ORLEANS — The Orleans Firebirds’ historic Cape Cod Baseball League season ended with defeat in the playoff championship in front of more than 7,000 people at Eldredge Park on Sunday.
The Firebirds swept Harwich in the East Division playoffs before dispatching the top seed Yarmouth-Dennis in two games to reach the championship series for the first time since 2013, where they faced the defending champion Bourne Braves.
Much like Orleans, the Braves had to go through the West Division’s number-one seed Cotuit. Bourne swept the Kettleers, then battled Hyannis in a tough 3-game series to reach the finals.
The Firebirds and Braves entertained crowds of over 5,000 each night in a tightly contested series, with 2 games at Eldredge Park and a game at Doran sandwiched in between.
Orleans was without its ace Derek Clark (Northwood) for the playoffs, while Bourne lost a top hitter in Caden Bodine (Coastal Carolina). Bodine was hitting .384 with 19 RBIs, 16 runs scored, and 18 walks when he played his last game.
But the two clubs produced a sensational 3-game final, all decided by 3 runs or fewer, including a 4-3 win by the Firebirds in Game 2. The Braves clinched back-to-back playoff titles with a 5-2 win on Sunday.
Game 1: Braves 6, Firebirds 4
Bourne’s 5-run fifth inning clinched the win at Eldredge Park on Friday. Trailing after 4 innings, the Braves tied the game on a fielder’s choice that scored Sam Petersen (Iowa). A double by Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (Rutgers) drove in 2 runs to make it 5-2. They tacked on an insurance run in the eighth to make it 6-3. Orleans, who had made a habit of late comebacks, cut the deficit to 2 when Eddie King Jr.’s (Louisville) single scored Fenwick Trimble (James Madison) from third. But the Firebirds stranded one and then went 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game.
Trimble went 3 for 4 with a home run. Matt Halbach (UC San Diego) and King both were 2 for 4. The Firebirds stranded 6, including 2 in the eighth inning. Greysen Carter (Vanderbilt) had his toughest outing of the season, giving up 5 earned runs on 5 hits in 4 2/3 innings pitched.
Game 2: Firebirds 4, Braves 3
Orleans held off a late Bourne rally on Saturday at Doran Park to force Game 3. After going 0 for 5 in Game 1, Jo Oyama (UC Irvine) started the game with a double, which was followed by a Fenwick Trimble single that made it 1-0. Eddie Micheletti Jr. (George Washington) drove in Trimble to add to the early lead.
The Braves pushed one across in the bottom half of the inning, but the Firebirds restored their 2-run lead on Trimble’s sacrifice fly. Ivran Romero (Stetson) and Henry Weycker (Coastal Carolina) matched one another for four scoreless innings that stretched from the third to the seventh. Oyama took Brady Afthim (UConn) deep following a pitching change, which extended the Firebirds’ advantage to 4-1.
Bourne didn’t go quietly. Sam Petersen’s ground rule double scored a run and a Hugh Pinkney (Rutgers) sacrifice fly pushed Derek Bender (Coastal Carolina) across to cut the Firebirds’ lead to 4-3. Sean Matson (Harvard) earned the save by getting Nuu Contrades (Arizona State) to hit into a 5-3 game-ending putout.
Romero pitched six strong innings for the Firebirds, allowing 6 hits but just one run to go with four strikeouts.
Game 3: Bourne 5, Firebirds 2
Bourne clinched the title at Eldredge Park on Sunday. The Braves, who at one point trailed 2-0, turned the tide with a 3-run sixth and added a run in the eighth. Oyama had a pair of home runs — his second and third in two nights. But the Firebirds were scoreless across six innings, including the ninth. Anthony DeFabbia (Stetson) got Orleans to go down 1-2-3 in the title-clinching inning.
Oyama was the only Orleans player with a multi-hit game, and no batters reached by a walk with men on base. Evan Truitt (Charleston Southern) lasted 3 1/3 innings, giving up just one earned run and 5 hits.
Derek Bender was 3 for 4 from the sixth spot in the order. He had 3 RBIs in the win. Trystan Levesque (Rhode Island) and DeFabbia combined to hold the Firebirds to just 4 hits, with no walks and 8 strikeouts. DeFabbia, meanwhile, pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings, not surrendering a hit in the process.
