ORLEANS — The Orleans Firebirds (7-8) are battling to get back to .500 with back-to-back wins over Brewster and Yarmouth-Dennis, an extra-inning thriller, this week. But they dropped both games to Cape Baseball League division leaders Harwich and Cotuit before defeating Brewster again on Tuesday.
The Firebirds were edged by Harwich on Friday in a game where Grand Canyon’s Daniel Avitia continued to exhibit a strong arm despite the loss. Avitia, with an ERA of 0.69 over 13 innings, is tied for fourth in the league with 15 strikeouts. He’s given up just nine hits and walked six in three starts and allowed only one earned run.
Sean Matson, meanwhile, has picked up two saves and was the decisive pitcher in the Firebirds’ win over Yarmouth-Dennis on June 25. The right-hander has struck out seven in 6.2 innings and walked just one.
Jo Oyoma (UC Irvine) has been pivotal in the leadoff spot for the Firebirds; he’s batting .355. He ranks second on the team in hits with 11, including three triples and three RBIs, and has scored six runs. He’s reached base by a walk six times.
Eddie Micheletti Jr. is batting .271 and has six hits in his last four games. He leads the team with eight RBIs and is tied for the lead with two home runs.
The Firebirds’ game against Hyannis on June 24 was postponed to July 3.
Firebirds 13, Whitecaps 2
Orleans swept the midweek home-and-home series with Brewster, topping the Whitecaps 13-2 in a shortened game on Thursday at Eldredge Park. The Firebirds broke the game open with an eight-run sixth inning, sparked by Eddie Micheletti Jr.’s (George Washington) three-run homer that gave the hosts a 9-2 lead. Oyama (UC Irvine) followed that up with a bases-clearing triple and Fenwick Trimble (James Madison) drove him in three pitches later.
Andy Blake (Duke) had his best performance of the season, going 4 for 5 with a double and two RBIs. The Firebirds, meanwhile, tallied 19 hits and struck out just eight times. Evan Truitt (Charleston Southern) picked up his first win with five innings pitched. He gave up just three hits and one earned run to go with four strikeouts. Konner Eaton (George Mason) pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
Mariners 2, Firebirds 1
Harwich edged Orleans 2-1 in a pitchers’ duel at Whitehouse Field on Friday. The Firebirds’ Avitia (Grand Canyon) maintained his strong start to the season as he pitched four scoreless innings, walking only two and striking out four. Andrew Armstrong (Florida State) also went four innings for the Mariners, giving up just one run before Aidan Moza (Alabama) secured the win in his debut. Moza pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and striking out six.
Orleans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth when Micheletti’s double to center field drove in Fenwick Trimble. The Firebirds stranded two to end the inning, however. Harwich tied the game with a single in the fifth and then scored the winning run on Bryan Arendt’s (UNC Wilmington) solo home run in the sixth. The Firebirds left three on base over the final three innings.
Firebirds 5, Red Sox 4
Trimble’s heady base running in extra innings helped lift Orleans to a 5-4 win over Yarmouth-Dennis at Red Wilson Field on Sunday. Sean Matson (Harvard) sealed the victory by striking out the last three batters in the bottom of the 10th. The Firebirds built a 3-1 lead, which they maintained through the top half of the seventh inning. But the Red Sox went ahead after Hunter Hines (Mississippi State) took Danny Carrion (UC Davis) deep for a three-run homer to make it 4-3. Jack Penny (Notre Dame) had his first home run to pull Orleans even in the eighth. The Firebirds retook the lead, 5-4, following an error by the catcher that saw Trimble score from third.
Orleans used seven pitchers, who combined to allow just four hits in the win. They tallied 14 strikeouts, led by starting pitcher Jake Peppers’s (Jacksonville State) five. Peppers gave up two runs — one earned — in four innings of work. They walked seven but stranded eight Red Sox runners. Eric Yost (Northeastern) lasted three innings and gave up four hits and three runs, including two earned, before being relieved by Connor O’Hara (Florida Gulf Coast). O’Hara limited the damage for the Red Sox, pitching four innings of scoreless baseball and giving up just one hit to go with three strikeouts.
Kettleers 5, Firebirds 2
Ryan Galanie’s grand slam broke open a scoreless game, and the West Division leaders beat Orleans 5-2 on Monday. The two battled through seven scoreless innings before the Wofford Terrier took Stetson’s Dylan Jacobs deep on the fourth pitch of the at bat. The Firebirds responded with two runs in the eighth after Eddie King Jr. (Louisville), who went 2 for 4 for his first multihit game of the season, and Oyama each crossed home plate to make 4-2. But Ryan Waldschmidt’s sacrifice fly scored Tanner Thach to quell the Firebirds’ comeback bid.
Jacobs had one of his best outings for the Firebirds. He was hit just four times, throwing five scoreless innings. Cotuit’s pitching staff limited Orleans to eight hits, walked none and struck out 12. Cameron Hill (Georgia Tech) didn’t give up a hit in four scoreless innings pitched while Rafe Schlesinger (Miami) earned the win.
Upcoming games
June 29 at Brewster, 5 p.m.
June 30 vs. Yarmouth-Dennis, 6:30 p.m.
July 1 at Bourne, 6 p.m.
July 2 vs. Wareham, 6:30 p.m.
July 3 vs. Hyannis, 6:30 p.m.
