By: Cole Bradley
ORLEANS, Mass- Once again, the weather brought bad news for the Orleans Firebirds, and this time it wasn’t a cancellation.
With the fog draping heavy over Eldredge Park on Tuesday night, the Falmouth Commodores mashed the ball on the field below. Aided by three crucial home runs, Falmouth bruised Firebird pitching en route to an 11-4 win.
Falmouth has swept the season series against Orleans after their 1-0 victory on Monday.
After loading the bases in the fifth with one already home, Cory Acton (Florida) struck out looking on a call that Head coach Kelly Nicholson and Jamie Quinn weren’t too fond of. The controversial call killed a would-be big inning for the Birds, and proved to be the best opportunity they would get.
“I think it changed the complexion of the game,” Nicholson said. “It was just a bad call, and that’s gonna happen and you have to play through it. It’s just disappointing because Cory had a really good at-bat up to that point.”
Prior to that, Garret Guillemette (USC) blasted his third homer of the summer, a three-run shot. His leftfield dinger drew what was a four-run Falmouth lead down to one.
Guillemette added a single before the end of the night as well.
“There was a lefty on the mound tonight and I do pretty good against lefties,” Guillemette said. “I got my pitch and didn’t miss it and it gave a little momentum boost to the guys. We came up short today but I’m looking forward to getting back after it.”
Aside from that, the Commodores took an early hold that never relinquished. The bottom of the order in particular had a huge game, combining for seven of Falmouth’s 12 hits.
Kobie Kolden (Washington State) drove in five himself, including three on a booming homer in the sixth.
“You’re not gonna win many games when you’re giving up 11 in the Cape League,” Nicholson said.
One of the other lone bright spots for Orleans was Jeff Praml (Southern New Hampshire), who threw two scoreless innings to keep the score where it was heading to the ninth. Praml has held opponents scoreless in his last two outings.
“It felt good coming out of the pen,” Praml said. “I did my job there, making pitches and getting outs.”
Orleans is on the road for six of their next eight games, a tough mid-season stretch that will test them in a big way. Trips to Bourne, Cotuit, Y-D, Wareham and Harwich await them over the next week and a half.
“I think we're ready to compete,” Praml said. “We're not home for the next five days, we just got to get ready to go to work.”
On Wednesday Orleans will face the Mariners at Whitehouse Field for the first official time after rain prohibited them from getting through three innings the last time they were in town. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 pm.
