One Bad Inning Does Orleans In
Cardinals take 2-0 lead but can't come back after Bourne scores four in the sixth
July 25, 2007
By: Brett Brecheisen - Orleans Cardinals
Intern
Bourne, Massachusetts – Sometimes all it takes is one bad inning to damper many good ones, and that’s what happened to the Orleans Cardinals tonight. The Cards were cruising through six innings with great pitching, timely hitting and a 2-0 lead. The Braves put up four unanswered runs in the sixth inning, however, and held on for the 4-2 win. With the loss, Orleans falls to 19-16-0 while Bourne improves to a Western-Division leading 21-12-2.
The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead after just two batters. 2B Alden Carrithers (UCLA) extended his on-base streak to 22 games, just one shy of the season high set by Hyannis’ Shane Peterson, with a double to lead-off the game. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and would come in to score on a groundball by CF Ollie Linton (UC Irvine).
The second Cardinals run came in the fifth after Linton came around to score on a double by RF Dennis Raben (Miami, FL). The RBI was the 32nd of the summer for Raben as he leads all Cape Cod League players.
Carrying a two run lead into the sixth, the Cardinals ran into some trouble. RHP Kyle Kamppi (Ga. Southern) stayed on the mound for his third inning in relief and allowed a lead-off single followed by a walk two batters later. With the tying run on the bases and just one out, Manager Kelly Nicholson went back to his bullpen.
RHP Jason Novak (UCLA) entered the game for the Cardinals and trouble continued to ensue. Coming off of his first win of the summer in a great outing on Monday against Falmouth, Novak walked the first Brave he faced to load the bases. After getting Bourne C Adam Zornes (Rice) to pop up, it appeared as if the Cards would work themselves out of the jam with no harm done. That’s when SS Matt Hall (Arizona State) turned on a 1-2 pitch and sent it just inside the third base bag and into the left-field corner. It cleared the bases as Bourne took a 3-2 lead. 3B Addison Marusczak (South Florida) followed with a single to left to score Hall and all of a sudden the Cardinals were faced with a two-run deficit instead of a two-run lead.
“You can’t walk people and win in this league. We walked a couple guys and couldn’t get a final strike in the sixth. They took advantage of our mistakes tonight, our pitching mistakes,” Coach Nicholson said.
With the Cardinals now looking to come back, they received a lot of help from Carrithers again. Carrithers hit a ground rule double over the left-field fence with two outs in the seventh but Orleans was unable to drive him in. Raben led-off the eighth with a single but a hard hit ball by 1B Nate Freiman (Duke) left Raben caught between first and second and he could not make his way to either base safely.
The score remained 4-2 heading into the ninth with Orleans still fighting back. SS Brandon Crawford (UCLA) drew a one-out walk and LF Eric Reese (Fordham) singled down the first-base line to put the tying run aboard with two away. That brought Carrithers up as the Cardinals hoped he could find a way to pick up another extra-base hit and tie the game. Carrithers went down on strikes, however, as the Braves held on for the win.
“Our guys did a good job by battling back and putting the tying run on the bases. We had a really good hitter in Carrithers up and came up just a bit short,” Nicholson said.
The win slows down an extremely hot Orleans Cardinals team that had won five of their previous six games entering tonight. Brewster won this afternoon to close the gap between the 4th place Whitecaps and the 3rd place Cardinals to just one point. The Cards still trail 2nd place Chatham by three points but the Athletics are playing Harwich tonight in an attempt to stretch that gap to five.
“We just have to win games. Take them one at a time and win games,” Coach Nicholson said about catching the Chatham A’s.
Tonight’s game with Bourne ends the Western Division road schedule for Orleans. With just one game left against an opponent from the West, Orleans has put together an impressive 12-7 record against Western clubs. The Cardinals will close out their Western Division schedule on August 4 when they host the Falmouth Commodores.
Orleans will return home tomorrow night as they host the Eastern Division-leading Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. With only nine games remaining on the schedule, the Cardinals need every win they can grasp. RHP Michael Schwimer (Virginia) is scheduled to make the start for Orleans tomorrow night. He started the July 11 game against the Red Sox in a 5-4 Cardinals losing effort. The first pitch will be thrown at 7:00pm at Eldredge Park and the Cardinals invite all fans to attend. Admission, as always, is free.
W – T.J. Hose (East Carolina), 4-2
L – Jason Novak (UCLA), 1-1
SV – Jordan Flasher (George Mason), 8
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