Then Will King came to the plate and reached on a fielder’s choice to the second baseman, which allowed Apodaca to score, putting Y-D up 5-3.

The scoring would end there, with Beidelschies striking out two of the Chatham batters he faced in the ninth inning to seal to win.

The Red Sox improved to 3-2 on the season and will take on the Harwich Mariners at 4:45 PM at “Red” Wilson Field on Friday, June 16.