story by Steve McCarthy
June 20, 2010
ORLEANS - The Orleans Firebirds capitalized on Cotuit
Kettleers starting pitcher Thomas Keeling's (Oklahoma
St.) shaky Cape Cod Baseball League debut and defeated
the visitors 5-3 Sunday night at Eldredge Park in
Orleans.
Keeling (0-1)
walked five batters in an inning plus and allowed four
runs. Three of the runs were plated with sacrifice
flies.
Orleans got back to
.500 at 3-3 while Cotuit fell to 1-5-1. It was the
second time in three days the Firebirds beat the
Kettleers. Cotuit will look to right the ship Monday
evening in a home game against Falmouth.
The Kettleers made
it a two-run game in their final at-bat and loaded the
bases with two outs for power-hitting cleanup hitter
Paul Hoilman (East Tennessee St.), but Orleans right
fielder Steve Selsky (Arizona) laid out to grab
Hoilman's rocket to the warning track for the game's
final out.
He misses that
ball, they might score three on that, Orleans manager
Kelly Nicholson said. It was a hell of a catch.
Orleans starter
Marcus Stroman (Duke) pitched five shutout innings for
the win, scattering three hits and striking out five. He
did not walk a batter.
I felt like I
established my fastball early and then it helped me
later in the game, Stroman said. I just tried to
keep the ball low.
Selsky and Will
Piwinica-Worms (Duke) were the only two Firebirds with
multi-hit games. Orleans' hitters were able to be
selective against Keeling, though, and send balls deep
into the outfield with less than two outs to allow
baserunners to advance.
We did a really
nice job hitting situationally tonight, Nicholson
said.
Cotuit leadoff
hitter Chad Wright (Kentucky) singled in three of his
four at-bats. Joey Hainsfurther (Baylor) had a double
and a single. Cotuit had eight hits to Orleans' six.
Keeling issued
three free passes in the first inning, including one
with the bases loaded. Selsky and Kevin Muno (San Diego)
each tagged from third on sac-flies in the inning.
Any time you
have a guy out there struggling with command, you've got
to be patient and wait for your pitch, Nicholson
said. I thought they did a good job of that
tonight.
Selsky's sac-fly
scored Cam Kneeland (UMass-Lowell) in the second inning
and Piwinica-Worms made it 5-0 in the fifth with an
RBI-single off Cotuit submarine style reliever Michael
Frongello (Davidson).
I actually
played with (Frongello) last summer, so I know his
tendencies, Piwinica-Worms said. I just knew
you've got to see it up before you swing and I got lucky
on that one.
The Kettleers
pushed two runs across in the sixth inning facing
Orleans reliever Cameron Hobson (Dayton) with a pair of
sac-flies of their own by Hoilman and Levi Hyams
(Georgia).
Frongello allowed
one run in four and two-thirds innings of relief. Newly
acquired righthander Austin Wood (St. Petersburg
College) worked the last two innings.
Hobson, Dennis
O'Grady (Duke), and Burny Mitchem (Dayton) each struck
out two out of the bullpen for Orleans. Mitchem allowed
Cotuit's ninth-inning run.
Cotuit's game on
Monday at Lowell Park is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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