ORLEANS — The batting champion, the home run king, the league’s most outstanding pitcher, and a record eight all-stars. But no championship for Chatham.

Despite an abundance of talent, the Chatham A’s fell to the Orleans Cardinals, two games to one in last week’s Eastern Division Cape League championship series, making for an anticlimactic end to an otherwise superb summer season.

“We’re disappointed now, and it’s tough to go out this way, especially since we had such high hopes, but I think we’ll wake up tomorrow and realize what a good season it really was,” said Chatham’s emotional leader Evan Longoria. “We all know making it to the playoffs in this league is a huge accomplishment.”

Chatham edged Orleans 6-3 in last Tuesday’s taut 11-inning affair, but dropped a 5-2 decision Thursday afternoon (a continuation of Wednesday’s fog delay), and were eliminated 9-7 in the rubber match later that night. 

That the A’s held a 1-0 series lead, and were ahead 2-1 in game two – needing just nine outs to advance to their first CCBL title series since 2001 – added to the team’s agonizing defeat. 

But a furious, late-inning rally in game three, after falling behind a seemingly insurmountable 9-4 count, helped ease some of the sting. 

“So many teams, down five runs and hitting with wood bats and against the best pitchers in the country, would just lay down and say ‘forget it, I can go home tomorrow and see my friends,’” said Chatham pitcher Robert Woodward. “But this team didn’t do that. This team still gave it everything they had. That’s remarkable.”

It was Longoria who helped mount the comeback with an RBI double in the sixth off middle reliever Daniel Albritton. Number nine hitter Adrian Ortiz added an RBI single in the seventh, and Baron Frost followed with a bases-loaded hit to draw the A’s within 9-7.

Chatham nearly made it a one-run game when Ortiz tried to score from second on Frost’s timely hit. His straight-leg slide was good, the throw home from left fielder Chris Pettit was better, nailing the Pepperdine speedster out at the plate to preserve the Cardinals small cushion. 

Orleans closer Steven Wright – the Russ Ford Award winner given to the league’s outstanding relief pitcher – showed why he was deserving of that honor, tossing a perfect eighth and ninth inning to officially foil the A’s championship dreams.

Many believed whoever won the East was a lock to win it all, and Orleans proved that postulate, defeating West Champion Bourne, two games to one, in a rematch of the 2003 finals. The win gave the Red Birds their second Cape League crown in three years. 

All told, the Cardinals defeated the A’s six out of nine times this year (four out of six in the regular season). Chatham Field Manager John Schiffner graciously bowed to the better team. 

“Hats off to Orleans, they beat us two times in three days so there’s no crying here,” said Schiffner. “My kids worked hard everyday and came ready to play everyday. It came down to the final night and we had a chance to win, so I have no complaints.”

The A’s put themselves in a prime position to win the decisive third game with Jared Hughes, the league-leader with seven wins, getting the start. 

But the Long Beach State ace, notorious for his pinpoint control (walking just 11 batters in 50 innings) looked nothing like the player who blew up bat-after-bat all summer long. Lasting just five innings, Hughes threw two wild pitches, hit three batters and gave up six runs on six hits.

“Jared hadn’t thrown in over a week, which might’ve been the reason why he had trouble with his control,” Schiffner said. 

Consistent with the previous two games, the series finale was a back-and-fourth battle, featuring three ties and four lead changes in the first four innings before Orleans manufactured a three-run fourth and fifth, which ultimately proved the difference. 

Those who thought Chatham might’ve lost the momentum after dropping the front end of the twin bill four hours earlier guessed wrong, as the A’s jumped out to a 2-0 first inning lead. Frost singled in Alex Presley for the first run and Chris Coghlan came home on an error by third baseman Manny Burris.

Chatham’s lead, as was the case all night, didn’t last long. 

Brett Pill sliced the A’s advantage in half with a sacrifice fly in the home half of the first, and Steve Singleton’s run-scoring single knotted the game at two in the second. 

David Uribes came home to make it 3-2 Orleans when Chris Perry hit into a double play in the third. 

Chatham’s Todd Frazier broke out of his 0-9 series slump in a big way, launching a solo shot over the left field fence off Cardinal starter Lee Hyde to knot the game at three in the fourth, before the A’s took their last lead on an unearned run later in the inning.

Burris countered for Orleans in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double to left center, just out of the reach of Ortiz, who made a diving attempt. Uribes followed with an RBI single, stole second, moved over on a passed ball and came home on a wild pitch to make it a 6-4 game.

Orleans stockpiled three more runs in the next inning, getting a bases-loaded, two-run double down the right field line by Singleton (off reliever Brooks Brown) and an ensuing RBI single off the bat of Jason Jacobs, capping the Cardinals offensive onslaught.

Tension flared in the bottom of the eighth when Chatham closer Derrick Lutz threw a 3-0 pitch behind Pill, who had been already hit twice. The dugouts cleared and words were exchanged, but the umpires, along with Schiffner and first-year Orleans coach Kelly Nicholson, were able to restore order before it escalated further.

Had the A’s won, Presley would’ve surely been the series MVP, going 8-for-14, 4-for-6 in game three. The dynamic leadoff hitter finished his sterling Cape League career with a .363 batting average (.341 regular season, .571 post-season).

Lack of executing told the story of the game and series, as the A’s left 12 men on base, 29 total over the three-game set, despite out-hitting their neighbors to the north 30-21. 

Fortuitous Fog Aids Orleans 

On Wednesday, Garrett Bussiere’s towering two-run shot over the left field fence gave the A’s a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning of game two, but play was halted immediately thereafter due to a dense fog that cast a pall over the outfield at Veterans Field. 

The suspension worked wonders for Orleans, scoring four unanswered runs in Thursday afternoon’s sweltering make-up.

Orleans pinch-hitter Chris Pettit salvaged his team’s moribund season in the seventh with a two-run double down the right field line off David Huff (who replaced Robert Woodard from the night before), that provided the Cardinals with its first lead of the game – and the series – 3-2.

Orleans doubled the margin in the eighth on the aid of Chatham’s porous defense. After drawing a leadoff walk, Manny Burris took two bases when Josh Morris’ throw from first on an attempted pickoff hit him and landed in centerfield. The league leader in stole bags (37) then scored on a botched throw from shortstop Todd Frazier on a routine grounder that should’ve ended the inning. 

The Red Birds tacked on one more in the final frame when Steve Singleton doubled to right and came home on Jason Jacobs ensuring single to center for the 5-2 final. The A’s had their chances, but stranded a runner on third in the fifth and sixth. 

A’s Outlast Cardinals In 11 

The final Chatham A’s victory over the year may have also been their most thrilling, featuring so many turns and twists it kept nearly all 6,000 fans at Eldredge Park on the edge of their seats until the conclusion of last Tuesday’s three-and-a-half hour marathon.

Adrian Ortiz scored the winning run on a passed ball by Jason Jacobs in the 11th and the A’s charged ahead 6-3 thanks to the clutch play of Josh Morris. 

After fouling off a pair of two-out payoff pitches, the Georgia slugger connected with a two-run single to left off Steven Wright, who entered the game with 12 saves and a 0.67 ERA.

“I was thinking inside fastball the whole way, because he got me out with that my last at bat,” said Morris. “He gave it to me again and I was able to turn on it. I’ve been down a lot this season, but I got my chance and showed that I could come through.” The winning and insurance runs made a winner out of closer Derrick Lutz. The GW fireman, who racked up 12 saves and compiled a 0.00 ERA in 25 innings, pitched a perfect final frame.

But it was hardly a typical night for Lutz, as Brett Pill deposited his first pitch over the fence in left center in the ninth to force extra innings.

Both teams were kicking themselves after loading the bases in the 10th but failed to score. With all aboard and two outs, Orleans shortstop Steve Singleton went deep into the hole and fired to third to get the force and end the A’s rally.

The Cardinals put men on with no outs in the home half of the inning, but Lutz induced a strikeout and a pair of pop flys to get out of the jam. 

Lost in the extra-inning theatrics was the brilliant play of Chatham starter Andrew Miller. The UNC ace shutout Orleans through six, surrendered just one run on three hits and struck out eight in as many innings.

Combining a devastating 84-mile-per-hour slider with a fastball that topped out at 96 MPH, Miller was just as strong in the final stages as he was from the start, producing a 1-2-3 eighth inning against the Cardinals 1-2-3 hitters. But in the post-game glow of the riveting win, Miller deflected the credit and gave it where he believed it was most due.

“Lutz went out there and battled,” said Miller. “He battled his butt off, and that’s one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen in baseball. It was unbelievable the way he took control of the game the way he did.”

Garrett Bussiere provided Chatham with a 1-0 lead in the second, singling a two-out payoff pitch to center that scored Morris. The A’s doubled the margin in the fifth when Jacobs airmailed a throw to third, plating Alex Presley, who drew a leadoff walk before stealing two bags. 

Colin Curtis fired back for Orleans in the sixth with an RBI triple to left center that got past Frost and Ortiz, both of whom simultaneously dove for the ball before it skipped to the backstop. 

The Cardinals benefited from two-out magic in the next inning. Jacobs knotted the game at two with a double to right, despite the pre-pitch warning of Chatham assistant Pat McGee ordering his fielder’s to play back. 

Chatham reclaimed the lead in the eighth on the aid of Todd Frazier’s RBI ground out, putting the A’s ahead 3-2. 

by Eric Adler
Eric Adler