YD HELD HITLESS THROUGH FIVE INNINGS AS OFFENSE STRUGGLES IN 1-0 LOSS

An offense that has proven itself early on in this season looked fragile Friday night. In a game that involved quick working and hard throwing pitchers, the YD Red Sox earned their second loss of the season 1-0 to the Brewster Whitecaps dropping their record to 4-2-1.
  The story from this game has to be the pitching of Whitecaps right-hander, Anthony Bucciferro, who entered the game with only one start under his belt. In that previous start, however, he threw six innings allowing only one hit and one run including seven strikeouts. He pitched brilliantly again versus the Red Sox, holding the YD squad hitless through five innings, until shortstop Matt Wessinger ripped a single with one out in the sixth. Bucciferro went seven strong innings, allowing only one hit and striking out five and the Brewster bullpen closed it out.
  The sixth inning looked promising for the Red Sox; after Wessinger got on base, first baseman Mason Katz drove a deep ball to right-center field that looked to be his third home run of the season. But a great play by the Whitecaps centerfielder put out Katz and doubled off Wessinger who was standing on third base.
  The Red Sox did not lack base runners as players reached base in four of the seven innings Bucciferro pitched due to walks, hit by pitches, or errors. The Red Sox threatened to score the first run of the game in the top of the third when the speedy Isaac Ballou beat out a bobbled ball by the Whitecaps first baseman and advanced to third after stealing second and a throwing error by Bucciferro. The YD designated hitter, John Adornetto walked with two outs and stole second, attempting to possibly get caught in a run down so Ballou could score from third. However, with runners on second and third and two outs, the Red Sox could not capitalize on their best opportunity of the evening.
  Of course, the Red Sox would not have been able to keep this a close game without great pitching from starting pitcher Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez went 4 2/3 allowing only three hits and striking out five, including a strike out of the side in the bottom of the second. He left with the bases loaded in the fifth after a single and a couple walks. The lone run scored by the Whitecaps came on wild pitch by relief man Aaron Schuldt, who despite allowing the winning run to score from third, has been very valuable for the YD team this season. Schuldt entered the game with a 1.59 ERA through 5 2/3 innings and threw 2 1/3 with three strikeouts and only two base runners.
  Another reason the Red Sox were able to stay in this game until the very end was the ability for the defense to turn crucial double plays. The Red Sox completed three double plays during the game, even though only one of them was conventional. The capacity to make these plays allowed the Red Sox to escape a couple jams during the course of the game and prevent the Whitecaps from scoring any security runs.
  It was a tough loss for the YD Red Sox on Friday but they carry on with another away game against the Falmouth Commodores on Saturday. The Red Sox defeated the Commodores 6-0 just six days ago during their opening home game, so they will look to continue their success against Falmouth and put this difficult loss behind them.