The Harwich Mariners hosted the Orleans Firebirds Friday night at Whitehouse Field. The Mariners came in riding a four game win streak after dropping their season opener. The Firebirds have not had the start to the season they have planned, coming into this game 1-4.

Trey Williford was the starter for the Mariners tonight. The 6-foot-3 hard throwing lefty is coming off an Opening Day start where he looked promising, tossing 3.1 innings and striking out seven. Williford's first start ended after giving up a grand slam to Y-D’s KJ Scobey.

Justin LeGuernic was the starter for Orleans tonight. LeGuernic is coming off a great junior season for the Clemson Tigers where he pitched 40 innings and struck out 50 batters. LeGuernic gave the hot Mariners offense trouble to start the game with a fastball that reached 98 mph.

The first run of the game almost came after a passed ball got by Orleans catcher Cale Stricklin. Mariners Julio Solier tried to take home and failed. The aggressive baserunning did not work out in the Mariners favor after Solier was thrown out at the plate.

The Firebirds must have done their scouting on the Mariners. Harwich entered the game leading the league with 25 stolen bases. In the first four innings the Firebirds didn't even allow the Mariners to steal a base.

The first run of the game came after Mariner’s first baseman Quinton Coats poked a ball to shallow center field and scored Trent Grindlinger from second. Ryan Gerety decided to take matters into his own hands. The speedy center fielder beat out a grounder to third to record his second hit of the season. Gerety stole second, third, and home on consecutive pitches to put the Mariners up two.

The fifth inning came with some serious web gems. It started with Orleans center fielder Zach Jackson perfectly tracking a Trent Grindlinger deep drive over his shoulder. Mariners outfielder Colin Larson then followed it up with another diving catch in shallow right field to spoil the Firebirds second hit of the game. This is the second diving catch in two days for the Boston College defensive outfielder.

Trey Williford completed six innings of one hit baseball. Williford has established himself in this league as one of the top young arms.

“I definitely commanded the zone tonight. It gets a lot easier when you're able to throw your secondary pitches for strikes. That was a big key for me,” Williford said.

The Firebirds responded in the top of the seventh after a leadoff hit from Nate Savoie. A Tyler Myatt walk followed soon after to put two runners in scoring position. Armani Raygoza then laced a ball down the left field foul line to score two Firebirds and even things up.

Ninth inning Magic

The dogfight was in a stalemate until the ninth inning. With two Firebirds on base and with one out, Steve Englert called on the right-hander Miguel Hugas to give the Mariners a chance to escape a massive jam. Hugas went on to retire the next two batters with his fastball-sinker mix.

The bottom of the ninth started when veteran Ernie Echevarria was hit by a fastball to the ribs to put the potential winning run on base. After a pinch runner substitution Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe was the winning run. Ryan Gerety then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Rienstra-Kiracofe to second. Orleans appeared posed to force extra innings after only needing one more out. Third baseman JP Peltier had other plans. Peltier lined the first pitch he saw to the opposite field and scored Rienstra-Kiracofe.

Mariners manager Steve Englert wasn’t surprised how difficult this game was.

“It seems like every time we play Orleans, it’s a dogfight. We always have great games with them. Kelly does a super job over there, and he really knows how to run a club. That was a fun game. We got some timely hits late and found a way to come out on top.”

The Mariners are now on a five game win streak entering the second weekend of the season.

What's Next?

Harwich travels to Wareham Saturday night for their first meeting of the season.

First pitch is set for 6 p.m.