By: Alec Henden

ORLEANS, Mass. – 27 outs. It’s the required number of outs to win a regulation baseball game from college all the way to the professional level.

In the Cape League, when doubleheaders take place the games are shortened to seven. This was an unfortunate case for the Orleans Firebirds, who weren’t able to manage a hit against the Harwich Mariners before a full nine-inning game took place for the offense to wake up.

Both games were a microcosm of the Firebirds' offense all summer. When they’re on, few teams can slug like they can to the tune of a six-run, three-homer inning.

The bad. A team that can be lost in a constant cycle of unproductive, short at-bats where bad hitting is extremely contagious.

“That’s baseball sometimes,” Orleans infielder Eddie McCabe said. “We get no-hit in the first game and then come out and get 10 hits in the second game, but that’s the beauty of the game.”

McCabe was one of the early bright spots by working a walk against the dominant Mariner left-hander Jacob Palisch (Stanford). Palisch no-hit the Firebirds in game one as he completely dominated in every facet for the second time this summer.

“He was extremely good and his numbers were good coming into the night,” Orleans manager Kelly Nicholson said. “We just didn’t get to him in a short game and offensively our guys probably pressed a bit to get a hit.”

Following a 45-minute intermission, the Birds started slowly in the second game falling behind 2-0. Harwich threatened to extend its lead but that’s when Orleans received a shot in the arm in the form of a great defensive play.

Leftfielder Max Troiani (Bentley) left his feet to make a diving grab with runners on the corners and two outs to limit the Mariners' threat. The play paved way for a breakthrough offensive inning.

“It was a momentum stopper and those are huge in the game of baseball,” Troiani said. “For us to just take that and run with it was the least I could do for the team.”

10 Orleans hitters got to the plate following the web gem with three balls leaving Eldredge Park in what turned out to be a six-run inning and eventually an 8-3 victory and a doubleheader split.

Josh Zamora (Nevada) got the party started with a shot over the left-field fence followed by a Shay Whitcomb (UC San Diego) and Rob Emery (San Francisco) big fly to spark what had been a stagnant offense.

“We have guys that are capable of putting up six or eight runs a game like they did tonight,” Nicholson said. “It’s nice to see guys hit some homers and put up good at-bats. Max Troiani had a very good at-bat which gave us a couple of insurance runs which allowed us to keep Gar (Nick Garcia) in the game and allow us to not use Pelli (Connor Pellerin) tonight.”

Harwich used extensively left-handed pitchers to get through the double-dip. After Palisch dominated, the Birds got to both game two starter Jordan Butler (Florida) and reliever Tommy Vail (Notre Dame), who didn’t offer very different looks.

“For us, I think it was just a subconscious adjustment,” Troiani said. “We saw the same 88-91 lefty for 14 innings and it was just about putting the bat on the ball and that’s what we did.”

Orleans received tremendous work from its bullpen in both games with starters Adam Seminaris (Long Beach State) and Jared Shuster (Wake Forest) a bit off their game. The Birds’ bullpen combined to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in both games to keep them close in the first game and to preserve the win in the second.

“They threw the ball really well,” Nicholson said. “I was proud of the way everybody pitched tonight. That’s a really good hitting team over there and they have some good hitters, to come back and win game two after getting no-hit our guys showed a lot of character and grit in game two.”

The Firebirds continue their four-game homestand with the first of two games against the Falmouth Commodores. It will be the first time Orleans has welcomed the Commodores to Eldredge Park for the 2019 season, as both teams split the first two meetings at Guv Fuller Field.

Short Hops:

- Orleans now moves to 4-2 in doubleheaders this season with the split against Harwich. They have two more scheduled for the regular season barring more unpredictable weather.

- Right-hander Noah Skirrow (Liberty) will toe the rubber for Thursday night’s meeting with Falmouth. Skirrow most recently pitched in the All-Star game where he allowed one run in an inning of work.

- The third inning outburst in game two featuring three home runs was the highest offensive output in any inning this season.