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Baseball fans, the Aberdeen IronBirds are just a game out of the New York-Penn League playoffs.
Aberdeen (39-31) earned a 5-4 come-from-behind win at Tri-City Friday night, while Hudson Valley was losing to Vermont. The 'Birds trail the Renegades by a game in the Wild Card standings and they are three games back of the Staten Island Yankees in the McNamara Division.
The Yankees will be in Aberdeen on Sunday to begin a 3-game series. First, though, Aberdeen will close out the series at Tri-City tonight (Saturday) at 7 p.m.
In Friday's win the 'Birds found themselves down 4-3 entering the ninth inning, but Zach Jarrett changed that.
Garrett Copeland drew a leadoff walk and Jarrett became the hero, blasting a pitch over the left-center wall for a game-winning, two-run home run.
IronBirds closer William Reed Hayes then came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth for his seventh save. Hayes allowed two hits, while striking out one.
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Aberdeen trailed the ValleyCats, 2-0, into the seventh inning, but a three-run rally put the 'Birds briefly ahead.
Ryan Ripken, who had two hits to raise his average to .292, singled to start the rally. Trevor Craport doubled Ripken home and Copeland then singled to plate Craport.
Copeland scored the third run a short time later on Jaylen Ferguson's double.
Tri-City, however, scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to set up the IronBirds big ninth inning.
Mason McCoy also had two hits in the win. Aberdeen had nine total.
Starting pitcher Brenan Hanifee (5H, 2BB, 2ER) was solid over six innings and in line for a win, but a blown save by Zack Muckenhirn (W, 1-1) spoiled that.
Reach Randy McRoberts on twitter. @aegissports