The Harwich Mariners extended their home win streak to three games on Saturday night, defeating the Orleans Firebirds, 5-1. After allowing a run in the first inning, the Mariners pitching staff pitched a shutout for the final eight innings of the game en route to a smooth victory on a picturesque night at Whitehouse Field.

A four-run fifth inning hammered the nail in the coffin for Harwich on Saturday night. Bristol Carter led the inning off with a walk, a dangerous runner to put on base for opponents. With Michael Anderson now at bat, Carter used his fancy footwork on base to get an elite jump when Anderson hammered a line drive to center, allowing him to come all the way around to score on what, for most runners, would have only allowed them to advance to third.

Now up 2-1, Cade Kurland came up with two outs and hit an infield single that scored Anderson, and an error allowed Kurland to advance to second.

Then came the loudest score of the night, off the bat of Macon Winslow. With a 1-0 count, Winslow caught a hanging breaking ball and sent it over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.

"He's been living on the belt pretty good and I'm glad it finally paid off for him," head coach Steve Englert said of Winslow. "That was a big knock, that was a huge inning for us."

It was smooth sailing from then on out, as Tommy Allman and Cole Wisenbaker dialed in out of the bullpen and kept Orleans off the board for the remainder of the game.

Griffin Kirn was once again strong for Harwich in his third outing of the season, settling in after a rocky first inning. Although he allowed five hits in the first and eight overall, most of them were bloop, seeing-eye singles that just barely found the outfield grass. He finished his evening with three K's and just the one run allowed.

"A couple of those plays should have been made, but yeah, he settled in fine," Englert said of Kirn. "He didn't let it affect him, he just kept attacking and kept them there, it was great."

Now with three straight home wins, the Mariners sit at 8-5 on the season, a strong record that has them sitting firmly in second place in the East Division of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Harwich is back in action Sunday night at Chatham for the first time this season. First pitch at Veterans Field is slated for 7 p.m.

"Always good to win in front of your hometown squad," Englert said. "We just take it one game at a time, I know it's a cliche, but just try to go out and win one game at a time, 28 more straight times."