Gatemen win one, lose one in doubleheader at YD
June 25, 2018 8:19 pm | by Andrew Lang
Gatemen win one, lose one in doubleheader at YD
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YARMOUTH – The Wareham Gatemen split their doubleheader against the YD Red Sox Sunday afternoon. Wareham won game one 10-4 before losing game two 4-3.
Game one:
A struggling Gatemen offense jumped out to an 8-0 lead en route to pounding out 10 runs on 10 hits.
After the first eight Gatemen were retired in order, RF Dominic Clementi reached on an infield single for his first hit of the year. CF Jeremy Ydens followed it up with a single of his own and 2B Oliver Dunn got on to load the bases after getting hit by the pitch.
1B Andrew Vaughn was up next and he hit a slow roller to third. Red Sox third baseman Nick Quintana picked it up and fired across the diamond to try and get Vaughan on a bang-bang play.
The throw may have beaten Vaughn to the bag, but it sailed wide and Vaughn was safe at first and a run scored. The ball got past the first baseman Andrew Daschbach and another run came in to score giving Wareham a 2-0 lead.
In the next inning, the Gatemen added another crooked number to their run total.
3B Austin Shenton led off the inning with a walk and SS Bryson Stott followed it up by ripping a double to right field, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs.
DH Lael Lockhart Jr. smashed a 3-run homer to right and gave Wareham a 5-0 cushion. It was Lockhart’s first homer of the Cape season.
An inning later, Vaughn was back at it again as he walloped a first pitch fastball to dead center field for a 2-run homer. This was Vaughn’s fifth and final homer for the Gatemen this summer before leaving for Team USA.
The Gatemen hitters certainly took advantage of the launch pad that is known as Merrill “Red” Wilson Field.
The dimensions of this field read 346 feet to left, 352 feet to center, and 338 feet to right. It is easily the smallest field in the Cape League and it showed in game one.
“Just because it’s a small ballpark doesn’t mean you’re going to score a ton of runs. It’s the same for both sides,” manager Don Sneddon said.
After the Gatemen 8-0 lead was cut to 8-4, Jeremy Ydens added some more insurance with a 2-run single in the seventh. The Gatemen were then up 10-4 and that held for the final score.
In this game, every Gatemen hitter contributed to the win. Six of nine batters had hits for Wareham and the three who did not either scored a run or had an RBI.
“No one stuck out individually. It was a pretty good group effort. Everyone was getting good hacks,” Sneddon said.
RHP Cade Cavalli got the start for Wareham and he threw three shutout innings despite walking four Red Sox hitters. Right handers Nathan Florence and Cody Carroll did not look sharp in their relief of Cavalli as they gave up four runs total. However, they threw the final four frames of the game and were able to hold onto the lead.
Final: Gateman 10, Red Sox 4
Game two:
After two appearances out of the bullpen, RHP Will Proctor got his first start of the Cape season and did not disappoint.
Proctor dazzled for five innings of shutout baseball making quick work of the Red Sox lineup. Proctor allowed three hits and struck out three hitters. Most impress of all, he did not walk a single hitter.
“That’s a step up for Proctor. I’m really excited to see that, it’s good for his mental psyche. He dominated for five innings, that was a great performance,” Sneddon said.
Will Proctor lowered his ERA to 1.86 with his start yesterday.
After five innings, the Gatemen were up 2-0 and looked in control of game number two. LF Bryant Packard and 1B Parker Phillips each hit solo shots to give the Gatemen their two runs. Wareham appeared to be well on its way to sweeping the doubleheader, but then the sixth inning came around.
The day was done for Proctor and RHP Brenden White was summoned from the bullpen. White gave up a single to the first hitter he faced but then proceeded to walk a man two batters later with one out.
With runners on first and second, White was quickly pulled. RHP Tyler Keysor entered looking to shut the door for Wareham. Keysor had been excellent in his first four appearances allowing just one run and had a 2.08 ERA to show for it.
Keysor struggled with command and quickly fell behind on his first batter 3-1. DH Quin Cotton took the 3-1 pitch and singled to cut the Wareham lead to 2-1.
On the first pitch to the next hitter, LF Reese Albert hit a lofty fly ball to right field that just snuck over the fence. His 3-run homer gave the Red Sox a 4-2 lead and capped off a 4-run sixth inning.
“Well we let it get away in an inning. We had too many walks, we didn’t throw strikes. It was a little bit of a disappointment,” Sneddon said.
“If the other team hits and they win the game, that’s a whole different thing. If we make errors or walk guys that’s where it’s hard to swallow. That one big inning is enough to erase six other good innings.”
In the seventh, Wareham had one shot at a comeback and came up inches short. Ydens had an RBI single with two outs to cut the lead to 4-3.
With runners on first and second, 2B Sahid Valenzuela, one of the heroes from Saturday night’s win, had a chance to tie the game for Wareham with two outs.
Valenzuela put a good swing on it and hit a fly ball to the right center field gap. The ball held up just long enough as the center fielder was able to track it down and end the game.
Final: Red Sox 4, Gatemen 3
Next up: The Gatemen (9-5) are off on Monday before traveling to Hyannis on Tuesday to take on the second place Harbor Hawks (7-4-1) at McKeon Park. First pitch at 6:00 p.m.
