BlueClaws Fall 12-7 in Aberdeen on Saturday

ABERDEEN, MD - Matthew Etzel and Creed Willems each had two hits and two RBIs as Aberdeen topped the BlueClaws 12-7 on Saturday night at Leidos Field.

The IronBirds (10-10) have taken four of five from Jersey Shore, who has dropped six of seven overall and has fallen to two games under .500 at 9-11 for the first time this year.

Aberdeen scored twice in the first on an RBI single from Creed Willems and a groundout from Carter Young.

The BlueClaws got on the board in the second. Leandro Pineda double in a run to cut the lead to 2-1. Later in the inning, Andrick Nava tied the game with an RBI groundout, bringing home Bryan Rincon. While Jersey Shore did tie the game, they left the bases loaded in the inning.

Aberdeen then blew the game open with four runs in the bottom of the second inning on two hits, two walks, and two errors. Matthew Etzel had the one hit, a two-run single that put the IronBirds up 6-2. Troy Schreffer kept it a four run game, throwing out a runner at the plate to end the inning on a single from Ryan Higgins.

The BlueClaws got two runs back in the fifth on back to back SAC flies from Felix Reyes and Bryan Rincon before the IronBirds blew the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

The first scored on the second balk by Jonathan Petit in the inning. Tavian Josenberger tripled in two. Creed Willems and Carter Young each had RBI singles. Petit was charged with all five runs in 2/3 of an inning.

Bryan Rincon doubled home a run in the top of the seventh for Jersey Shore and Andrick Nava walked with the bases loaded to cut the lead to 12-6.

Pineda had two hits and two RBIs for the BlueClaws while Rincon had a hit and scored three times. Justin Crawford was 0-6 and had his hitting streak snapped at 11 games.

Jersey Shore starter Eiberson Castellano (0-1) gave up six runs, four earned, in two innings with four walks and two strikeouts. Cristian Hernandez, on a rehab assignment from Reading, followed and threw two scoreless innings while striking out three.

Aberdeen starter Zach Fruit gave up two hits and two runs in four innings of work.

The BlueClaws and IronBirds finish their series on Sunday at 2:05 pm. LHP Braeden Fausnaught starts for Jersey Shore.

-Jersey Shore BlueClaws-