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Koch is Clutch Again

July 31, 2009

By Tyler Maland

Orleans, Mass. - Déjà vu, anyone? For the second game in a row, Matt Koch (Loyola Marymount) delivered when down to his last strike, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and his team down by one run. His single to left field Friday night scored two and gave the Firebirds a 3-2 win over the Harwich Mariners, their second walk-off win in as many games.

After Harwich broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly by Leon Landry (LSU), Orleans came up in the ninth with the option to score or go home. Turns out, it did both.

Michael Olt (Connecticut) led off the ninth with a single down the left field line, and his pinch runner Ross Heffley (Eastern Carolina) moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Jeremy Gould (Duke) followed with a stinging single to right-center that moved Heffley to third. Harwich reliever Glenn Troyanowski (Florida Atlantic) replaced Brian Dupra (Notre Dame) and managed to strike out the next batter, but not before a wild pitch moved Gould to second to put two runners in scoring position with two outs.

Koch was down in the count to Troyanowski and fouled off several pitches before finally getting around on one for a line drive over the shortstop, a hit nearly identical to his game-tying single Wednesday night against Falmouth. Both Heffley and Gould scored easily, and the celebration was on.

Casey Gaynor (Rutgers) made the start for Orleans, and dueled impressively with Harwich starter Eric Jokisch (Northwestern) for the majority of the game. Gaynor went 5.2 innings and gave up five hits and one earned run, while Jokisch lasted 6.1 innings and gave up just three hits and one earned.

Orleans scored its first run in the second inning on an RBI single by Devin Scott Lohman (Long Beach St.). Harwich came right back and tied it up in the top of the third, on an RBI single by Levi Michael (UNC).

Brock Stassi (Nevada) relieved Gaynor in the sixth and pitched 1.2 innings, giving up one earned run. Matt Hiserman (San Francisco) got the last two outs of the eighth and all three in the ninth, and earned the win. He walked one and struck out one, and did not allow a hit.

Troyanowski gave up the game-winning hit, but inherited both runners from Dupra, who got the loss with 2 innings pitched, three hits and two earned runs.

The ninth inning at-bat was Koch’s only of the game after he entered as a catcher in the eighth inning.

Gould went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Michael went 2-for-5 for Harwich.

Gary Brown (CS Fullerton) went 1-for-4 for Orleans, but his arm in center field prevented one, maybe two, Harwich runs. In the second inning, Brown gunned down Daniel Grovatt (Virginia) at the plate after a base hit to center field. He had another assist in the seventh, preventing a first-and-third, one-out situation when he caught Landry’s sacrifice fly and threw out a runner trying to tag up and advance to third base.

Harwich defeated Orleans with a walk-off homer on June 14th in the third game of the season, but the Firebirds have won the last five matchups to go 5-1 against the Mariners on the season.

Orleans is now 21-16-1, and will play a double header at Wareham on Saturday with the first game starting at 4:30 p.m. East leader Y-D lost its second straight game Friday night, putting the Firebirds six points back of first place. Harwich moves to 16-22, and will host a double-header against Falmouth on Saturday, also starting at 4:30.

(Box Score)