The Hyannis Harbor Hawks lost, 6-2, to the Orleans Firebirds on Friday, bringing their record in July to 2-5-2. The Harbor Hawks (10-9-3) fell victim to self-inflicted defensive wounds against the Firebirds (9-11-2) while not producing effectively on offense.
“(Those mistakes) are huge,” Hyannis manager Mitch Karraker said. “We walked too many guys, (I) think we had 15 or 16 three-ball counts, that puts the hitter in the advantage.”
Orleans took advantage of multiple defensive miscues by the Harbor Hawks throughout the game. Hyannis dealt the visitors seven walks throughout the game and committed a crucial error, aiding its opponents' offensive output in various instances.
Mason Russell replaced Tsubasa Tomii in the fourth inning for the Harbor Hawks, pitching a pair of scoreless innings before the Firebirds figured him out in the top of the sixth. Elijah Ickes led off the inning with a grounder acutely down the third base line, careening off the glove of Ryan McKay and settling in shallow left field.
Ickes flew into second, eventually moving to third after back-to-back walks on full counts loaded the bases. Cashel Dugger drove in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to deep center, moving every runner up a base.
The visiting team added another run on a wild pitch by Tyler August that skipped away in the dirt, giving the visitors a 4-1 lead.
Devin Mitchell attempted to kick-start the Hyannis offense in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a solo shot down the left field line in his first at-bat of the summer. Without any other scoring support from the Harbor Hawks offense, the comeback effort proved futile after a decisive blow by Orleans in the top of the ninth.
After a quick pair of outs to begin the inning, Anthony Potestio grounded to Hyannis shortstop Jake Schaffner, who made an errant throw to put the Firebirds outfielder on second. Luke Nixon followed this by taking the first strike he saw past the right field fence for a game-sealing, two-run homer.
Even without help from the Harbor Hawks, Orleans was first on the scoreboard, breaking through in the top of the second. Jonathan Hernandez led off the inning with a single into center, followed by a Dawson Bryce walk one out later.
With a runner in scoring position for the first time in the game, Kyle Johnson sent a rocket deep into the left-center field gap. Hernandez scored while Bryce and Johnson both moved into scoring position.
Javar Williams rolled a sacrifice bunt to the right of the mound, bringing Bryce in to score as Tomii flipped to first.
Hyannis cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth, capitalizing on a Firebirds slip-up. After a Gabe Camacho single, a wild pitch by JT Raab deflected sharply toward the Orleans dugout, giving the UC San Diego first baseman enough clearance to take two bases.
Jeff Lougee then nailed a line drive over the head of left fielder Robbie Lavey, scoring Camacho with ease. The Duke infielder churned around second, sliding into third just ahead of the tag.
With the tying run 90 feet from scoring, the Firebirds opted to replace Raab with Truman Pauley. The Harvard right-hander set Charlie Bates down on strikes, then forced Brody Briggs to pop up, keeping Orleans ahead.
Pauley, Ethan Foley and Steele Murdock stepped up out of the Firebirds’ bullpen, contributing to the Harbor Hawks’ shortcomings in timely hitting. While outhitting their opponent 12 to six, the home squad went 1-of-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base, not capitalizing on several game-changing opportunities on the table.
“Sometimes you have to string (hits) together in order to get runs,” Karraker said. “I know we had second and third at one point, we had a runner at third and one out (and) couldn’t get a guy in. It’s just those kinds of at-bats where we can put some numbers up where we haven’t.”
Hyannis looks clean up on both sides of the ball against the Wareham Gatemen on Saturday at 6 p.m. in McKeon Park.
Tymothy Brown can be reached at ***tymbrown12@gmail.com\* or followed on X @tym_brown1
