Andrew Thurman tossed a complete game shutout, striking out 13, to lead Y-D over Falmouth 3-0.
By: Corey Burns
Andrew Thurman put the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on his back Sunday evening pitching a complete game shut out allowing just three hits, no walks, and striking out 13 Commodores.
Thurman was determined to put the team back on track, saying, ?after the tough loss last night, it was a new day. Coach Pickler came up to us before the game and said you know this is baseball. We just got to go out there and play hard everyday. I wanted to take it upon myself to do well tonight, I executed my pitches, my defense played well behind me and everything worked out.?
Sean Dwyer, who went 2-3, led the Red Sox offensively. He hit his fourth homerun of the year in the third inning that gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, which is all the offense they would need. Dwyer also doubled in the fifth and scored their second run. The final run was scored on Sean McHugh?s first homerun of the year.
After taking the lead in the third, Thurman turned it up a notch and refused to let his team lose a second straight game after a tough loss the night before. From the top of the fourth on, Thurman allowed just one hit and recorded 10 of his strikeouts, including six consecutive in the eighth and ninth to earn the victory.
?It was mainly about the pitches I was throwing. I was keeping them down, I was mixing in every pitch pretty much, curveball, slider, and the change up,? Thurman said. ?The change up was a little off today but I was excited to do well for our team. We had a tough loss last night but the guys played well behind me and I was happy to do what I did.?
Thurman improved his record to 3-2 on the season, dropped his earned run average from 5.66 to 3.94, and boosted his total strikeouts to 38, fourth best in the league so far this season.
He credited his defense for this victory, ?our defense has been great all year, haven?t committed that many errors, they played hard and that?s all a pitcher can ask. My catcher, Sean McHugh did well tonight, he was making some good blocks back there and framing some good pitches. Overall the defense played well, Sean Dwyer made some good plays, we played well as a team tonight.?
John Simms took the loss for Falmouth in his first start of the season, falling to 0-3. However, Simms, the team leader in saves with four, definitely showed some promise as a starter on the rubber.
Despite the loss and a dominating performance by Thurman, Simms only allowed 5 hits, 3 earned runs, and had eight strikeouts of his own. Seven were on a filthy curveball that left six Y-D batters looking at a called third strike.
The Y-D Red Sox are looking to win 9 out of their last 10 on Monday evening at Red Wilson Field when they make up last weeks rain out against the Cotuit Kettleers.
