Firebirds Upend Anglers To Claim Final Playoff Spot

ORLEANS – Finally, the Orleans Firebirds faithful can exhale. The Birds are heading back to the Cape League playoffs.

The Firebirds clinched the fourth and final seed in the East Division playoffs with a 7-1 victory over Chatham in their regular season finale Sunday at Eldredge Park.

The win marked the end of a tumultuous final week of the season for Orleans, which controlled its own playoff destiny over the weekend. After falling 5-4 to Harwich on Friday and suffering 4-0 and 7-4 losses to Bourne in a doubleheader on Saturday, the Firebirds either needed to beat Chatham or have Brewster lose to Harwich in its finale.

In the end, both happened. News of Harwich’s 15-7 win over Brewster came over the PA system at Eldredge Park in the middle of Sunday’s game, although the Firebirds ultimately hung on for a win to head into the postseason on a positive note.

“I didn’t want Brewster to lose,” Orleans manager Kelly Nicholson said. “I told Miss Sue (general manager Sue Horton) that if we lost tonight we didn’t deserve to be in. I’m super happy for these kids that they are going to get an opportunity to be around each other for at least 48 more hours, which is cool.”

The Firebirds were in top form Sunday night. Starting pitcher Cody Bowker (Vanderbilt) set the tone in the early innings before eventually earning the win after allowing just one hit in five scoreless innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

“Cody got the ball and whenever he pitches we know we have a really good chance to win,” said first baseman Bennett Markinson. “He’s been so good this summer and he set the tone — I don’t think he gave up a hit until the fourth. When you have a huge game like this and get a start from a guy like that, it’s so big because we’re able to relax and have confidence that he’s going to keep putting up zeroes to give the offense some time to put up runs.”

Hudson Shupe (Gonzaga) sparked the offense with an RBI single in the third, then came around to give Orleans a 2-0 lead after scoring on a passed ball. Lorenzo Meola (Stetson) scored on a wild pitch by Chatham reliever Murphy Brooks to extend the Firebirds’ lead to 3-0 in the fifth.

Markinson then broke the game open with a two-run home run — his first of the summer — that scored Chris Barr (Army) and gave Orleans a 5-0 advantage. The Firebirds weren’t done, however; they extended their lead to 7-0 later in the fifth following an RBI single by Robbie Ayers (Loyola Marymount) and a Daniel Bucciero (Fordham) run that came on another wild pitch.

“Anything I can do to help us win and get that last spot is what I wanted to do,” Markinson said of his homer. “I think it was a 1-2 slider, I kind of recognized it and was able to put a good swing on it and drive in a few runs and help cement the win.”

Now the Firebirds gear up for a single-elimination game against Y-D, which sat atop the East Division standings for most of the summer. The Firebirds hold a 2-3 record against the Red Sox this season, including a 4-3 loss at Y-D on July 30 in their last meeting. The Birds could have easily won that game, though, as they were just one strike away before Y-D rallied to even the score before earning a walk-off win.

Despite the teams’ records, Orleans was riding high following Sunday’s victory. The team was channeling the 2004 Boston Red Sox’ rallying cry “Why not us?” as they made their way through the handshake line with each other.

“We played really well against Y-D on Tuesday — we were a strike away from winning — and then we defeated Cotuit, which was leading the West,” Nicholson said. “I told them, ‘Listen, I didn’t go to Stanford but we just beat the team with the best record in the West and we were a strike away from beating the team that’s leading the East.’”

Regardless of the team’s confidence, Nicholson said the Firebirds will have to play their best to advance to the East finals against the No. 2 Chatham-No. 3 Harwich winner.

“Our guys feel like if they play well they can compete with anybody,” he said. “If we don’t play well on Tuesday, Y-D will kick our (butt). We’re going to have to bring our A-game, and the winner of that game will have to bring their A-game to the second round, that’s just how the Cape League works. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night, that’s one of the cool things about baseball.”

See page 5 of this week’s edition or capecodchronicle.com for a recap of Tuesday’s Division Series game.