Hyannis suffers 8-6 defeat in back-and-forth battle with Orleans

Harbor Hawks and Firebirds combine for 27 hits

By: Mike Maynard

The Hyannis Harbor Hawks lost a high-scoring duel with the Orleans Firebirds 8-6 on Monday night. Each team had a four-run inning, but the Harbor Hawks (10-9-1) couldn’t keep up in the end.

Hyannis got its offense going with a big third inning. Nick Mitchell continued to stay hot with a ground-rule double into deep center field. The high flyball would've been over the fence at most ballparks not named Eldridge Park.

Elijah Hainline followed that up with a five-pitch walk. Cam Smith was the next up for the Harbor Hawks, looking to do damage. The Florida State third baseman found a pitch to drive and smashed a no-doubt three-run home run into left-center field. Smith added a beautiful bat flip to put the cherry on top.

Will Taylor came up to the plate one batter later and demolished a baseball over the fence and over the bullpen in left field for a homer of his own to cap off the four-run third.

The offense continued for Hyannis in the fourth inning, with Aaron Parker leading the inning off with a single up the middle. Smith got his second hit of the night with a grounder up the middle himself to drive in Parker. Austin Kelly was the next man up and perfectly placed a ball in the right-center field gap for an RBI double.

Orleans (10-10-0) got its scoring started in the second inning with a big swing from Henry Hunter. Hunter hit a two-run home run over the wall in left field to put the game’s first runs on the board.

In the bottom of the third, the Firebirds had the bases loaded with two outs. Eddie King singled to score two runs to tie the game at four at the time.

Kros Sively was the first arm used out of the bullpen for the Harbor Hawks and he played a huge role in keeping the game close. He threw three scoreless innings for Hyannis, from the fourth through the sixth and added five strikeouts.

“We came into this game knowing that our bullpen was a little short staffed and [Sively] gave us one more inning than we were hoping to get out of him,” head coach Eric Beattie said. “Big outing by Sively; He did his job well.”

The Harbor Hawks went into the bottom of the seventh inning with a 6-4 lead. Orleans had a huge inning to put four runs on the board. The inning featured multiple mishaps in the field by Hyannis which assisted in giving the Firebirds an 8-6 lead.

Bradley Hodges was tasked with getting out of the seventh on the mound for the Harbor Hawks and he did just that. Hodges added a one-two-three inning in the eighth to finish his night with no earned runs.

In the ninth, the Hyannis put runners on the corners but couldn’t get the clutch hit, ending the night losing by two runs.

The Harbor Hawks ended the game with 14 hits, outmatching Orleans in that aspect (13), but the timely hits with runners in scoring position were the big difference-maker in this one.

Hyannis will look to bounce back after a tough, back-and-forth game when it hosts the Y-D Red Sox for the first time in 2023. First pitch will be Tuesday, July 4 at McKeon Park at 6 p.m.

“The team is playing hard,” Beattie said. “We’re in a long stretch; Today was supposed to be an off day...We just told the guys ‘We need three more hard played games’ like what they’ve given us the last six days.”

Mike Maynard can be reached at mikemay62@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @mikecmaynard