Firebirds' Magic Number Stuck At 5 As They Fall To Brewster 4 to 2

The game started out rough for Elliot Glynn as he went 2 and 1/3 allowing 4 earned runs. Harold Martinez hit a 2-run homer of Glynn to give the Whitecaps a 4-0 lead. Orleans bullpen did great, however, by combining to pitch 5 and 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

Orleans started its comeback with a Mike Olt double and a Danny Muno sacrifice fly to score Olt. Jeremy Gould drove in the other Firebird run. That wasn't enough runs to outscore the Whitecaps. Orleans fell short 4-2.

Also contributing to the Firebirds offense were Riccio Torrez and his triple, Hampton Tignor's 2 hits, and Jeremy Gould's 2 hits.

The Orleans Firebirds are 19-16-1 and currently sit 2nd in the east. Remember, the top 3 teams in each division make the playoffs so they are almost in with Chatham (3rd place) having lost 8 in a row and still in 3rd.

Orleans needs 5 wins to clinch. With 8 games left this number seems hard to reach, but it is not what it seems. 5 games means that if Brewster wins all of its remaining 7 games then Orleans has to win 5. Every time the Firebirds win and (or) Brewster loses, the number decreases. They take on Falmouth tomorrow.

Red Barn Doesn't Do Much As Orleans Drops 3rd Straight to Y-D

Orleans came in to Monday's game looking to rebound from Sunday's losses. To do so, they threw one of their three aces, Casey Gaynor. Gaynor is a product of Toms River East HS (Boo!); so he knows all about big games. He went 5 innings of baseball and allowed 3 earned runs. However, the Firebirds could not provide Gaynor with enough run support and he got the loss. The Firebirds didn't have trouble getting the bat on the ball, but had trouble finding holes in the Y-D defense.

Orleans' defense was stellar in this one. They got some fine plays from Gary Brown, Danny Muno, and Devin Lohman.

No spectacular hitting performances in this one by Orleans but many contributions from everyone. Gary Brown, Alex Hassan, Ross Heffley, Hampton Tignor, Riccio Torrez, Danny Muno, and former Y-D Red Sox outfielder, Steve Selsky each had one hit. Ross Heffley drove in the only Orleans' run of the game.

On the other side, Chris Sale and Drew Hayes were pretty untouchable for Y-D. Austin Wates had another good game for the Red Sox going 2 for 4 with 2 thefts.

Y-D is going to be a tough opponent in the playoffs if both teams make it. Next time, it's going to take a little more pizza to feul the Firebirds.

Also, this was the first time that both team's starting catchers (Orleans' Hampton Tignor and Y-D's Ben McMahan) were from the same college, Florida.

The Birds look to rebound Tuesday night against Hyannis. Let's Go Firebirds!!!

Firebirds Drop Two Games In One Day

Not much went well for the Firebirds which means I'll keep it simple.

Kudos to Jorge Reyes on his 4 strikeout 1st inning. Also, Gary Brown has been tagged in every article that I've had so far so I'll throw him in.

The Firebirds were swept today as Y-D came in and "did work." However, the team went to Red Barn Pizza after the game to re-group and beat Y-D tomorrow (courtesy of Hampton Tignor, haha).

Orleans Beats Harwich 10-2 To Take Over 1st Place Due To The Chatham Loss

After Harwich went up 2-0 in the 2nd on a Levi Michael solo homer, it was all Orleans from there.

A Riccio Torrez RBI single and an Alex Hassan 2-run single gave Orleans a 3-2 lead in the 4th inning that would later increase to a 5-2 lead.

The Firebirds exploded in the 7th as Gary Brown drove in 2 runs with a single. On the play, he got into a run down and the fielder was called for interference; Brown was awarded second. Then Brown stole 3rd and the throw went into left field, allowing Brown to score and give the Firebirds an 8-2 lead.

Are we done yet? No...

In the 8th, Hampton Tignor drove in a run with an RBI single. This was followed up with a Gary Brown RBI double to preserve the win.

The storms held off, but a lot of fog rolled in around in the 9th inning. Over in Wareham, there was a 2 hour rain delay. However, the storms moved slightly north of Harwich to allow the game to continue. Rob Rasmussen got the win for the Firebirds as he improves to 3-0 and his next assignment will be on the hill at Fenway Park on July 23rd. The Firebirds travel to Bourne tomorrow and take on the Braves at 5:30.