The Raphael Jackson AA Baseball League defending champions Yankees are peaking at the right time. They celebrated the 2012 regular season crown with a 9-4 thrashing of the 40 plus Hurricanes on Saturday at the D.C. Canegata Ball Park and look ready to defend their 2011 title heading into the playoffs.
The Yankees used three pitchers to limit the Hurricanes to four hits, with Dushane Brown doing the bulk of the damage from the mound.
David Samuel, the Hurricanes starter, was also very good on the mound, limiting the Yankees to just two runs and three hits over the first four innings.
The Yanks, however, began to establish their superiority in the fifth. Leading 2-1 entering the inning, the Yankees got RBI singles from Steve Simmonds, Brown, and Leroy Simmonds to score three runs and extend the lead to four at 5-1.
An RBI single by Simmonds in the top of the sixth along with two unearned runs plated three more runs for the Yankees and they led 8-1 after six completed innings as the Hurricanes failed to score in the bottom of the sixth.
The Yankees then completed their scoring for the game in the top of the seventh with one run on an inside-the-park home run by Dwayne Harvey.
Brown got the win on the hill for the Yanks, while Samuel got the loss.
Top batters for the Yankees were Simmonds (3 for 4 with two RBIs), Simmonds (2 for 3 with an RBI), and Harvey was 2 for 3 with a home run and one RBI). For the Hurricanes Rashawn Foster and Malcolm McGregor were both 2 for 3 while Kenny Milligan and Jun Belardo were 1 for 3.
