ORLEANS – The Firebirds are flying back to the Cape League championship for the first time in a decade.  Orleans captured the East Division title Wednesday night with a 4-3 victory over Yarmouth-Dennis in front of a packed crowd of 4,633 at Eldredge Park. The win completed a 2-0 series sweep of the top-seeded Red Sox and clinched the second-seeded Firebirds’ first championship berth since 2013, when the team f...

SOUTH YARMOUTH – Longtime Orleans Firebirds manager Kelly Nicholson decided to insert Fenwick Trimble into the game at a crucial time. The outfielder from James Madison University didn’t let the skipper nor his teammates down. Trimble launched a go-ahead grand slam home run over the left field fence in the top of the eighth to complete a comeback and power Orleans to an 8-4 victory over Yarmouth-Dennis on Mond...

HARWICH – Cape Cod Baseball League rosters typically hold 30 players at a time. This season, the Harwich Mariners cycled through well over double that number. The constant roster turnover resulted in over 70 players donning the Mariners uniform in 2023, and because of this, the summer was perhaps the most difficult season of manager Steve Englert’s career. “This was the worst year ever,” said Englert regard...

ORLEANS – The Orleans Firebirds’ memorable summer just got a little sweeter. Over the weekend, the organization was presented with the Cape League’s Paul Galop Commissioner Cup, an end-of-season award decided on by league commissioner Eric Zmuda and deputy commissioner Peter Hall. The award is presented to a team that demonstrates integrity and professionalism both on and off the field throughout the year. ...

SOUTH YARMOUTH – The short confines of Red Wilson Field ultimately led to the end of the Brewster Whitecaps’ season. After opening the postseason with a lopsided 18-7 win over top-seeded Yarmouth-Dennis on Friday, fourth-seeded Brewster saw its season come to a screeching halt following a 3-1 loss Saturday and a 4-3 defeat Sunday in Game 3 of the best-of-three East semifinals. The season-ending loss was esp...

SOUTH YARMOUTH – For seven innings, Fenwick Trimble sat in the Orleans Firebirds’ dugout patiently. The outfielder from James Madison University watched his teammates with close attention, staying ready in case his number was called. When it finally was, with one out in the eighth, Trimble made the most of his opportunity. The slugger from Virginia Beach launched a pinch-hit grand slam home run over the lef...

SOUTH YARMOUTH – Longtime Orleans Firebirds manager Kelly Nicholson decided to insert Fenwick Trimble into the game at a crucial time. The outfielder from James Madison University didn’t let the skipper nor his teammates down. Trimble launched a go-ahead grand slam home run over the left field fence in the top of the eighth to complete a comeback and power Orleans to an 8-4 victory over Yarmouth-Dennis on Mond...

ORLEANS – At 5-foot-7, 170 pounds, Jo Oyama is hardly a towering giant. But despite his stature, he has established himself as one of the biggest stars in the Cape Cod Baseball League this summer while playing for the Orleans Firebirds. Ask Orleans manager Kelly Nicholson what impresses him about the Okinawa, Japan, native and Nicholson’s first thought will be an all-encompassing picture that tells the whole s...

Talk to anyone who has been around the Cape Cod Baseball League for the past three decades about the best pitchers they have seen come through, and they’ll likely rattle of a who’s who of Major League stars. They might start with former Orleans star Marcus Stroman or Harwich standout Tim Lincecum. No matter the order they list the pitchers, it won’t be long before Andrew Miller’s name comes up. Miller spent...

HARWICH – It’s 4:30 p.m. at Whitehouse Field, two hours before game time, but moments away from when Wyatt Kopelman and Devin Dobek get to work. The two represent the voice of the Mariners for the summer, a job that requires hours of daily prep. “Typically, I will get up at anywhere from 9 to 10 o'clock in the morning, and then I'll get something to eat quickly, and we'll get right to working on game notes ...

The field is set for the Cape League’s East Division playoffs, though the dust hasn’t settled on which teams will be seeded atop the division. Brewster, Harwich, Orleans and Yarmouth-Dennis will make up the East’s four-team playoff bracket, with Chatham being on the outside looking in for a second consecutive summer. Y-D sat atop the division standings with a half-game lead over Orleans as of press time, al...

BREWSTER – Being a coach in the Cape Cod Baseball League comes with connections, and those connections come with perks. In the case of Brewster Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik, one of those perks is a contact at Victus Sports, a wooden bat manufacturer that supplied the club with custom turquoise bats to match their team colors. “I actually have a player that played for me at Keystone [College] that works ...