YARMOUTH—It was a picture perfect day for baseball Wednesday afternoon at Yarmouth High, but the outcome was anything but perfect for the home team.
In a game that absolutely flew by (one hour and 40 minutes), the Falmouth Yachtsmen rode the strong lefty arm of senior pitcher Dillon Dresser and used an offensive merry-go-round fourth inning to overpower and upset the Yarmouth Clippers, 9-1. Dresser threw a complete game five-hitter while throwing just 85 pitches and Ben Goffin had a home run and three RBI to lead the Yachtsmen.
Coming off a 9-1 loss to the Greely Rangers last night at The Ball Park in Old Orchard Beach, the Yachtsmen bounced back with authority with valuable Heal Points at stake.
“We had a tough showing last night, but we came out today and we were ready to play. We got a great pitching performance from Dillon Dresser,” said Falmouth coach Kevin Winship. “We got our bats going and we played a complete game and that’s what we need to do to win in this league.”
Falmouth got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning. The cleanup hitter, Goffin, blasted an Aiden Sullivan fastball over the leftfield fence to make it 1-0. A few batters later, with two outs, Andrew Emple hit a deep double over the centerfielder’s head. Next was Brett Emmertz, who hit a seemingly harmless grounder to second baseman Dustin McCrossin, but McCrossin was out of position a bit as he was trying to keep Emple close to the bag. McCrossin was rushed trying to field the ball and make throw to first base and his attempt airmailed Max Grimm, allowing Emple to score easily for a 2-0 Falmouth lead.
Dresser was in the zone on the mound throughout most of the game. He was consistently ahead of batters in the count and challenged the Clippers to put the ball in play. He said he tried to get ahead with his fastball and then work in his curveball. Both teams played superb defense behind their pitchers. The Clippers turned three 4-6-3 double plays. The Yachtsmen turned a 6-4-3 double play of their own and shortstop Joe Barns flashed his nifty glove on several grounders.
“We had one of our best defensive games. Everybody was on today,” said Dresser. “It makes it nice to pitch when you have guys behind you who you know are going to make the play.”
Falmouth also converted a rare 7-4 double play (a sinking liner to left field and the runner thought it was dropping) to squash a potential Yarmouth rally in the fifth inning. Dustin McCrossin was hit by a pitch to start the inning for Yarmouth and Bryce Snyder worked a walk before Grimm lined into the double play.
Falmouth’s 2-0 lead grew to 7-0 after a barrage of batters came to the plate in the top of the fourth inning. Goffin led off with a walk, but Drew Proctor quickly grounded into a 4-6-3.
How much damage can be done with two outs?
Well, quite a lot actually.
With two outs, the Yachtsmen sent nine more batters to the dish. Grayson Beressi, Emple, and Emmertz all hit consecutive singles, Emmertz’s being an infield single that almost resulted in the final out at second base. Ryan MacDonald came to the plate with bases loaded and drew a walk for an RBI, plating Beressi to make it 3-0. Barns then smashed a liner to left to bring in Emple for a 4-0 lead. With Dresser in the batter’s box, a curveball bounced away from catcher Nick Proscia and Emmertz immediately raced home. Sullivan alertly covered the plate, but Emmertz beat Proscia’s throw by a split second and Falmouth was up 5-0. Dresser worked a walk to load the bases for the powerful Matt MacDowell. MacDowell promptly smashed the first pitch he saw into centerfield for a single that scored Barns and MacDonald for a 7-0 lead. Goffin worked a walk, but Proctor then hit a comebacker to Sullivan who made the play to end the crazy half-inning.
“Aiden was a little bit off today,” said Winship. “We talked before the game about being patient and having good at bats and that was something we didn’t do last night. Everybody seemed to have some patience at the plate. I told them, ‘If you just wait, he’s going to give you something to hit’ and it worked out. We got some big hits when we needed them and it paid off.”
“It’s good to get a win against these guys,” said Goffin. “Everybody was just seeing the ball well.”
Dresser also added that “it’s just easier to hit when guys in front of you are hitting.”
The Yachtsmen got two more runs in the top of the sixth inning off reliever Luke Pierce. MacDonald led off with a walk and Barns dinked a ball into shallow centerfield for a single. Dresser then laid down a perfect bunt in between the pitcher, third baseman and shortstop to load the bases for MacDowell. MacDowell, looking to pick up a few more RBI, worked the count and fouled off several pitches before popping up to the pitcher for an infield fly. Next up was Goffin, who jumped on the first pitch and roped one into left for a two-run single making it 9-0. MacDonald and Barns scored on the Goffin liner. The Clippers then turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat, but the damage was already done.
The Clippers were able to break up Dresser’s shutout and score one run in the bottom of the seventh on a fielder’s choice by pitch hitter Caleb Uhl.
“Falmouth competed, they put the ball in play and they hit it hard,” said Yarmouth coach Marc Halsted. “We’re not going to sit here and complain. Give them credit. They deserved to score five or six runs in that inning there.”
Dresser’s final pitching line was seven innings, one earned run, five hits, two walks, one hit batsman and four strikeouts. Sullivan went five innings, six earned runs, seven hits, five walks and just one strikeout.
Barns was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Emple and MacDonald scored two runs each. MacDowell had two RBI. Goffin was 2-for-2 with a homerun and three RBI and two walks.
Luke Pierce had two singles for Yarmouth.
With the regular season winding down, the Yachtsmen (now 7-6 and fifth in the Western Class B Heal Points standings) are looking to jump up a few spots and peak for the playoffs.
“They go get beat up pretty bad by Greely 9-1 (last night) then turn around and destroy us 9-1 and that’s the way it is,” said Halsted. “We might turn around and beat up Greely on Friday, you never know.”
Yarmouth (11-3 and third in the region) hosts No. 1 Greely on Friday, then closes the regular season at home versus NYA June 1.
Falmouth hosts Class C opponent Sacopee Valley on Friday, welcomes Fryeburg Monday and closes at home against Wells June 1.
Sidebar Elements
BOX SCORE
Falmouth 9 Yarmouth 1
F- 020 502 0- 9 10 0
Y- 000 000 1- 1 5 2
W- Dresser
L- Sullivan
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