The Aberdeen IronBirds closed out their first New York-Penn League homestand of the year on a winning note Monday and, with it, finished the stand with a 4-2 mark
The 3-2 win over Connecticut leaves the IronBirds at 5-6 as they head back out on the road for three games at Vermont, followed by three at Lowell in Massachusetts. Aberdeen will be back at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium to celebrate July 4th against West Virginia.
Trailing Monday's game 1-0 in the seventh inning, Aberdeen scored all three of its runs with two outs. Jerry McClanahan opened the inning with a walk. A Guillermo Salas sacrifice bunt moved to McClanahan to second, but Kirvin Moesquit lined out to left field for the second out.
Cole Billingsley kept the inning alive, singling McClanahan to third. Alejandro Juvier followed with a single, scoring McClanahan and Chris Shaw came through with the big swing, drilling a double to left that drove in both Billingsley and Juvier with the eventual winning runs.
Connecticut scored a single run in the third on a pair of hits and a groundout and then made things interesting with another run in the ninth. The Tigers had the tie run on base as well, but Aberdeen reliever Andrew Elliott came on to induce a 4-6-3 double play, before striking out the next batter to end the game.
Juvier finished 3-for-5 at the plate to lead the IronBirds' eight-hit attack. Jason Heinrich, Jaylen Ferguson and Salas also had hits for Aberdeen.
Winning Pitcher Alex Wells had his second solid start on the homestand. Wells pitched seven innings for the win, allowing five hits and an earned run, while striking out six. Daniel Ayers pitched an inning and was charged with the other run, but it was unearned. He allowed two hits and struck out two. Elliott picked up his second save with his inning of work.