Spartanburgers Win Inaugural Season Opener in Extras 4-3 

ABERDEEN, Md. — In the first game in Spartanburgers history, Hub City battled back to force extra innings against the Aberdeen IronBirds and came out winners after 12 frames, 4-3. After the teams traded runs in extra innings, designated hitter Julian Brock singled in the go-ahead, eventual game-winning run in the top of the 12th. Seth Clark (S, 1) closed the door to wrap up the win at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

Brock stepped to the plate with two outs, Keith Jones at second and Esteban Mejia at first. On the second pitch he saw from Aberdeen righty Zane Barnhart (L, 0-1), the right-hander punched a single up the middle; Jones sped home from second to put the Spartanburgers in front for good.

The win took a group effort from Spartanburgers pitching, as six different arms combined for 15 strikeouts in the season opener. Multiple relievers held Aberdeen scoreless in potential walk-off situations in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings.

The defense, or lack thereof, was the story of the game early. Both starting pitchers surrendered a lone unearned run. Arturo Disla scored the game's first run for Hub City on an Aberdeen throwing error in the top of the second inning. The IronBirds responded immediately in the bottom of the second with a Leandro Arias sac fly to drive in Vance Honeycutt, who reached third base on a throwing error.

Aberdeen center fielder Austin Overn delivered the next punch of the night with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. That was the only run allowed by Hub City's Paul Bonzagni. The righty reliever took over for starter David Davalillo in the fourth inning and got the Spartanburgers all the way to the seventh. The bullpens locked down both offenses the rest of the way, taking the 2-1 Aberdeen advantage all the way to the ninth.

With one out in the top of the ninth, Disla got the tying run aboard with a base hit. Marcus Smith entered to run for Disla and was quickly put in motion. Jones singled the tying run into scoring position, and Esteban Mejia notched a third straight single for the Spartanburgers to drive home Smith and force extra innings in a 2-2 tie.

Hub City lived life after the ninth on thin ice. After the Spartanburgers failed to score the automatic runner in the top of the 10th, Spartanburgers reliever Joey Danielson stared down the winning run on third base with nobody out. Thanks to two singing strikeouts and and an infield popup, Danielson stranded the winning run for Aberdeen 90 feet away in the 10th.

Gleider Figuereo plated the automatic runner in the top of the 11th for Hub City on a sacrifice fly to put the Spartanburgers back in front for the first time since the second inning. Life was still far from comfortable for manager Chad Comer and crew. New Hub City reliever Victor Simeon (W, 1-0) quickly found himself dealing with two base runners in scoring position in the bottom of the 11th and just a one-run lead. Griff O’Ferrall poked a pitch into center field, an apparent walk-off for Aberdeen, but Spartanburgers center fielder Anthony Gutierrez had other ideas. Gutierrez gunned the trail runner Ryan Stafford out at the plate to preserve a 3-3 tie.

In the top of the 12th, two strikeouts put the Spartanburgers on the brink of failing to score the runner from second again. Brock did away with those worries with his line drive to center. The Hub City pitching staff had a second opportunity to seal a win in the bottom of the 12th.

Clark entered, searching for the save. The lefty immediately threw a wild pitch to advance the tying run to third base with nobody out. From there, Clark did not let the baseball leave the batters circle. Aron Estrada grounded out right in front of the plate. Leandro Arias was rung up on strikes. Clark finished the night with a 15th strikeout for the Hub City staff, sending Thomas Sosa down swinging.

After a three-and-a-half-hour thriller on Friday, the Spartanburgers and IronBirds return to action Saturday night at 7:05 PM at Ripken Stadium. Hub City is expected to hand the ball to right-hander D.J. McCarty in search of two straight wins to begin the season.