Big Eighth Inning Propels Aberdeen to Win

Aberdeen, MD- The Aberdeen IronBirds completed a two game sweep of the Staten Island Yankees, winning 10-6 in a wild, back and forth affair.

Staten Island got on the board in the top of the second inning. Mike O'Neill was hit by a pitch from Janser Severino. He stole second base and scored three batters later on a Mike Ford RBI single, making it 1-0 Yankees.

Aberdeen would not let the lead last long. In the bottom of the second, Hector Veloz, Jared Breen, and Pedro Perez led off with consecutive singles to load the bases. Sam Kimmel then roped an RBI double down the right field line, scoring both Veloz and Breen, making it 2-1 IronBirds.

In a back and forth affair, the Yankees scored again in the third. After a Derek Toadvine walk and an Abital Avelino single, Eric Jagielo hit an RBI double, scoring Toadvine and moving Avelino up to third. Avelino would score when the next batter, Yeicok Calderon, would hit a sac fly to left, giving Staten Island a 3-2 lead after two and a half.

In the bottom of the third, Aberdeen sent eight batters to the plate and retook the lead. Conor Bierfeldt led off with a double, and Austin Wynns followed with a single. After a Yankees pitching change, Jeff Kemp was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Veloz then came up and hit an RBI groundout, good enough to score Bierfeldt from third. Wynns advanced to third and then scored on a passed ball with Jared Breen at the plate. Breen wasn't done, however, as he hit a bloop single to right and it scored Kemp, making the score 5-3 in favor of the host IronBirds.

Staten Island tied the game up in the fourth on three consecutive singles. Toadvine came up with the bases loaded and hit a ground out back to the pitcher Severino, but it scored Bubba Jones from third. Mike Ford then scored on a passed ball, tying the game at five.

The Yankees took the lead again in the sixth. After a leadoff walk to Toadvine, Jagielo slammed a ball into deep left field, scoring Toadvine from second.

Aberdeen tied the game up again in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Wynns hit a sac fly to right, scoring Kimmel from third, making it 6-6.

Aberdeen would finally break away in the eighth. They batted around and scored four runs, all without recording a hit. There were three walks, a hit batter, an error, and a sac fly, putting the IronBirds in front for good by a score of 10-6.

Alex Santana gets hit first win of the season, after pitching 3.1 innings of relief.

Aberdeen improves to 28-24 and opens up a two game lead in the McNamara Division.

For ticket information, contact our box office at (410) 297-9292 or visit us online at www.IronBirdsbaseball.com.