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Y-D Red Sox win back-to-back titles, Mycock Trophy

08/15/2015 4:39 PM

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     The Y-D Red Sox defeated the Hyannis Harbor Hawks 8-1 Wednesday night, claiming the 2015 Cape Cod Baseball League championship series and the Arnold Mycock Trophy for a second consecutive year. 

     Y-D jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after leadoff hitter Cole Billingsley (South Alabama) reached on an error and scored the first run of the decisive Game 3 at McKeon Park. 
 
     Infielder Donnie Walton (Oklahoma State) doubled in the fifth inning to score Tommy Edman (Stanford) and extend Y-D's lead to 2-0. 
 
     The Red Sox broke it open with a five-run eighth inning. Tyler Houston (Butler) scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Nathan Rodriguez (Butler), and Billingsley followed with a three-run homer to right field. Ryan Noda (Cincinnati) walked with the bases loaded to score Edman, making it a 7-0 ballgame. 
 
     Y-D extended its lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Edman that drove in Joshua Vidales (Houston). 
 
     Hyannis refused to go quietly, though, scoring its only run in the bottom of the ninth when Tristan Hildebrandt (Cal State-Fullerton) crossed the plate on a single by Austin Hays (Jacksonville). 
 
     With the bases loaded and two outs, the Red Sox recorded the final out on a groundout to the pitcher to seal the victory and claim the 2015 championship. 
 
     Y-D’s Walton and Ben Bowden (Vanderbilt) were named co-MVPs of the series.
 
     “This is awesome, it’s unbelievable,” Walton said afterward. “Our coach Scott Pickler said we had a chance to do something special and we did it.” 
The Y-D Red Sox pose with their hardware / SportsPix
     This marks Y-D’s fifth championship in the last 11 years, winning in 2004, and claiming back-to-back titles in 2006-07 and again in 2014-15. Last season, they defeated the Falmouth Commodores to take the hardware. 
 
     “This is the best summer league in the nation,” field manager Pickler said after leading his team to consecutive CCBL crowns. “We have the best players in the country here, and we played a very good team today. It's special to be here and special to win it.” 
 
     When the team was known as Yarmouth, it won Cape League titles in 1958 and 1960, and finished runner-up to the Cotuit Kettleers in 1973. The team's first finals appearance as the Y-D Red Sox came in 1977 when they fell to Cotuit. 
 
     They didn't return to the championship game until a decade later in 1987, when they lost to the Harwich Mariners. Y-D won the championship in 1989 against the then-Hyannis Mets and then defeated Wareham for the Cape League title the following year. 
 
     The trophy given to the Cape League champion each summer is named after the legendary Arnold Mycock, who spent more than 60 years as a volunteer with the Cotuit Kettleers organization, acting as general manager from 1950-94. During that time, Mycock led the Kettleers to more than 700 wins and 12 league championships. 
 
     Mycock did everything imaginable for the team, even washing uniforms for players, cleaning the bathrooms and mowing the green grass at beloved Lowell Park. Mycock is largely responsible for creating the ballpark that sits on the corner of Lowell Avenue and Main Street in Cotuit, and even has a building at the park named after him. 
 
     The Red Sox finished the 2015 regular season in third place in the East Division with a 22-22 record. They were given the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and squared off against second-seeded Brewster in the opening round of the playoffs. They took Game 1 in comeback fashion, scoring three runs in the eighth inning to prevail 3-2, and completed a sweep of the Whitecaps at home in Game 2. 
 
     The divisional round pitted Y-D against the top-seeded Orleans Firebirds, who finished the season with a league-best 31-12-1 record. Orleans won Game 1 at home, but Y-D fought back as it has all season, winning a 13-inning Game 2 by a score of 2-1, and eliminating the Firebirds at Eldredge Park in Game 3 by the same score.