By Max Brill
HARTFORD, CT?The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox shut out the Wareham Gatemen, 5-0, at Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford on Tuesday afternoon for the first ever out-of-state win of any franchise in CCBL history.
Tommy Mace (Florida) got the ball for Y-D?s final contest with Wareham on the season in his final start for the Sox. He made quick work of the Gatemen, throwing five scoreless innings, striking out five, and allowing just three baserunners, none of whom advanced past second base. Mace finishes the season with a 5.87 ERA in 15.1 innings but clearly demonstrated that he has what it takes to hang with the best talent the collegiate ranks have to offer with his effort Tuesday.
The Y-D bats stayed hot after faltering just prior to the All-Star break. Nick Quintana (Arizona) kicked off the scoring for the Sox with a solo shot to left in the third inning. Quintana?s four homers are tied for second on the team with Noah Campbell (South Carolina).
The offense was kept off the board after Quintana?s long ball until the sixth inning, when the Red Sox put up a three-spot. Y-D sent eight men to the plate, hit three singles, walked twice, and at one point had a stretch of five straight batters who all reached base safely.
Noah Campbell and Brad Beesley (Cal Poly) both picked up RBIs in the sixth, and Zach Ashford (Fresno State), Jonny DeLuca (Oregon), and Andrew Daschbach (Stanford), scored the runs for Y-D in the frame.
The Y-D bullpen was excellent from the sixth forward, throwing four shutout innings. Ty Madrigal (St. Mary?s), the first man called upon out of the ?pen, threw two-thirds of an inning, allowing two hits and no runs. Trenton Denholm (UC Irvine) came on in relief of Madrigal, tossing 3.1 perfect innings with two strikeouts. Denholm has now thrown 19.1 innings this summer without allowing an earned run, and has a 28:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio on the season.
The Sox added a run in the ninth when Brad Beesley tripled and Christian Koss (UC Irvine) brought him home on a sacrifice fly to end the scoring. Beesley finished the day 1-1 with a walk, run, and RBI, upping his batting average to .370 and his OPS to .995.
The End is in Sight
With seven games remaining on the regular season slate, the Red Sox offense is still first in the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored, and RBI. The pitching staff hasn?t been half bad either; they?re first in strikeouts and strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Y-D has a ten-point lead over Chatham in the division and a four-point lead over Hyannis for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The team?s magic number to clinch the division is four, meaning that with any combination of wins and Chatham losses adding to four, Y-D will clinch.
For home field advantage, the team?s magic number is seven.
Play of the Game
Nick Quintana?s homer in the third to kick off the scoring for the Red Sox. Quintana entered play on Tuesday hitting .400 over his last four games and continued his hot streak by launching a homer over the left field fence, the only long ball of the day for either side. Quintana finished the day 2-4, raising his average to .261.
The Sox are back in action Wednesday evening against the Orleans Firebirds. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m at Red Wilson Field.
