Wilmington Two-Step Their Way Into The Win Column

The Wilmington Blue Rocks snapped their seven-game losing streak and swept the doubleheader against the Aberdeen Ironbirds on Thursday, May 16 by scores of 3-2 and 3-0 respectively.

Game 1

Game 1 started off as a pitching duel between Blue Rocks starter Riley Cornelio and IronBirds starter Jackson Baumeister, as the two teams combined for just two base runners through the first two innings.

Wilmington finally got to Baumeister in the third to open up the scoring for the day. Phillip Glasser led the inning off with a single and then Daylen Lile followed suit two batters later. With Glasser and Lile both in scoring position after a 4-3 groundout from Viandel Pena, Kevin Made drove both runners home on the third pitch of his at-bat with a two-run single.

The 2-0 lead didn’t last long though, as the IronBirds struck back the next inning. After Cornelio retired the first two batters, the IronBirds strung together three straight hits, one of which was a two-run home run off the bat of Creed Willems that tied the game at two.

Dan Hammer came in to relieve Baumeister in the fifth inning, who allowed three hits, two runs, one walk, and struck out seven across four innings of work. The Blue Rocks immediately got to Hammer, loading the bases with no outs, however, Hammer was able to get out of it with just one run allowed, after Pena singled home Glasser to give Wilmington the final 3-2 advantage.

Riley Cornelio was done after six innings of work. He allowed five hits, two runs, two walks and struck out six. From there, Marquis Grissom Jr. came in and shut the door to snap the Blue Rocks seven-game losing streak.

Game 2

Much like Game 1, Wilmington got on the board first in the third inning, and just like Game 1, Glasser got the action started with a leadoff double. A walk from Lile and a bunt single from Made gave the Rocks a 1-0 lead after a throwing error from IronBirds catcher Adam Retzbach brought Glasser home. Trey Harris followed that up with an RBI single of his own and then Will Frizzell hit a sacrifice fly to give the Blue Rocks a 3-0 lead entering the fourth.

This was all the run support that the Blue Rocks’ pitching staff would need, as they went on to shut out the IronBirds, allowing just one hit through seven innings.

Wander Arias made his first start of the season for Wilmington after appearing in nine games as a reliever and was nearly perfect through his three innings of work, allowing just one walk and striking out five.

Chance Huff was the first one out of the bullpen to preserve the lead, and did just that with two scoreless innings of work. Brendan Collins poured in two scoreless innings to finish the game and give the Blue Rocks the 3-0 shutout win.

The two teams will be back at it tomorrow, Friday, May 17 for the fourth game of this series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m