Red Raiders Handle D-Y Dolphins in 4-1 Win

Who cares about the cold, gray skies of April?

Sophomore Griffin Burke picked up his first-ever varsity win on the mound for the Barnstable High Red Raiders, finishing after five innings. Burke's effort was good enough to give Barnstable a 4-1 victory and raise its record to 4-0 on the young season, but it was his performance at the plate in the first inning that truly spelled the difference.

With bases loaded and two outs, Burke slammed a 2-1 pitch to the left centerfield wall, clearing the bags and giving the Red Raiders an early 3-0 lead. Hayden Murphy (1-4) led off with a single but got nabbed stealing second for the first out on a fine throw by D-Y catcher Liam Matheson.

Derek Estes - who went 3-4 on the day to continue his torrid hitting pace - then singled and moved to second on a Chris Fowler ground out. With two outs, T.J. Wardwell was hit by the first offering he saw from D-Y pitcher Trevor Allen to put men on first and second. Barnstable catcher Cody Pasic then walked to load the bags and Burke uncorked his deep bomb for a three-RBI double. He finished 2-3 on the day.

Barnstable picked up another run in the bottom of the 4th inning when Estes laced a one-out single, stole second, then came blazing home on Wardwell's RBI base-knock up the middle. The score after four frames was 4-0.

Dennis_Yarmouth got on the board in the top of the fifth inning when senior leftfielder Drew Tardiff reached on an infield throwing error and advanced to second, then scored on a double to make it 4-1.

Burke walked the next batter he faced but settled to get to fly outs to end the inning. All totalled, Burke threw five innings, walked seven, struck out two and allowed one unearned run on three hits.

Senior righty Conor Walsh came on in relief in the top of the sixth and struck out the side in succession. Walsh got the first batter he faced in the 7th to fly out, then had a tough play on a comebacker to the mound to put a man on first. He then struck out the next batter he faced for the second out. The next D-Y batter then hit what appeared to be a routine grounder to third base that got misplayed to put two men on and the potential tying run at the plate. Walsh struck the last batter out on a 3-2 count for five Ks in two innings of work.

Rightfielder Joe DeMayo and Pasic both played well defensively for the Red & White with DeMayo making a run-saving two-out grab in the gap and Pasic throwing out three runners on the basepaths.

Barnstable is now 4-0 on the season. D-Y falls to 0-3. The Red Raiders welcome Nauset to Hyannis on Wednesday for a 4:15 pm start.