By: Alec Henden

ORLEANS, Mass. – Remembering the 2019 Orleans Firebirds will be a fairly easy enterprise. The pitching staff will go down as one of the best in club history and they’ve consistently performed exceptionally all summer.

Friday night they held one of the Cape’s best offenses in the Falmouth Commodores to only two runs. Knowing that, Orleans would’ve liked their odds to come up victorious. Unfortunately it was another long night for the bats as they fell short 2-1 at home for a short two-game sweep at the hands of Falmouth.

“I feel like we were putting up good at-bats and we were getting people on,” Orleans infielder Julio Marcano (New Jersey Institute of Technology) said following the loss. “You have to give credit to their starter he was really good. We struggled to move runners and we’ll struggle when that happens.”

Commodores’ starter Carmen Mlodzinski (South Carolina) dominated through his five innings on the mound as he scattered five hits to keep Orleans off the scoreboard. It was the second time Mlodzinski has held the Birds off the board as he no-hit Orleans through five innings at Guv Fuller Field.

The right-hander was a key cog in Falmouth’s ninth-consecutive victory as they charge toward postseason play.

Orleans starter Jake Eder (Vanderbilt) was the tough luck loser on Friday as he allowed only two runs across his five innings of work. It took 12 2/3 Cape League innings for him to allow a run, as he battled through his outing without his A-game.

“He didn’t have command of his secondary pitches so the fact he was able to get through five innings and allow only two runs against this offense is impressive,” Orleans pitching coach Mathew Troupe said. “It speaks to his competitiveness that he’s able to find a way despite not having his best tonight”

Orleans received another stellar outing from the bullpen as Angelo Smith (Michigan) and David Stiehl (Northeastern) combined to throw four no-hit innings and kept the Firebird offense within striking distance.

Stiehl was especially dominant in the late innings as he struck out four hitters and retired six of the seven men that he faced.

“It was a close game and I just wanted to give my team the best opportunity to come back,” Stiehl said “I was just trying to throw low in the zone and throw my slider for strikes and it ending up working out.”

It took until the eighth inning for Orleans to get on the scoreboard as Marcano scored on an RBI-groundout from Max Troiani (Bentley) to cut the deficit to one run.

Falmouth brought in their closer who threw a shutdown ninth inning as the Commodores finished off the two-game sweep as they drove back to the southwest Cape victorious.

The Birds now head on the road for a doubleheader with the Brewster Whitecaps. It will be the first of three straight with the Whitecaps who currently sit in last place in the east and are chasing both Orleans and Harwich.

Short Hops:

Orleans will send left-hander Isaac Esqueda (USC) and Justin Showalter (James Madison) to the mound for games one and two respectively of the doubleheader. Showalter will be making his first appearance of the summer for the Birds.

The Birds hold a six-point lead over the Whitecaps in the standings. Winning at least one game of the double dip will go a long way to cementing their postseason status.