Birds Rally Late for Walk-Off 7-6 Win Over Claws

ABERDEEN, MD - Aberdeen scored twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth, winning on a two-run Matthew Etzel RBI triple in the bottom of the ninth 7-6 over Jersey Shore on Sunday.

Etzel's double came off Daniel Harper (0-2) and brought home Adam Retzbach and Elio Prado, handing the BlueClaws their seventh loss in eight games and fifth in six games in the series at Leidos Field.

Andrew Walling came on for the eighth with a 6-3 lead and gave up a home run to Etzel to cut the lead to 6-4 while recording two outs. Harper came in and gave up a bloop RBI double from Ryan Higgins to cut the lead to 6-5.

Jersey Shore falls to 9-12 on the season and loss was their second walk-off loss of 2024.

Aberdeen got a first inning run on a groundout by Creed Willems. In the top of the third, Cade Fergus singled, stole second, and scored on a two out throwing error to level the score at one apiece.

The BlueClaws blew it open with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Justin Crawford singled home the go-ahead run before a two-run opposite field double from Hendry Mendez up the left-centerfield alley to give Jersey Shore a 4-1 lead. Later in the inning, Zach Arnold's groundout brought home Mendez with the fourth run of the inning.

Jalen Vasquez doubled home a run and Randy Florentino singled one to cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Jersey Shore added a run in the eighth when William Bergolla scored on a wild pitch. He had reached on a fielder's choice before stealing both second and third base for his fourth and fifth stolen bases of the season.

BlueClaws starter Braeden Fausnaught came out after 5.2 innings, allowing three runs with two strikeouts and one walk. He was relieved by Starlyn Castillo, who went 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Jersey Shore stole seven bases in the game including two each by Cade Fergus, Erick Brito, and William Bergolla. Fergus had two hits in the loss.

The BlueClaws return home on Tuesday and open a 12 game homestand with a six game series against Bowling Green (Rays).

-Jersey Shore BlueClaws-