The Harwich Mariners traveled to Eldridge Park to face the Orleans Firebirds for their third meeting this season. The Mariners were coming off a 6-2 loss to the Brewster Whitecaps when Harwich left 15 runners on base.

Riley Goodman was the starter for the Mariners today. The future Georgia Bulldog has 19 innings in the Cape Cod League and has posted a 2.84 ERA with 17 strikeouts. Goodman is coming off an appearance at Brewster where the right-hander pitched 4 ⅓ innings and gave up four runs.

Goodman had another good start for the Mariners tonight. The right-hander pitched four innings and struck out eight batters. The lone run Goodman gave up came from a solo home run from Johnathan Gomez.

Souvenirs in left field

Eldridge Park saw a barrage of home runs to left field tonight. Four total long balls all landed in the left side of the park tonight.

The Mariners came out of the gates hot after their opening three batters all reached base on a hit. Ty Smolinski launched a ball to deep right field to leave the yard and put him in first place with five home runs on the season. The 315-foot home run would give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth inning, Cade Kurland joined the home run club after a 350-foot moonshot to left field to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead. Kurland now has a pair of home runs on season for the Mariners.

The Firebirds wanted in on the fun launching two solo home runs to left field. Johnathan Gomez had one in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Mariners. Dominic Cadiz was the second Firebird to leave the yard in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Firebirds their second run of the game.

Web gems

Eldridge Park almost saw the fifth home run to left field tonight until JP Peltier had other plans. Orlean’s Rowan Kelly laced a ball to deep left field in the bottom of the second inning. Peltier tracked the ball all the way to the warning track and leaped to make the home run robbery. This was the first robbed home run for the Mariners this season.

"I was already playing kind of deep toward the track because it's a short porch over there in left. I saw it off the bat, got a peek at the fence to see where I was, and timed it up," said Peltier.

Nate Castellon has given the Firebirds trouble both games the high contact-hitting shortstop has faced them. Castellon through ten at-bats has racked up seven hits as well as a pair of doubles against Orleans. One of Harwich’s eight runs came after a Castellon RBI double in the top of the fifth inning.

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess this is just my spot. I guess I see the ball a little better here. I'm not too sure what it is, but hopefully it keeps going. Maybe I should play the All-Star Game here," said Castellon.

The Firebirds tried to spoil the Mariners lead after a late inning rally putting the Firebirds within three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two runners on and the tying run up to bat, closer Christain Rodriguez was able to close the door on two straight strikeouts and a groundout to end the game.

Harwich is now 3-0 against Orleans on the season. Coach Steve Englert was pleased with the total team effort Wednesday.

"I thought we pitched really well. Goody had an outstanding start, and then the bullpen came in and did their job. Offensively, we had timely hits, and I thought we played hard all night. We had hard 90s all day, and Nico Brini running out that infield base hit really stood out. I was really impressed with the way we played tonight," said Coach Englert.

What's next?

The Mariners travel to Falmouth Thursday to face the Commodores.

First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.