Boston's Red Sox got you down? Try the team from Yarmouth-Dennis

If the Boston Red Sox’s recent skid has you feeling blue, then take a ride and check out the Yarmouth-Dennis entry in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Also known as the Red Sox, the club has won five in a row and 8 of its last 10, and with the league’s best record by far, it now sits comfortably atop the East Division of this highly-touted college summer circuit.

The Y-D Sox – as do all 10 teams in the league – feature players from the country’s major college programs, including three from College World Series champion LSU (catcher Micah Gibbs, infielder Tyler Hanover, and pitcher Austin Ross). However, reflecting a policy adopted a number of years ago, it also includes a couple of locals, namely pitcher John Leonard (from Hanover, MA) and infielder Mickey Wiswall (Stoneham, MA), both of whom attend Boston College.

Leonard currently boasts a record of 2- 0, with an ERA of 2.25 and 22 strikeouts in 28 innings pitched. Wiswall, meanwhile, is leading the league in RBIs with 19, and stands sixth with a batting average of .319.

To no one’s great surprise, therefore, both players were among the whopping seven chosen from Y-D
to represent the East in the Cape League’s All Star Game, which will be played on Thursday at Fenway Park. (Tickets are available here.) The other five are pitchers Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) and Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast), plus position players Austin Wates (Virginia Tech), Blake Kelso (Houston), and Tyler Hanover (LSU). An eighth player, Gibbs, was named as an alternate.

The Y-D Sox play their home games at Red Wilson Field at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in South Yarmouth (directions). Admission is however much you want it to be, the games are throwback-pure and highly competitive, and the players are friendly and accessible, probably more than they should be during games but practically without limit afterwards.

So if you’ve never been to a Cape League contest, then perhaps Boston’s current swoon is your excuse to make the drive and see a first-place Sox team break away from the pack. But you’d better go soon, for the season ends (playoffs included) August 12!