Muddled by a struggling offense and wild pitching, the Hyannis Harbor Hawks dropped their Sunday contest 6-0 to the Orleans Firebirds at McKeon Park and were shut out for the first time this season, dropping to 4-9 on the year.

“When you don’t give up any runs, it’s pretty hard to lose,” Orleans manager Kelly Nicholson said. “Our guys did a good job tonight, put together some good at-bats. It was a good win for us.”

Orleans held Hyannis to only one hit through the first six innings – a bunt single by third baseman Taylor Kirk in the bottom of the third.

Firebirds starter LJ Cormier got Orleans’ night going with four scoreless innings, giving up only the Kirk single and one walk to go along with six strikeouts.

“Their starter was one of the best guys we’ve seen, really good changeup,” Hyannis manager Mitch Karraker said. “We didn’t do a good job on the fastball tonight, we didn’t do a good job on the offspeed, and if you don’t do good on either one, you’re in big trouble.”

Orleans pitchers Andrew Cutler, Jake Echols and Elai Iwanaga followed Cormier to complete the shutout. In total, the Firebirds’ pitching staff struck out 12 while giving up only three hits and three walks in the effort.

While the Harbor Hawks’ pitchers gave up only four hits, they struggled to find the zone. Hyannis walked eight batters – hardly a recipe for success.

Karraker said cleaning up the control issues is the biggest key to Hyannis’ pitchers’ success going forward. The Harbor Hawks have issues the second-most bases on balls in the league, walking 65 batters over the course of the season.

“Can we eliminate all the free bases, the walks, the passed balls, the wild pitches, the errors?” Karraker said. “If we can do that, we at least have a chance to be in a game.”

The Firebirds set the tone early, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Right fielder Rowan Kelly led off with a double, and a subsequent walk and wild pitch put two men in scoring position.

Center fielder Bub Terrell, who torched the Harbor Hawks with two home runs in the team’s last matchup, drove Kelly in with a single. With first baseman Dominic Cadiz on third, left fielder Tyler Myatt’s sacrifice fly scored the second run.

The Hawks went without a baserunner for the first two innings.

Orleans poured on more runs in the fourth and sixth. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Cadiz hit a sacrifice fly to put the Firebirds up 3-0. Orleans got out to a big inning in the sixth, punctuated by an RBI triple from Kelly and a wild pitch that notched the score at 5-0.

The Hawks finally got the ball out of the infield when first baseman Trey Hawsey doubled to lead off the seventh, but he was called out – hit by a batted ball – as shortstop Matt Ineich, who prior to the game was off playing in the College World Series for West Virginia University, singled in his debut for Hyannis.

“Good to see Ineich get his feet wet,” Karraker said. “Wasn’t a great night for him, but I think he’s going to be really good for us.”

The Firebirds tacked on one more in the ninth as Kelly delivered his third hit of the game to lead off the inning and Hyannis catcher Will Fosberg allowed two passed balls to move the runner to third. Cadiz hit another sacrifice fly to bring the score to 6-0.

Fosberg was in the game as a replacement for starting catcher Efren Ortega, who was injured during his at-bat in the fifth inning.

Karraker said Ortega “didn’t feel great coming out of the game” and will be reevaluated tomorrow.

Orleans, now 4-9 on the season, snapped a three-game losing streak that began with a loss to the Harbor Hawks in which Hyannis rallied from a 4-1 deficit to a 6-4 win. Nicholson said the Firebirds were unfazed by that loss and weren’t thinking about it going into the rematch with the Harbor Hawks.

“Yesterday’s dead, and we don’t let it affect what we’re doing today,” Nicholson said. “Our goal every day is just to try and stay as healthy as we can, and prepare as best we can, and let the cards fall where they may.”

Karraker remains hopeful the cards will fall in Hyannis’ direction going forward.

“We just need a couple guys to step up, and we need a spark offensively to get us going,” Karraker said. “We need consistency in our bats. We need consistency on the mound. If we can get those things, we’re going to be in good shape.”

The Harbor Hawks will continue their set of three consecutive home games against the Wareham Gatemen on Monday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.