A season-high 14 walks plagued the Y-D pitching staff on Saturday, as the team fell to Orleans, 8-5, for its eighth consecutive home game without a win.
The Firebirds came out swinging when Tyler Myatt (Tennessee) jumped on the first pitch from Michael Catalano (Oklahoma) and lined it into center field for a leadoff double. After Orleans loaded the bases with one out on a couple of walks, Catalano was able to wiggle out of the jam by getting Kai Wagner (Northern Colorado) to pop out and Dawson Bryce (Charlotte) to strike out on a curveball below the zone.
Catalano ran into more trouble in the second inning, as Javar Williams (Wake Forest) led off the frame with a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line, and Catalano proceeded to walk the next two hitters to load the bases once again. This time, Catalano paid for the walks when Myatt crushed a curveball 410 feet over the wall in left field for a grand slam to put Orleans ahead, 4-0. The long ball marked the third homer allowed by Catalano in his past two outings after he didn't surrender a single home run in his first six appearances of the summer.
After the first two Y-D hitters in the bottom of the third inning were retired by Kyle Johnson (Duke), Armando Briseño (Cal State Fullerton) sparked a two-out rally by lining a breaking ball into center field for a base hit. Following a single by Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M), Jayce Tharnish (Kentucky) collected the third consecutive two-out hit when he drove a changeup into left field for an RBI double to cut Y-D’s deficit to 4-1.
The Firebirds continued to create a ton of traffic on the basepaths in the fourth inning by remaining patient at the plate. Three free passes handed out by Jack Nobe (Xavier) in the frame loaded the bases for the fourth straight inning. Nobe found a way to escape yet another jam by catching Williams looking at a fastball for the final out. Through the first four innings, Orleans was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Y-D kept clawing its way back into the game in the bottom of the fourth when a single and a couple of walks loaded the bases with one out and knocked Johnson out of the game. With Colby Guy (UNC Asheville) on the mound for Orleans, Yomar Carreras (Rutgers) hit a ground ball to first base to score a run and make it 4-2. A couple of wild pitches from Guy in the next two at-bats allowed Y-D to tie the game up at 4-4.
“With the playoffs coming up, it’s important to show that no matter if we get down, we’ll have that fight,” Hacopian said. “Games like that prepare you for the playoffs, so I think the offense did a great job today.”
Orleans responded immediately against Justin Lee (UCLA) in the fifth inning, as Alejandro Garza (Cal Poly) hit a grounder past the sliding Carreras at second base for a run-scoring hit to regain a 5-4 lead. With two outs and runners on second and third, Elijah Ickes (Hawaii) lined a 94 mph fastball into left field for a two-run single to give Orleans a 7-4 advantage.
After Cole Tryba (UC Santa Barbara) entered the game for Orleans in the bottom half of the inning, Tharnish and Connor Capece (Creighton) led off the frame with a couple of singles to put runners at the corners with no outs. Garrett Wright (Tennessee) blooped a changeup into shallow right field for an RBI single to make it a two-run ballgame. Tryba played the role of an escape artist by getting a strikeout and inducing a 5-4-3 double play to keep the score at 7-5.
With runners on second and first with two outs for Orleans in the sixth inning, Carreras helped keep Y-D within striking distance by making an outstanding diving play at second base on a ground ball from Garza.
Y-D strung together another two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth when Briseño hit a line-drive single and Hacopian scorched a fastball into left field for a double. The double gave Hacopian his third consecutive game with three or more hits, as he has gone 10-for-14 at the plate in his past three contests.
“The process and the results are there right now,” Hacopian said. “I’m feeling a lot more comfortable and getting that confidence back. But the main thing right now is just trying to win every game, and I think what’s really helped is putting my focus on the other guys on the team.”
It appeared that Y-D was on the verge of getting its first lead of the game when Tharnish launched a 94 mph fastball to the wall in center field; however, Williams perfectly timed his leap to rob Tharnish of a go-ahead, three-run home run to end the sixth inning.
The Firebirds added on another insurance run in the eighth inning with some crafty baserunning, pulling off a double steal and forcing a throwing error by Capece behind the plate to bring in a run.
Steele Murdock (UC San Diego) slammed the door for Orleans with a scoreless eighth inning, securing the 8-5 victory after the game was called due to darkness. With the loss, Y-D is now 0-7-1 in its past eight games at Red Wilson Field and has dropped into second place in the East Division standings.
Y-D will look to bounce back from the defeat when it goes on the road to face Harwich in a crucial division battle at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
