Through the first six games of the season, the Harwich Mariners were undefeated when they scored first. With the success of the pitching staff to this point of the season, just a few runs was typically enough. That streak came to a halt Saturday night at Eldridge Park as the Orleans Firebird came from behind to win 3-1 to hand Harwich its third loss of the season.

Harwich ran into trouble in the fourth inning when Orleans loaded the bases against pitcher Thomas Shurtleff with one out.

When Orleans hitter Jonathan Mendez hit a comebacker to Shurtleff, it looked like Harwich was going to get out of the jam.

After Shurtleff took a look at first base, he twisted and fired towards second base. Unfortunately, Shurtleff’s throw went high out of second baseman Shintaro Inoue’s reach and into center field, allowing two Orleans runs to score.

The error proved costly as Harwich failed to get another score.

“You got to remember they are young kids,” said Harwich field manager Steve Englert. “Sometimes this early, you get overwhelmed the way they are. The game speeds up on them a little bit. Once they get some experience and play on a regular basis, the game will slow down.”

Shurtleff pitched two innings, recorded three strikeouts, and allowed two hits and three walks.

With a Bristol Carter RBI-single in the third inning to score Evan Dempsey, the Mariners looked like they were in attack mode.

The team got a guy on base in the following three innings but failed to string any hits together.

But it was the seventh inning that hurt the most.

Orleans pitcher Ethan Foley got the first two outs, Dempsey and Tre Broussard reached base with back-to-back infield singles. Carter then followed with a walk to load the bases for shortstop Tyler Bell, who was already 2-3 for the game with a line drive double and single.

After falling down 0-2 in the count, Bell fought off two pitches to extend the at-bat. On Foley’s fifth pitch, Bell hit a deep shot to right-center field that was caught short of the warning track.

Through his first three games at the Cape, Bell is already hitting .333 and making strong impressions with his coach.

“He’s a dude,” Englert said. “He’s a big leaguer.”

Oregon’s Toby Twist made his first start of the season. Twist appeared in just four games this spring after recovering from an arm injury sustained in 2024.

The lefty struck out two batters in two innings of scoreless work, while giving up just a hit and a walk.

After having Twist toss only 25 pitches, Harwich plans to build his pitch count through the summer, with the goal being to prepare him to be a starter next spring.

“He’s going to be a good one. We are easing him, getting back into it, getting his feet wet,” Englert said.

The matchup was Harwich’s first game against an Eastern Division opponent. The Firebirds improve to 3-4 with the win while Harwich falls to 4-3.

Harwich hosts Wareham tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Evan Dempsey makes his second start of the season.