Carpenter's Near No-No Caps Orleans' 3-1 Win Over Bourne!

Ryan Carpenter (Gonzaga) took a no-hitter into the ninth inning for the Firebirds. Creede Simpson (Auburn) pinch-hit to start the ninth inning and tripled to deep right to break up the no-hitter. Scott Woodward's (Coastal Carolina) sacrifice fly then scored Simpson. Marcus Stroman (Duke) relieved Carpenter and shut the door on Bourne to record his eighth save of the summer.

Bourne's starter, Will Jolin (UConn) took a no-hitter through five innings until Kolten Wong (Hawai'i) broke it up with a single. Steve Selsky (Arizona) then drove him home with an RBI double to give Orleans a 1-0 lead. Jayce Boyd (Florida State) grounded out to second to move Selsky over to third base. Riccio Torrez (Arizona State) singled home Selsky to give Orleans a 2-0 lead. In the eighth, Ronnie Shaeffer (UC-Irvine) doubled home Jayce Boyd to provide Orleans with some insurance.

Ryan Carpenter took home the win, Will Jolin got the loss, and Marcus Stroman got the save. Carpenter's nine strikeouts, one hit allowed, and one earned run helped drop his ERA to 2.43. Stroman has been outstanding on the summer. He allowed no hits and struck out one tonight, and has not allowed a run in 23 innings pitched this summer.

The Orleans Firebirds improve to 17-18-1 on the season and sit one point behind Harwich who lost tonight in a great comeback by Wareham. However, Harwich plays Y-D in a double header tomorrow. Orleans moves eight points ahead of Chatham for the final playoff spot in the East. The Firebirds host Cotuit tomorrow night at 7:00pm at Eldredge Park. You can tune into the Firebirds' TeamLine Broadcast tomorrow night to see the game. The link is located in the "Helpful CCBL Links" page on the bar near the top of the page.

Koch's Blast And Viramontes's Strong Performance Powers Firebirds Past Hyannis 7-5!

The Firebirds came into the game feeling pretty good after last night's win against Chatham. The 2008 Cape League All Star, Martin Viramontes (Loyola Marymount) took the rubber for Orleans against Hyannis's Trent Howard (Central Michigan). Viramontes went seven strong innings and allowed only three hits and one unearned run. He walked one and fanned two batters while lowering his ERA to 1.69 on the season.

Viramontes certainly got run support from the Firebirds' hitters. In the first inning, the league's hottest hitter, Kolten Wong (Hawai'i), doubled to lead off the bottom of the first. Kevin Muno (San Diego) moved Wong to second with a single and Jayce Boyd's (Florida State) double play ball scored him. Next inning, Matt Koch (Loyola Marymount) smacked a three-run home run over the fence in left-center field. In the fifth, Jayce Boyd doubled home Kevin Muno.

The Harbor Hawks scored a run in the fourth and two in the eighth to pull the score back to 5-3 in favor of Orleans. The Firebirds struck back in the eighth when Riccio Torrez (Arizona State) hit a double by ground's rule and scored on a squeeze bunt by Will Piwnica-Worms (Duke). Then, Shon Roe (Loyola Marymount) hit a sacrifice fly to score Torrez. Hyannis scored two runs in the top of the ninth but was stopped in the tracks of their attempt to pull off a comeback.

The Firebirds face the Falmouth Commodores on Sunday at Arnie Allen Diamond at 5:30pm. They have won two straight games and moved into fourth place in the Eastern Division. The Chatham Anglers have lost their last six games and sit one point [25] behind the Firebirds [26]. The Firebirds are now in hot pursuit of the Harwich Mariners [30] for third place in the East Division. In case you have not seen, you can follow the race to see who makes the playoffs on our "CCBL Playoff Picture" page. The link is located on the bar at the top of the page. Be sure to check back on Monday morning for an article on tomorrow night's game.

Simon Rolls Against Y-D And 'Birds Fall Short To Brewster And Bourne

On Thursday, Kyle Simon (Arizona) took the hill for the Firebirds and continued his dominance. Simon tossed eight innings and allowed five hits, one earned run, one walks, and four strikeouts. Simon's 0.69 earned run average sits among the league leaders along with teammate Matt Sisto's (Hawai'i) 0.84 earned run average. John Brebbia (Elon) threw a perfect ninth out of the bullpen and struck out two. Orleans' bullpen has been "lights out" lately.

The Firebirds' tied the game up in the second on Steve Selsky's (Arizona) RBI single. In the fourth, the 'Birds took the lead on Selsky's solo home run. In the fifth, an RBI single by Jayce Boyd (Florida State) made it 3-1. In the seventh, RBIs by Riccio Torrez (Arizona State) and Jayce Boyd made it 5-1 and a wild pitch scoring Matt Newman (Arizona State) added another.

The Firebirds won this one 6-1 over Yarmouth-Dennis. Also, Danny Muno (Fresno State) was released by Orleans and signed by Yarmouth-Dennis. Muno started for the Red Sox and went 0 for 2.


On Friday, the Firebirds took on the league's top team, the Brewster Whitecaps. They lost this one 4-3 and almost pulled off a great comeback.

The first Firebird run was scored in the third on a Matt Koch (Loyola Marymount) single to score Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt). In the seventh, the Firebirds scored their second run on a Matt Newman single that scored Matt Koch. In the ninth, Preston Tucker (Florida) doubled home Kevin Muno (San Diego) to pull within one run of Brewster. The Firebirds then had runners on the corners and were unable to bring them in.

Cameron Hobson (Dayton) went five innings and allowed three hits, three earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts. Burny Mitchem (Dayton) allowed the fourth Whitecap run during his two innings of work on a Kirk Singer (Long Beach State) home run. Kenny Long (Illinois State) allowed one hit and no runs in the eighth and Jack Leathersich (UMass-Lowell) pitched a perfect ninth.

Andrew Gagnon (Long Beach State) got the win and improved to 4-0 on the season. He appears to be one of the better pitchers in the league, along with Matt Sisto, Kyle Simon, and his Brewster teammate Anthony Ranaudo (LSU). Ranaudo is from Jackson, NJ (which is about ten minutes away from where I live) and was drafted very early by the Boston Red Sox in 2010. His starts are being followed closely by the Cape Cod Times and their Twitter page www.Twitter.com/capeleagueCCT.

The Firebirds were rained out on Saturday against Falmouth.

On Sunday, the Firebirds lost to the Bourne Braves 2-0. They struggled at the plate and only had two hits on the game. In the ninth, however, Preston Tucker sent a deep fly ball to the fence that almost gave Orleans a 3-2 lead. It was caught and the game ended.

Andrew Kittredge (Washington) let up the two Bourne runs and got the loss. Kenny Long, Will Clinard (Vanderbilt) and Marcus Stroman (Duke) combined to allow no runs on one hit (allowed by Long).

The Firebirds try to gain ground on Harwich for the last playoff spot on Monday night at 7:00pm.

2010 Roster Posted!

Highlighted by 4 returning players (Matt Koch, Riccio Torrez, Tommy Kahnle and Steve Selsky), the 2010 Orleans Firebirds' roster is on the bottom of the page until the season starts. For full details check out http://orleansfirebirds.com/roster.html

Also, the standings are updated with the Hyannis organization's name change to the Harbor Hawks.

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.

Magic Number Down To 6 As Jorge Reyes Twirls Gem At Eldredge

Jorege Reyes allowed 1 hit and 0 earned runs in the Firebirds win over Harwich. Surprisingly, Orleans got down 1-0 in the 6th on an unearned run. Mike Olt and Kevin Muno both plated runs in the bottom of the 6th to take the lead, 2-1. Riccio Torrez then "went yard" in the 8th to add some insurance. Alex Hassan shut the doors to a 3-1 Orleans win.

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!!!

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.

Kevin Muno Comes Up Big But Darkness Ends Game With Orleans Down 5-3

If only the game could have continued... Oh well, let's get started.

The Cotuit Kettleers got out to an early lead on a Cory Vaughn RBI single. Orleans responded with a double by Kevin Muno, a Muno stolen base and a Devin Lohman RBI single to tie it at 1-1.

The Kettleers then scored 2 in the bottom 3rd to take a 3-1 lead. Firebirds turn. They responded with 4 runs on a Matt Koch RBI double, an Alex Hassan RBI ground out, and a Riccio Torrez 2-run double. 5-3 Firebirds.

Then, it was all Kettleers from there as Cotuit scored 2 in the 6th and 1 in the 7th on Tony Plagman's 2 RBI's before the game was called. 8-5 Kettleers over the Firebirds.

Gary Brown and Devin Lohman had 2 hits each for the Firebirds. The real stud, however, was Kevin Muno. Muno went 4 for 4, and stole 2 bases. The starting pitchers, Cole Cook and Seth Blair, each went 4 innings allowing 5 earned runs. Benjamin Rowen picked up the win and Tommy Kahnle got the loss. The 15-11 Firebirds travel to Harwich on Friday to take on the former Cape League champion Mariners.

4 Points In 1 Day!

Orleans had been rained out twice against Bourne causing for a Monday night, double dip in Orleans. Orleans came into the game with 13 wins and 9 losses while Bourne had 13 wins and 7 losses and 2 ties. Orleans was leading the East with Bourne leading the West. Is this a preview of the Cape League finals? Who knows?


Game One was highlighted with a Riccio Torrez two-run double to give the Firebirds the edge over the Braves. Alex Hassan went 2 for 3 and also came in to record the final 2 outs of the game for the Birds. Jimmy Reyes picked up his 3rd win of the season allowing just 2 earned runs on 4 hits over 6 and 1/3. As for Bourne, Pierre LePage had two of their four hits, one of them being a 2-bagger. Chris Wallace also hit his 2nd homer of the year off of Reyes. Orleans took game one 6 to 2.



Game Two was decided by a wild pitch from Kevin Munson allowing Steve Selsky to score Orleans' 2nd run to give them a 2 to 1 victory over the Braves. Jorge Reyes threw six tremendous innings out of the 'pen but it was Matt Packer who got his 2nd "W" this year. Gary Brown went 2 for 3 with an RBI for the Birds while Kyle Roller went 2 for 3 for the Bourne Braves.


The Orleans Firebirds improve to 15 and 9 and have won 9 of their last 11 games. They take on the Cotuit Kettleers on Tuesday.