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Chatham drops 3rd straight game, falls 5-4 to Orleans
CHATHAM, Mass. — Chatham and Orleans entered Sunday’s matchup off the heels of very different Saturday evenings.
The Anglers returned to Veterans Field on a low, coming off a 3-2 extra-innings walkoff loss to Harwich in which they mustered one hit. Orleans hit the road fresh off a 10-inning game of its own, though one where the Firebirds walked off Yarmouth-Dennis — the East Division’s first-place team — 6-5 for their most remarkable result of the season yet.
Unfortunately for Chatham, the two teams followed similar trajectories on Sunday. The A’s (10-12-2, East) — searching for a spark after losing four of their last five games — extended their losing streak to three with a 5-4 loss to Orleans (8-16, East) at Veterans Field Sunday. The Anglers didn’t trail until the eighth inning, but three Firebird runs in the final two frames propelled them to the win.
Now, after Chatham led Orleans by as many as 10 points for fourth place — and the final playoff spot — in the East Division, the Firebirds have drawn within six points.
“I thought we pitched well. But we're not driving runs in with guys in scoring position,” A’s manager Dennis Cook said postgame. “We're just not doing it. And I think the guys are trying too hard, instead of just relaxing and doing what they know how to do.”
The Anglers did what they know how to do in the first inning. Ten pitches into the bottom of the frame, they already bested their hit total from the night before. Two pitches after that, they already had as many runs — one — as they had in nine innings the night before.
Bino Watters (LSU) got things started, legging out an infield single with one out in the bottom of the first. Junior Lauaki (Georgia) shot a single into right field on the next pitch, and Ty Peeples (Florida State) singled into left-center to plate Chatham’s first run after.
The A’s nearly got some insurance in the second, but a deep fly ball from Harlin Hovater (Mississippi State) died at the warning track, a foot or two away from clearing the right field wall.
Making his second start of the campaign, newly-minted CCBL All-Star Max Luzarraga (Dallas Baptist) stayed sharp on the other side. The right-hander, who entered the matchup having not allowed an earned run, allowed just two baserunners in his first three innings and struck out two.
Luzarraga didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, when Bub Terrell (Auburn) knocked a double off the right field wall with two outs. But Luzarraga got Garrett Larsen (Yale) to pop out in foul territory to nullify the threat.
“We were thin tonight, so we needed to get a little bit of length out of Max,” Cook said.
And Cook did, but only for about four innings. Orleans came knocking again in the fifth, loading the bases via a bunt, bloop single and a hit-by-pitch. That spelled the end of Luzarraga’s night, as he was relieved by Noah Allen (Alabama) with one away in the fifth.
On the third pitch Allen threw, Rowan Kelly (UCSB) knocked a sacrifice fly into shallow left field to tie the game — giving Luzarraga his first earned run of the year — but that was the extent of the damage. Chatham got some insurance in a big way in the bottom of the frame, when Lauaki gave the A’s a 2-1 lead by crushing a solo homer to dead center field.
But, just as quickly as it appeared, that lead vanished. Terrell — who missed a home run by a few feet in his last at bat — hammered a solo shot to right-center in the top of the sixth to knot the game at two. Orleans put two more aboard, but Allen escaped to keep the game tied.
“I thought (the bullpen) threw the ball good,” Cook said.” I thought Noah threw the ball a lot better tonight.”
It stayed knotted up for the next few frames, but Chatham threatened in the bottom of the seventh, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs.
Drey Barrett (Southern Mississippi) walked, then Rob Rispoli (UConn) bunted for a single, and a throwing error allowed both him and Barrett to advance a base. But Watters popped out, and Lauaki chopped a ground ball to third — which prompted Barrett to head home, where he was tagged out easily.
Chatham’s momentum suddenly ground to a halt, and Orleans flipped it with ease. Tyler Myatt (Tennessee) singled up the middle to lead off the eighth, and Terrell laced a triple into the right field corner to give the Firebirds a one-run lead. Larsen then scored him from third with a single that deflected off of a diving Rispoli’s glove in the infield.
Cole Johnson (Georgia) gave Chatham a chance to chip away in the bottom of the eighth, roping a leadoff double into right. Tyler Howe (North Carolina) — making his Chatham debut — was then hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard.
Then, for the second time, Hovater crushed a fly ball that died just short of the right field wall. It plopped on the warning track, but since Johnson and Howe were looking to tag up, they were late to take off and could only advance one base. A few pitches later, Rispoli — on his 22nd birthday — came through with a two-out, two-run single to knot the game at 4-4.
“(Rispoli) gives us good at bats every time,” Cook said. “He’s an important part of our team.”
But Orleans took the lead right back in the top of the ninth. Adam Magpoc (San Diego State) walked to lead off the inning, then swiped two bases to get 90 feet from home plate. Wyatt Nadeau (Vanderbilt) — who pitched for Chatham Saturday, too — got a crucial strikeout with one out, but then bounced a pitch that shot off Hovater’s chest protector and back toward the mound. It allowed Magpoc to fly home and give the Firebirds the 5-4 advantage.
Chatham, on the other hand, couldn’t push a baserunner past second in the ninth. Magpoc’s score proved to be the difference in the Anglers’ fifth loss in their past six games.
It’s a disheartening result for the A’s, who led the Firebirds by double-digit point total for fourth place in the East Division two days ago. But Chatham has another off day on Monday, and with it, a chance to get back on track before Orleans can keep closing the gap.
The Anglers returned to Veterans Field on a low, coming off a 3-2 extra-innings walkoff loss to Harwich in which they mustered one hit. Orleans hit the road fresh off a 10-inning game of its own, though one where the Firebirds walked off Yarmouth-Dennis — the East Division’s first-place team — 6-5 for their most remarkable result of the season yet.
Unfortunately for Chatham, the two teams followed similar trajectories on Sunday. The A’s (10-12-2, East) — searching for a spark after losing four of their last five games — extended their losing streak to three with a 5-4 loss to Orleans (8-16, East) at Veterans Field Sunday. The Anglers didn’t trail until the eighth inning, but three Firebird runs in the final two frames propelled them to the win.
Now, after Chatham led Orleans by as many as 10 points for fourth place — and the final playoff spot — in the East Division, the Firebirds have drawn within six points.
“I thought we pitched well. But we're not driving runs in with guys in scoring position,” A’s manager Dennis Cook said postgame. “We're just not doing it. And I think the guys are trying too hard, instead of just relaxing and doing what they know how to do.”
The Anglers did what they know how to do in the first inning. Ten pitches into the bottom of the frame, they already bested their hit total from the night before. Two pitches after that, they already had as many runs — one — as they had in nine innings the night before.
Bino Watters (LSU) got things started, legging out an infield single with one out in the bottom of the first. Junior Lauaki (Georgia) shot a single into right field on the next pitch, and Ty Peeples (Florida State) singled into left-center to plate Chatham’s first run after.
The A’s nearly got some insurance in the second, but a deep fly ball from Harlin Hovater (Mississippi State) died at the warning track, a foot or two away from clearing the right field wall.
Making his second start of the campaign, newly-minted CCBL All-Star Max Luzarraga (Dallas Baptist) stayed sharp on the other side. The right-hander, who entered the matchup having not allowed an earned run, allowed just two baserunners in his first three innings and struck out two.
Luzarraga didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, when Bub Terrell (Auburn) knocked a double off the right field wall with two outs. But Luzarraga got Garrett Larsen (Yale) to pop out in foul territory to nullify the threat.
“We were thin tonight, so we needed to get a little bit of length out of Max,” Cook said.
And Cook did, but only for about four innings. Orleans came knocking again in the fifth, loading the bases via a bunt, bloop single and a hit-by-pitch. That spelled the end of Luzarraga’s night, as he was relieved by Noah Allen (Alabama) with one away in the fifth.
On the third pitch Allen threw, Rowan Kelly (UCSB) knocked a sacrifice fly into shallow left field to tie the game — giving Luzarraga his first earned run of the year — but that was the extent of the damage. Chatham got some insurance in a big way in the bottom of the frame, when Lauaki gave the A’s a 2-1 lead by crushing a solo homer to dead center field.
But, just as quickly as it appeared, that lead vanished. Terrell — who missed a home run by a few feet in his last at bat — hammered a solo shot to right-center in the top of the sixth to knot the game at two. Orleans put two more aboard, but Allen escaped to keep the game tied.
“I thought (the bullpen) threw the ball good,” Cook said.” I thought Noah threw the ball a lot better tonight.”
It stayed knotted up for the next few frames, but Chatham threatened in the bottom of the seventh, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs.
Drey Barrett (Southern Mississippi) walked, then Rob Rispoli (UConn) bunted for a single, and a throwing error allowed both him and Barrett to advance a base. But Watters popped out, and Lauaki chopped a ground ball to third — which prompted Barrett to head home, where he was tagged out easily.
Chatham’s momentum suddenly ground to a halt, and Orleans flipped it with ease. Tyler Myatt (Tennessee) singled up the middle to lead off the eighth, and Terrell laced a triple into the right field corner to give the Firebirds a one-run lead. Larsen then scored him from third with a single that deflected off of a diving Rispoli’s glove in the infield.
Cole Johnson (Georgia) gave Chatham a chance to chip away in the bottom of the eighth, roping a leadoff double into right. Tyler Howe (North Carolina) — making his Chatham debut — was then hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard.
Then, for the second time, Hovater crushed a fly ball that died just short of the right field wall. It plopped on the warning track, but since Johnson and Howe were looking to tag up, they were late to take off and could only advance one base. A few pitches later, Rispoli — on his 22nd birthday — came through with a two-out, two-run single to knot the game at 4-4.
“(Rispoli) gives us good at bats every time,” Cook said. “He’s an important part of our team.”
But Orleans took the lead right back in the top of the ninth. Adam Magpoc (San Diego State) walked to lead off the inning, then swiped two bases to get 90 feet from home plate. Wyatt Nadeau (Vanderbilt) — who pitched for Chatham Saturday, too — got a crucial strikeout with one out, but then bounced a pitch that shot off Hovater’s chest protector and back toward the mound. It allowed Magpoc to fly home and give the Firebirds the 5-4 advantage.
Chatham, on the other hand, couldn’t push a baserunner past second in the ninth. Magpoc’s score proved to be the difference in the Anglers’ fifth loss in their past six games.
It’s a disheartening result for the A’s, who led the Firebirds by double-digit point total for fourth place in the East Division two days ago. But Chatham has another off day on Monday, and with it, a chance to get back on track before Orleans can keep closing the gap.
