YARMOUTH – David Swift is best known for his potent bat, while Sam Lowenstein is normally an ace pitcher.
The two Yarmouth seniors switched roles on Monday afternoon and led the Clippers to a key midseason victory over visiting York.
Swift allowed just one run on one hit in a strong six-inning stint, while Lowenstein provided the thunder, breaking the game open with a two-run home run, and Yarmouth won 5-1, to improve to 6-1.
“It’s big when every single person in our lineup can compete and make plays,” said Swift.
Swift gave up a double to Ben Brown leading off the game, but that was the only hit for the Wildcats (5-2) and Swift worked out of the jam.
In the bottom of the first, Matt Gautreau led off with an infield single, stole second and moved up Andrew Cheever’s infield single before Swift’s sacrifice fly put the Clippers on top to stay.
Yarmouth added a second run in its typically aggressive style, as Sam Bradford walked with two outs, stole second and took third when the throw was wild. When the ball got caught up in the high grass and wasn’t immediately fielded by York center fielder Jack Joyce, Bradford raced home to make it 2-0.
“We talked before the game about how long the grass was and when that ball got stuck, we thought we could take advantage and we took a shot,” said Clippers Coach Marc Halsted. “You know me.”
The Wildcats got a run back (unearned) in the second on a sacrifice fly by Brown. However, they stranded two runners, then left another in the fourth. Brown led off the top of the fifth with a walk, but was picked off to short-circuit another rally.
“We ran ourselves into some trouble and that comes down to execution,” said York Coach Nick Hanlon. “We wanted to run on the bases, but we were a little overly aggressive at times. Yarmouth has a lot of juniors and seniors and took advantage of that.”
Lowenstein provided some breathing room in the bottom of the fifth. After Bradford doubled to deep left, Lowestein battled back from an 0-2 count, took a couple pitches, then went down and crushed a fastball from Wildcats starter Brody Gullison deep to left and over the fence for a 4-1 lead.
The home run wasn’t just Lowenstein’s first of the season, or of his high school career, but of his life.
“I was just really trying to work the count and get Bradford over to third, but I got the right pitch and I just took it for a ride,” said Lowenstein. “It felt great. All the boys were hyped and I wanted to get that run across for David.”
Swift set York down in order in the sixth, then the Clippers added a run in the bottom half on a Cheever sacrifice fly.
Cheever then set the Wildcats down 1, 2, 3 in the seventh to end it.
“Class B baseball is just a blast,” Halsted said. “It’s absolutely an honor to play programs like Freeport, Greely, York and Wells that we have so much respect for.”
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