By Max Brill
SOUTH YARMOUTH?The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox dropped game one of the East Division semifinals on Sunday evening, falling 5-4 to the defending champion Brewster Whitecaps.
Tommy Henry (Michigan) got the ball for the Red Sox in game one of the series and his stuff was simply not up to snuff. Henry lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits. He struck out two Whitecaps on the evening.
Chandler Fidel (Little Rock Arkansas) was excellent out of the bullpen, following Henry?s performance with three shutout innings of his own to hold Y-D over until the bats were able to make some noise later in the game.
The Red Sox bats were stifled by Zach Linginfelter (Tennessee) through the first four innings, managing just two hits off the flamethrowing right-hander. This is not the first time Linginfelter has had success against the Sox this season; his last time out against Y-D he threw five hitless shutout innings and struck out three.
In the fifth, though, Linginfelter faltered. He allowed a one-out walk to Zach Ashford (Fresno State) and was then removed for Zach Schneider, who the Sox knocked around for three more runs in the inning. Brad Beesley (Cal Poly), the first batter to face the new pitcher, singled to bring up Noah Campbell (South Carolina), who registered an RBI groundout to bring home the first Y-D run of the day.
Andrew Daschbach (Stanford) followed Campbell?s RBI with an RBI of his own, a single to plate Beesley. Jonny DeLuca (Oregon) was next up, and delivered the final blow of the inning, a two-run homer to dead center field to tie the game at four.
Gordon Ingebritson (Pasadena CC) followed Fidel out of the bullpen and was able to keep the Whitecaps off the board until the seventh inning. After allowing a leadoff double to Joe Donovan (Michigan), Ingebritson was lifted in favor of Trenton Denholm (UC Irvine), who allowed the inherited runner to score from second base on a check-swing triple from Ray Alejo (Ole Miss).
Denholm was spotless otherwise, allowing three hits and fanning seven in his three innings of work.
The Sox, despite threatening in the ninth, were unable to tie the game up and dropped game one of the series 5-4.
A Look Back, A Look Ahead
Zach Ashford had a day to remember on Sunday, going 3-4 with a walk, a run, and three stolen bases. Jonny DeLuca also stood out; aside from his game-tying home run he also had two stolen bases. Brad Beesley picked up two hits on the day.
This season, Y-D lost back-to-back games just twice the and haven?t dropped two straight since July 20th and 21st. Tomorrow, the Red Sox will need to pick up a win in order to keep their season alive.
The Red Sox are back in action tomorrow, August 6th, against Brewster for game two of the East Division semifinals. First pitch at Stony Brook Field is scheduled for 4 p.m.
