Mendoza And Meregildo Guide Blue Rocks To 7-3 Win

The Wilmington Blue Rocks picked up a big offensive victory against the South Atlantic League’s top team, the Aberdeen IronBirds, 7-3, on Tuesday, June 21.

Despite the Blue Rocks coming out on top, the IronBirds were the first on the board when Wilmington starter Rodney Theophile got into a bit of trouble.

Theophile started his outing walking his first batter and giving up a hit to his second. Then with Coby Mayo at the plate, catcher Israel Pineda let a ball pass him, allowing Connor Noby to score the night’s first run.

Wilmington would work themselves out of trouble when Brett Cumberland hit a flyout to right fielder Nick Banks, who would make a spot-on throw to Pineda to tag out Colton Cowser for the inning’s third out.

In the bottom of the second, the Blue Rock’s bats started heating up. Yasel Antuna led off with a single to right field, followed by another single to right from Pineda.

This allowed Drew Mendoza to come up to the plate with runners on. Mendoza took advantage of the opportunity, hitting his fourth home run of the season right into the Blue Rock’s bullpen to take the 3-1 lead.

Another three-run homer was in Wilmington’s future in the bottom of the third when Omar Meregildo cleared the bases for a team-leading 12th time during the 2022 campaign, making the game 6-1.

The IronBirds answered back in the next frame when Yusniel Diaz hit a home run of his own to cut down the deficit by one, to 3-2.

In the top of the sixth with relief pitcher Matt Merrill on the mound for Wilmington, the Blue Rocks got into some trouble once again when the IronBirds loaded the bases with two outs. Merrill was able to leave the inning unscathed when Ramon Rodriguez hit a ground out.

During the seventh, the IronBirds drove in another run, but so would the Blue Rocks when Antuna hit an RBI-single to allow Jose Sanchez to score one last insurance run to lock down the 7-3 win.

The Blue Rocks ended the night with ten hits to take game one of the six-game series. Game two is set for Wednesday, June 22 in Wilmington at 6:35 p.m.