The first base hit of Sunday’s contest occurred amid Chatham’s third-inning roll call: a team tradition for every ballgame. It’s where Anglers’ bullpen pitchers chant out the name of every infield and outfield teammate in unison, often eliciting a lighthearted gesture to the bullpen from each respective player.

As the hurlers shouted Jayden Davis’s name, Orleans’ Lorenzo Meola ripped a single past the second baseman. But by the time roll call simmered, Meola was getting ready to score. Hudson Shupe promptly knocked an RBI single off Chatham starter Chance Cox. Two batters later, Shupe crossed home after a passed ball.

The Anglers’ final roll call of the regular season was followed up with Orleans embarking out to a 2-0 lead, one it never relinquished. Luckily for the A’s, they still have full control over how many more roll calls they’ll get to howl out this summer.

Chatham (20-20, East) fell to Orleans (15-25, East) 7-1 at Eldredge Park to close the 2024 regular season. The Anglers were held to just two hits and failed to clinch their first record above .500 since 2018, but their aspirations loom larger. They’re in the CCBL Playoffs for the first time in five years. On Tuesday night at Veterans Field, Chatham will battle Harwich in a wild-card matchup — making Sunday’s loss easier to forget.

Even in the dugout postgame, it was clear the A’s would move on quickly. Cheers exploded from players to coaches when Kyle Lodise (Georgia Tech) announced he’d be staying for the postseason after he was previously set to leave early for GT’s campus. It made interim manager Eric Beattie’s job a lot simpler. His team is plenty energized already.

Beattie said his message won’t differ too much from what it’s been all season, but with an emphasis on composure.

“There’s some pretty competitive spots and moments in the game that bring on some pressure. So making sure we recognize that is important,” Beattie said postgame. “The message is just to make sure we have constant control of our breathing, and put ourselves in a good spot to execute.”

In Sunday’s game, however, the Anglers were in a tough spot early. After Orleans starter Cody Bowker retired nine of his first 10 hitters and struck out three of them, Cox (Austin Peay) couldn’t uphold what was a 0-0 stalemate in the bottom of the third.

The lefty gave up a pair of hits which resulted in a pair of runs for the Firebirds. Cox’s outing was over. Murphy Brooks (Louisiana Lafayette) replaced him in the bottom of the fourth. He delivered a no-hit frame to keep the A’s deficit at two.

Bowker kept on tormenting the Anglers’ lineup, mowing them down in the fourth and fifth for five straight scoreless innings. His lone notable blemish was a single allowed to Davis (Vanderbilt) in the fifth. Yet, the right-handed Bowker didn’t let a Chatham baserunner reach third base through the top of the fifth inning.

So when Orleans tattooed Brooks in the bottom half, the game was already well out of hand.

The Firebirds unleashed five runs to put the Anglers behind 7-0 heading into the sixth. It started with Brooks giving up a lead-off double to Meola. Chris Barr singled in the ensuing at-bat. Brooks battled back by forcing Shupe into a weak pop out to Davis. But then, he tossed a wild pitch that scored Meola, a preview of more damage to come.

Brooks left a feed over the middle of the plate for Bennett Markinson — who pulverized the ball well over the left-field fence for a two-run homer. Robbie Ayers tallied an RBI single off Brooks to make it four runs in the frame.

Following Ayers’ knock, Brooks was pulled for Devin Pressley (Gardner-Webb). Yet the reliever threw a wild pitch that brought another Orleans run home. Five hits and five runs, all of which went against Brooks, sent Chatham down by seven. It was the most the Anglers had trailed by versus the Firebirds across five games this summer.

At the same time, Chatham could not connect with any consistency. Bowker, who finished his night with seven strikeouts across five scoreless innings, was replaced by righty reliever Joe Allen. He picked up right where Bowker left off, K’ing two en route to a perfect top of the sixth. Allen then registered a clean seventh via two groundouts, one of which was a double play.

The Firebirds swapped Allen for Saul Soto to begin the eighth. At last, the A’s escaped their offensive rut. But it was brief. Cole Fellows (Columbia) singled, Jordan Williams (Tampa) took a hit-by-pitch and Lodise walked to load the bases for Chatham.

Former Anglers bullpen catcher Cohen Wilbanks (Georgia Gwinnett College) entered as a pinch-hitter with no outs and a chance to alter the game’s narrative in his debut at-bat. Wilbanks brought Fellows home. However, it wasn’t without him grounding into a double play. The A’s exited the eighth with just one run, and then went scoreless in the ninth.

Nothing the Anglers could have done Sunday would change their standing as the East Division's No. 2 seed. Despite the loss, Chatham can hang its hat on a 20-win regular season that returned it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Especially considering the team went through a midseason managerial change and saw a litany of crucial players leave.

“They came up here, didn’t know anybody and just meshed together,” Beattie said. “You see the energy in there. It’s just guys that love each other, they’re playing for each other.”