IronBirds Take Morning Loss

ABERDEEN, MD - Morning baseball in Aberdeen hosted the rubber match between the IronBirds and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. Twelve hits for the Scrappers led them to a 5-1 victory.
SLEEPING EARLY: Brenan Hanifee allowed two runs in the first inning of his ninth start as an IronBird. Will Benson's single scored Nolan Jones and Oscar Gonzalez. 2-0 the 'Birds trailed after one.
HANIFEE WAKES UP: From there Hanifee retired the next ten batters he faced. He struckout six through five innings. In the sixth he allowed three hits and was replaced by Nick Jobst. Jobst's wild pitch allowed a run to score before he retired the side.
WHAT ABOUT THE BATS?: Aberdeen had just one hit before 6th inning. Kirvin Moesquit doubled in the fourth before being picked off and ejected. In the 6th a single by Zach Jarrett and a double by Garrett Copleand were fruitless.
ADD A PAIR: Nick Gruener took the mound in the 7th and allowed three straight hits including a two-run homerun by Nolan Jones to make it 5-0 after seven.
GO OUT IN STYLE: Aberdeen avoided the shutout in the 9th with an RBI single by Mason McCoy to score Copeland after his second double of the afternoon. They racked up three hits to bring their total to seven.
'BIRD WATCHING: Aberdeen is now 5-6 in rubber matches and 9-6 in three game series. They fall to 2.5 games back of Staten Island for the top of the McNamra Division. T.J. Nichting  went 0-for-4 and his 13 game hit streak came to an end. Trevor Craport  had two hits and has now hit safely in 11 straight games.
UP NEXT: Friday night the Aberdeen Steamed Crabs will take on the West Virginia Black Bears for game one of three to conclude the homestand. Cameron Ming takes the mound for the Steamed Crabs at 7:05 PM.