Pitching, Tight Wins Have Red-Hot Firebirds Surging

ORLEANS – In mid-July, a day before the Cape Cod Baseball League’s All-Star Game, the Orleans Firebirds, at 13-13-2, sat just a point above the last-place Chatham Anglers in the East Division. Less than two weeks later, the Firebirds were the best team in the league.

They did it by winning 10 of their final 13 games — including a seven-game win streak — in the last part of the regular season, not only going from sweating a playoff spot and jumping into first place in the East standings, but also finishing with the least losses and tied for the most wins across the entire league (a final record of 22-16-2).

The winning manifested in different ways, and the Firebirds took down almost every other Cape League team in the process (only Wareham emerged unscathed). There was a two-run come-from-behind home run by Elijah Ickes (Hawaii) to walk off Yarmouth-Dennis. There was a comeback win against Hyannis for their seventh in a row, punctuated by a walk-off base hit from Dawson Bryce. There was a blowout against Falmouth.

There was a 1-0 pitchers’ duel against Cotuit. There was a by-the-skin-of-their-teeth double play to escape a no-outs bases loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth against Chatham. There was a tightrope walk of five consecutive one-run wins.

“With this team, it just seems like we're never out of it,” right fielder Anthony Potestio (UC San Diego) said. “Very resilient. We've got a good group of guys, and I think we have a chance to go pretty deep in the playoffs.”

The key, to manager Kelly Nicholson, has been pitching. The Firebirds had a five-game stretch in which they allowed four runs total this past week. And when the pitching faltered, the offense came through, like in an 8-5 win against Yarmouth-Dennis bolstered by a grand slam from newcomer standout Tyler Myatt (a transfer from Walters State Community College to Tennessee) or the 7-6 win against Hyannis.

“Our big thing is we try to prepare really well every day,  and we’ve got to stay healthy and then just go compete our rear ends off and see what happens,” Nichsolson said before Orleans faced Hyannis. “And if we play better than them tonight, we're probably going to win, and if they play better than us tonight, they're going to beat us, for sure. It's the way the Cape is, the way it should be.”

It begins with starting pitching, and the Firebirds bullpen has been really good, too, Nicholson said. JT Raab (Georgetown) has pitched to a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings across five starts, and Orleans has indeed only allowed four runs in ninth innings across the entire 40-game summer, a league-lowest 0.89 earned run average in that split. Steele Murdock (UC San Diego) leads the Cape with eight saves. Other bullpen arms, like Kai Leckszas (Georgetown), Ryan Oshinskie (Brown), Cole Tryba (UC Santa Barbara) and Ethan Foley (California), have pitched to sub-2.00 ERAs. 

“I've just been very excited to go into these games, like our guys have been doing everything they can to win these games and keep them close, and that's what makes these outings so exciting,” Leckszas said after retiring all seven batters he faced against Hyannis. 

Potestio said Orleans hitters didn’t have to press as much in early innings as a result of the team’s pitching. 

“Knowing that our pitching staff can come in the game and shut the door for us helps us as an offense for sure,” he said.

Multiple Firebirds, like Ickes and outfielder/catcher Robbie Lavey (George Washington) have been on the Cape since the very beginning of the season, slotting into the lineup night after night from June to August. 

“We've been consistent, and I think the more those guys play, the better they get, and it's not any secret,” Nicholson said.

Those players were here when Orleans survived its nadir of the summer, sitting in last place in the East as late as July 11. Now they’ve entered the postseason as the top team in the league.

“We always feel like we have that opportunity to be the best team, and right now we're playing like it,” Ickes said.

But players that have joined later on have also quickly contributed significantly. Myatt joined the Firebirds with 10 games to go in the regular season and proceeded to hit above .300, slug four home runs and drive in eight. Outfielder Landon Hairston (Arizona State) debuted in the penultimate game of the season and hit two doubles. 

“It's been awesome kind of getting used to this,” Hairston said.

The Firebirds were set to face the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the three-game postseason Division Series beginning Tuesday after press time.

“I think we're just excited rolling into the playoffs,” Leckszas said. “I think everyone here wants to stay until the end and win the whole thing.”