DOMINANT PERFORMANCE BY APPEL PAVES WAY FOR PLAYOFF WIN
After spending much of the summer with the collegiate Team U.S.A., Mark Appel made his first start for the YD Red Sox two and a half weeks ago on the same field in which he stood last night. There was much excitement brewing around YD Nation to witness the lights-out pitching that Appel was rumored to possess. In a 2-0 loss to Orleans on July 20, Appel threw six innings of shut out baseball allowing only three hits while striking out three. His bullpen gave up a couple runs in the eighth inning and the offense was swinging at air that night.
Now making his third start of the season with approximately 2,000 sets of eyes on him, Appel knew he had to come back with even better stuff his second time around. He came out throwing gas, sitting comfortable between 94 and 96 miles per hour all night. He dazzled the crowd and hitters alike with his halting change up and sweeping slider. Mark Appel single handedly notched the first playoff win for the YD Red Sox.
The fourth-seeded Red Sox (1-0) defeated the Eastern Division Champion Orleans Firebirds (0-1), who had won eleven of their last twelve games, 4-0 last night at Eldredge Park in Orleans. Mark Appel went up against Orleans hurler John Brebbia who was 2-2 with a 2.43 ERA entering the match up. Each starter threw eight innings, Appel’s share trumping that of Brebbia’s.
Mark Appel likely could have thrown a complete game yet with each playoff game so fragile, Coach Pickler elected to bring Matt Carasiti in to close the door on the deflated Firebirds squad. Appel tossed eight innings of shut out baseball baffling Orleans hitters on his way to ten strikeouts on the evening and scattering five hits across the board. Besides the second inning in which the Firebirds loaded the bases on a couple single and a walk (an inning Appel escaped via the K), no base runners passed first base. Appel only worked through two 1-2-3 innings, facing four batters in most innings or facing three and getting some help from his defense by a double play or a caught stealing.
Yesterday’s game featured an all-around productive Red Sox team. The pitching was near perfect, the defense, other than one blunder in the first, was solid, and the hitting came when it was necessary. Of the starting nine, seven had at least one hit in the game combining for eleven team hits, and every starter reached base at least once. Tyler Hanover and Cody Keefer were batting stars on the evening. Hanover went 4-4 (2 2Bs, 2 1Bs) and scored two runs while Keefer sported a .500 batting average on the day going 2-4 with a 2-run home run in the top of the fifth.
The Red Sox put up two runs on the board in the top of the third inning when Hanover lead off with a double down the left field line. Previously failing on his sacrifice bunt, Derrick Chung bunted with two strikes laying down a perfect roller that allowed him to reach base and move Hanover to third. The throw by Orleans third baseman Matt Duffy to get Chung got away from first baseman Ben Waldrip as Hanover darted home for the first YD run. The next two batters of the inning were retired when James Ramsey ripped his only hit of the day, a double, into the left center field gap scoring Chung from second base for the early 2-0 lead.
More two-out runs came for the Red Sox in the top of the fifth. After a Hanover single started the inning, Cody Keefer stepped to the plate with two outs and launched a high drive over the right field fence for his second home run of the season to propel YD’s lead to 4-0.
That would end as the final result of the game as the Red Sox snatched a huge win away from the Firebirds at Eldredge Park. The Red Sox now have a chance to win the series Saturday at home with Brian Johnson on the mound. First pitch is at 4 PM.
--Ben Stepansky
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