EAST BRIDGEWATER – Not invited to the Super Eight as they had hoped, the East Bridgewater (17-2) Vikings did not give the appearance of a team that had not played since May 26, nor did they appear to be phased by instead taking a #2 seed in the Division 3 South Sectionals.
Dennis-Yarmouth’s Ben Chapasko (3) implores Mike Dunn to slide at home as Dunn scores the Dolphins’ third run in the top of the third inning in Monday’s D3 South Sectional Quarterfinal loss to East Bridgewater.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
The host Vikings jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on the visiting #7 Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins (11-9) and held their own on a pair of Dolphin comeback attempts and in the end eliminated the guests from postseason contention and the D3 quarterfinals at Strong Field, 12-7.
East Bridgewater’s Connor Gavin (6-1) came out firing on all cylinders in this match-up, ran into some trouble in the third inning when he walked the bases loaded with one out and gave up three runs, but ultimately he made it through five innings for the win. Gavin struck out six, walked four and allowed six runs on six hits and one hit batsman.
Dennis-Yarmouth head coach J.D. Stone was forced to go the bullpen three times and utilized a total of four pitchers including starter Gandin McCaffrey, lefty Drew Gallant, Jacob Gleason and Trevor Allen.
McCaffrey allowed four runs in the bottom of the second inning and was taken out with bases loaded and one out and replaced with Gallant who induced a 1-2-3 inning-ending double play to escape more damage.
The Dolphins came back in the top of the third and loaded the bases with one out on three straight walks before Allen hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-1. Junior shortstop Mike Knell then ripped one to left to make it 4-2 and Gleason followed with an opposite field single to make it 4-3.
East Bridgewater got two of those runs back in the bottom of the third inning and tacked on another three in the fourth frame to make it 7-3. Dennis-Yarmouth would not relent, however, and came back with three runs in the top of the fifth on a pair of walks and a double by Knell to make it 7-6.
Dennis-Yarmouth’s Mike Knell leads off second base as East Bridgewater’s Connor Gavin delivers the pitch.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
A controversial call at home plate in the bottom of the fifth inning took away a cannon throw from Drew Cochran in left that would have kept at least three of five East Bridgewater runs off the scoreboard but it became clear that the hosts were not going to lay down for anything. When the dust finally settled in the fifth frame, the Vikings had rebuilt the lead to 12-6, but at that point the crowd had become nearly unruly after the call at home and the distraction was almost palpable.
Dennis-Yarmouth tacked on one more run in the top of the seventh inning to make it 12-7 on a Ben Chapasko basehit and Max Baler RBI-single, but it proved the last few drops of gas left in the tank for the Dolphin nine.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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