Bent Paces Red Raiders to Win Over Rival Dolphins

In his first-ever varsity pitching performance, Barnstable High School junior righty George Bent delivered Monday afternoon when he tossed a complete-game, five-hitter versus the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins, en route to his first career victory.

Bent struck out eight batters and walked just one with one hit batter. He allowed no earned runs in Barnstable's dominant, 9-2 win that puts them at 9-5 on the season with two regular season games left.

The Red Raiders are slated to face Dartmouth on Wednesday, May 25, and are at Taunton on Friday, both league games.

Bent went to work quickly on the Dennis-Yarmouth bats in the top of the first, striking out the side.        

Barnstable then sent an early message when leadoff man Luke Besse (1-4) laced a first-pitch fastball into the right-centerfield gap for a double, then came scampering home on a Will Toffey (1-3, RBI) single. Dylan Morris (1-3, RBI) followed suit with a vicious shot down the rightfield line to drive in Toffey and made the score, 2-0 in favor of the Red & White.

An infield error gave Bent a baserunner in the top of the second, but he struck out the next batter, got a ground out from the next and then got some fine glovework in rightfield from Everett Walsh when he made a diving grab for the third out on a screaming line drive.

Still up, 2-0, D.J. Crook (2-3, RBI) got things rolling again for the Red Raiders in the bottom of the second inning when he led off with a triple to leftfield, E. Walsh (1-2, RBI) took first after being hit by the pitch, then Denny Beynor (2-3, RBI) drove in Crook to make it 3-0.

Bent worked himself out of a jam in the top of the third inning, but not before the Dolphins got on the scoreboard. The righthander walked the first batter, made a solid play on an attempted bunt, then gave up back-to-back singles with an error in the outfield. He struck out the next batter he faced for the second out, then hit the next batter to load the bases. But Bent settled to get a ground ball to shortstop to end any further damage.

Dan Walsh led things off in the bottom half of the third with a single, then came home on a baseknock from Everett Walsh to make it 4-1.

In the fourth inning, both pitchers retired the side, uneventfully, one-two-three.

In the fifth, Bent gave up a leadoff single but then got some leather from Toffey at the hot corner and the Red & White remained on top, 4-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Barnstable exploded for three more runs when Toffey walked, stole second and third, then scored on a wild pitch. Morris and Dan Walsh (HBP) also walked and Morris came home on a double-steal with an error from the catcher. Crook wrapped things up with an RBI-double to left, but got caught trying to leg it out for a triple. The end result when the dust finally settled was a firm, 7-1, Barnstable lead.

In the sixth inning, Bent retired the side and then his hitters tacked on two more runs with a single by Beynor, RBI-double from Brodd (1-4) and then Toffey grounded to second but the D-Y second baseman bobbled the ball, allowing Brodd to score and Toffey to remain safe at first base. The finale was 9-1.

D-Y gave it one last shot in the top of the 7th when a hitter reached on an error and then scored on a triple to make it 9-2, but it was too little, too late.