By Joe Catapano

COTUIT, Mass. — Orleans led by two in the bottom of the eighth, just six outs away from earning its first three-game winning streak of the season. But Cotuit rallied for seven runs in the inning to take a 12-7 lead, a score that held.

The Firebirds hit three home runs and battled back from two early deficits, but fell apart late defensively and on the mound. Orleans was previously 7-1 when leading after seven innings.

The Firebirds relied on power for the second consecutive day, extending their Cape Cod Baseball League lead in homers by crushing three Tuesday evening. Two came from Carter Aldrete (Arizona State), who now has four home runs in the last two games.

Aldrete’s first homer gave the Firebirds a lead that wouldn’t last long, as the Kettleers matched the run on two hits in the bottom of the first. Cotuit scored three more runs in the second frame to nullify the Orleans first-inning run.

Firebirds starter Josh Hendrickson (San Diego) struggled early in his outing, conceding four runs in the first two frames. The southpaw battled over the next two-plus innings to finish his start with just an additional run allowed.

Despite falling behind by three, the FIrebirds offense continued to score in bunches. The team’s 25 runs during in the last three days is the best three-game scoring output of the season. After JJ Bleday (Vanderbilt) worked one of the Firebirds eight walks of the afternoon, Aldrete mashed his team-leading fifth home run of the season.

Logan Wyatt (Louisville) and Nick Osborne (Tennessee Tech) both singled after the third-inning homer to string together hits. After a double play, Justin Lavey (Louisville) came up clutch with a two-out RBI double to tie the game at four.

Cotuit brought home its fifth run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth to reclaim one-run lead. Phil Clarke (Vanderbilt) responded for Orleans, crushing his first home run to dead-center field — a three-run shot — to put the visitor’s back up 7-5.

Hendrickson allowed two Kettleers to reach with no outs in the top of the fifth, but Levi Stoudt (Lehigh) entered and stranded the bases loaded after issuing his own walk in the frame. The right-hander worked a scoreless sixth before stranding the bases loaded again in the seventh inning to complete three innings of relief. He allowed no hits and struck out five.

Cotuit then scored seven runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth off Osborne and Aaron Ochsenbein (Eastern Kentucky). Orleans got two runners on base in the top of the ninth, but were too far behind to mount a third comeback of the evening.