IronBirds Dominate In 11-4 Win

In what was the Wilmington Blue Rocks’ fourth game against the Aberdeen IronBirds this series, the team hoped a win would put them in position to tie this series. However, the night would end in disappointment as Aberdeen secured their series lead with an extensive, 11-4 victory.

The Aberdeen IronBirds started off hot right from the top of the second inning. After the first batter of the inning, Issac De Loean got the base running started with a triple down right field, Aberdeen would keep the progress going with RBIs from Maxwell Costes, Trendon Craig, Issac Bellony, and De Leon. A walk from Billy Cook would also score Fredrick Benscosme and IronBirds would end the inning up 6-0.

Wilmington, however, was able to chip away at their lead during the bottom of the inning. After Leandro Emiliani doubled on a ground ball down left field, he was sent home on a single from Cody Wilson– who would reach on a fielding error by Billy Cook. Ricardo Mendez then hit a 2 RBI double to send Wilson and Cole Daily, who had walked, home and put the Blue Rocks on the board 3-0.

At the bottom of the fourth, the Blue Rocks were able to do the same in the bottom of the fourth, recording an additional run off of Emiliani’s ground-rule double that scored Justin Connell, who had previously reached on a single down left field and set the scores 6-4.

However, this wouldn’t be enough to stop Aberdeen’s scoring aggression as they tallied three more runs in the top of the fifth. The first of these came from Bencosme who hit his first triple of the season to send Costes around home plate and after a sacrifice fly by Darell Hernaiz, Bencosme was soon to follow. Right fielder Heston Kjerstad was the third and final IornBird to round the bases off of a Trendon Craig single.

While the Blue Rocks neglected to respond to Aberdeen’s scoring with any of their own, the IronBirds doubled down on their lead at the top of the seventh. Their first run came off a series of Blue Rocks’ errors. After Hernaiz reached on a forced out, he advanced after Kjerstad was hit by a pitch from relief pitcher Troy Stainbrook. Stainbrook then proceeded to walk two additional batters– one of which was responsible for Aberdeen’s first run of the inning. Issac Bellony was quick to hit a sacrifice fly to tally the IronBirds’ final run of the game and cement their victory with a score of 11-4.

Aberdeen’s relief pitcher, Houston Roth, won the game for the IronBirds after pitching four innings, only allowing one run, and striking out four batters during his time on the mound. Wilmington starter Andres Alvarez received his second loss of the season for the six runs allowed during his 1.1 innings of play.

The Blue Rocks will return for their final game against the Aberdeen IronBirds on Sunday, August 28, for an afternoon game at 1:05 p.m. While Wilmington looks to end this series on a high note, Aberdeen hopes to add another feather in their current 4-1 series record.