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Chatham can’t rally after 80-minute lightning delay, falls to Y-D 3-0
CHATHAM, Mass. — Luke Jackson just can’t catch a break.
On the Fourth of July, the Anglers’ righty was set to pick up his third start of the season, hoping to secure a win for the A’s over Orleans. But after suffering an untimely illness, he had to be pulled from his start in favor of Austin Breedlove (Tennessee/transfer) just minutes before the game. The Anglers ultimately defeated the Firebirds 7-5, but Jackson was forced to watch from the dugout.
Against Yarmouth-Dennis Tuesday, Jackson finally had a chance to redeem himself. Yet again, he was slated to start for the Anglers and the former Texas A&M righty had committed to Dallas Baptist just hours before first pitch. If everything went according to plan, it was shaping up to be one of the best days of Jackson’s Chatham career.
But it seems like nothing goes according to plan when it’s a Jackson bump day.
After Jackson got through three innings of work against the Red Sox, his start was interrupted due to a lightning delay. Once the Anglers returned to action approximately 80 minutes later, he was replaced on the mound by right-hander Tate Carey (Michigan). Yarmouth-Dennis (12-6-2, East) got out to an early two-run lead before the interruption, and it never relinquished it in Chatham’s (8-9-3, East) 3-0 loss at Veterans Field Tuesday.
“(Jackson) threw a lot of strikes, that was the main thing,” A’s manager Dennis Cook said. “Strikes (are) the thing that he has to really work on, and he did a great job tonight.”
Though early on, the Red Sox wasted no time establishing an advantage against Jackson. It took just five pitches for Y-D to get ahead on Chatham.
Jackson opened his outing by getting Yarmouth-Dennis leadoff man Cody Miller in a precarious 2-2 count. Just one strike away from his first punchout, he unleashed a 96 mile per hour offering to Miller. The Red Sox third baseman turned on it with ease, blasting his third homer of the season — and second against Chatham — over the right-field fence to give Y-D an early one-run lead.
This season, the leadoff spot in the A’s lineup has belonged to two Anglers: Ethan Mendoza (Texas) and Henry Ford (Tennessee). Following Chatham’s wild back-and-forth 11-8 win over Falmouth Sunday, both players departed the Cape, meaning Cook had to search for a new face to set the tone atop the Anglers’ lineup.
The mantle was passed to North Carolina third baseman Gavin Gallaher. Early on, it appeared he could fill their sizable shoes admirably.
“You’re only the leadoff hitter for the first inning, and the rest of the game, you’re just a hitter,” Cook said. “So I’ll experiment. I’ll find somebody that I like up there, and it might be Gavin.”
Facing Yarmouth-Dennis righty Carson Ballard, Gallaher led off the bottom of the first by grounding a single up the middle into center field. Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) subsequently lined a one-out single into left, and the A’s looked like they would cobble together a response to Miller’s aforementioned solo shot.
However, Gallaher was sent to third after AJ Soldra briefly bobbled Freeman’s single, and Y-D’s left fielder had all the time in the world to throw him out trying to snag an extra 90 feet.
“I told (Gallaher), ‘I love the aggressiveness, but just anticipate they’re going to bobble it, so go full speed,’” Cook said. “‘And then, whenever you see he does bobble it, you’re at full speed running to the bag.’”
After a scoreless second inning for both sides, Miller stepped back up to the plate with one out in the top of the third. In that moment, a hit by pitch wasn’t the best outcome that Jackson could have imagined. Yet, if the alternative was another Miller home run, it certainly wasn’t the worst outcome either.
However, the end result was the same: Miller scampering across home plate, adding a run on to Y-D’s ever-increasing lead.
Chatham left-fielder/first baseman Jake Hanley takes a pitch on the outside amid a 1-for-3 night at the plate in the Anglers' loss to Yarmouth-Dennis. Red Sox pitching limited the A's to five hits. Photograph by Ella Tovey
Almost immediately, Jackson attempted to pick off Miller at first. But his throw went far beyond the outstretched mitt of Chase Fralick (Auburn) at first, allowing Miller to sprint around to third. Soon after, Chris Hacopian blooped an infield single over the pitcher’s mound, giving Miller just enough time to cross the plate with ease.
After Chatham’s batters were sat down with relative ease in the bottom of the third, the contest was interrupted prior to the start of the fourth inning, as lightning strikes forced home plate umpire Jeff Merzel to call a 30-minute delay. Over an hour after the game was initially delayed, play resumed following thorough conversations between Cook and Y-D manager Scott Pickler.
Evidently, 80 minutes was just about enough time to cool off everybody’s bats. No Yarmouth-Dennis batters reached off Carey in the top of the fourth, and while Chatham saw Freeman, Ashton Larson (LSU/transfer) and Fralick all reach at different points in the bottom of the frame, it squandered a run-scoring opportunity after Freeman was thrown out stealing second and Isaiah Lane (San Diego) went down swinging to end the inning.
But the Red Sox didn’t need hits to fall in order to put runs on the board. In the top of the fifth, Y-D shortstop Yomar Carreras stung a ground ball single at Gallaher, who deflected the ball off of his glove. He moved to second on a wild pitch by Carey, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Miller, and slid across the plate after another wayward offering from Carey, with no Y-D batter even reaching base in that timespan.
When it came down to it, the Red Sox found ways to manufacture runs. And whenever the Anglers tried to cobble together rallies, they couldn’t get out of their own way.
“We weren’t competitive at the plate,” Cook said. “Offensively tonight, we weren’t competitive at all, I didn’t think.”
On the Fourth of July, the Anglers’ righty was set to pick up his third start of the season, hoping to secure a win for the A’s over Orleans. But after suffering an untimely illness, he had to be pulled from his start in favor of Austin Breedlove (Tennessee/transfer) just minutes before the game. The Anglers ultimately defeated the Firebirds 7-5, but Jackson was forced to watch from the dugout.
Against Yarmouth-Dennis Tuesday, Jackson finally had a chance to redeem himself. Yet again, he was slated to start for the Anglers and the former Texas A&M righty had committed to Dallas Baptist just hours before first pitch. If everything went according to plan, it was shaping up to be one of the best days of Jackson’s Chatham career.
But it seems like nothing goes according to plan when it’s a Jackson bump day.
After Jackson got through three innings of work against the Red Sox, his start was interrupted due to a lightning delay. Once the Anglers returned to action approximately 80 minutes later, he was replaced on the mound by right-hander Tate Carey (Michigan). Yarmouth-Dennis (12-6-2, East) got out to an early two-run lead before the interruption, and it never relinquished it in Chatham’s (8-9-3, East) 3-0 loss at Veterans Field Tuesday.
“(Jackson) threw a lot of strikes, that was the main thing,” A’s manager Dennis Cook said. “Strikes (are) the thing that he has to really work on, and he did a great job tonight.”
Though early on, the Red Sox wasted no time establishing an advantage against Jackson. It took just five pitches for Y-D to get ahead on Chatham.
Jackson opened his outing by getting Yarmouth-Dennis leadoff man Cody Miller in a precarious 2-2 count. Just one strike away from his first punchout, he unleashed a 96 mile per hour offering to Miller. The Red Sox third baseman turned on it with ease, blasting his third homer of the season — and second against Chatham — over the right-field fence to give Y-D an early one-run lead.
This season, the leadoff spot in the A’s lineup has belonged to two Anglers: Ethan Mendoza (Texas) and Henry Ford (Tennessee). Following Chatham’s wild back-and-forth 11-8 win over Falmouth Sunday, both players departed the Cape, meaning Cook had to search for a new face to set the tone atop the Anglers’ lineup.
The mantle was passed to North Carolina third baseman Gavin Gallaher. Early on, it appeared he could fill their sizable shoes admirably.
“You’re only the leadoff hitter for the first inning, and the rest of the game, you’re just a hitter,” Cook said. “So I’ll experiment. I’ll find somebody that I like up there, and it might be Gavin.”
Facing Yarmouth-Dennis righty Carson Ballard, Gallaher led off the bottom of the first by grounding a single up the middle into center field. Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) subsequently lined a one-out single into left, and the A’s looked like they would cobble together a response to Miller’s aforementioned solo shot.
However, Gallaher was sent to third after AJ Soldra briefly bobbled Freeman’s single, and Y-D’s left fielder had all the time in the world to throw him out trying to snag an extra 90 feet.
“I told (Gallaher), ‘I love the aggressiveness, but just anticipate they’re going to bobble it, so go full speed,’” Cook said. “‘And then, whenever you see he does bobble it, you’re at full speed running to the bag.’”
After a scoreless second inning for both sides, Miller stepped back up to the plate with one out in the top of the third. In that moment, a hit by pitch wasn’t the best outcome that Jackson could have imagined. Yet, if the alternative was another Miller home run, it certainly wasn’t the worst outcome either.
However, the end result was the same: Miller scampering across home plate, adding a run on to Y-D’s ever-increasing lead.
Chatham left-fielder/first baseman Jake Hanley takes a pitch on the outside amid a 1-for-3 night at the plate in the Anglers' loss to Yarmouth-Dennis. Red Sox pitching limited the A's to five hits. Photograph by Ella Tovey
Almost immediately, Jackson attempted to pick off Miller at first. But his throw went far beyond the outstretched mitt of Chase Fralick (Auburn) at first, allowing Miller to sprint around to third. Soon after, Chris Hacopian blooped an infield single over the pitcher’s mound, giving Miller just enough time to cross the plate with ease.
After Chatham’s batters were sat down with relative ease in the bottom of the third, the contest was interrupted prior to the start of the fourth inning, as lightning strikes forced home plate umpire Jeff Merzel to call a 30-minute delay. Over an hour after the game was initially delayed, play resumed following thorough conversations between Cook and Y-D manager Scott Pickler.
Evidently, 80 minutes was just about enough time to cool off everybody’s bats. No Yarmouth-Dennis batters reached off Carey in the top of the fourth, and while Chatham saw Freeman, Ashton Larson (LSU/transfer) and Fralick all reach at different points in the bottom of the frame, it squandered a run-scoring opportunity after Freeman was thrown out stealing second and Isaiah Lane (San Diego) went down swinging to end the inning.
But the Red Sox didn’t need hits to fall in order to put runs on the board. In the top of the fifth, Y-D shortstop Yomar Carreras stung a ground ball single at Gallaher, who deflected the ball off of his glove. He moved to second on a wild pitch by Carey, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Miller, and slid across the plate after another wayward offering from Carey, with no Y-D batter even reaching base in that timespan.
When it came down to it, the Red Sox found ways to manufacture runs. And whenever the Anglers tried to cobble together rallies, they couldn’t get out of their own way.
“We weren’t competitive at the plate,” Cook said. “Offensively tonight, we weren’t competitive at all, I didn’t think.”
