Pre-game rain failed to dampen the crowd's zest at Ripken Stadium last night, but the Williamsport Crosscutters followed with a shower of 12 hits to spoil Aberdeen's New York-Penn League opener.
After an overflow crowd of 6,219 was treated to a gripping show that included fireworks, parachutists and a fly-over, the IronBirds never led en route to an 8-3 loss to the defending league co-champions.
Williamsport unloaded immediately, as Domingo Cuello christened Cal Ripken's field of dreams with a first-pitch home run off Aberdeen starter Ryan Keefer, setting the tone for a game that remained competitive until the eighth inning.
The IronBirds stayed within striking distance until a three-run uprising against their fourth pitcher, Brad Rogers, squelched their hopes of making an even more festive night.
Chris Bass singled to launch a rally and stole second as Humberto Aliendo struck out. Rogers then walked Bradley Eldred before getting Jorge Gortes on a pop-up.
Travis Chapman singled to left field to knock in Bass and Mike Collum followed with a hit to right field that skidded past Tim Gilhooly, permitting both Eldred and Chapman to score.
Eldred had homered in the sixth off Chase Phillips for Williamsport's fourth run after the IronBirds had closed to within 3-2.
Aberdeen scored its second run in the fifth inning when Collum booted a potential inning-ending double play grounder, and the Crosscutters settled for a forceout.
Aberdeen had only six hits off winner Nick Gravelle and Jonathan Schneider, all singles.
Williamsport brought nine returnees from the club that shared the New York-Penn championship with Brooklyn last season. They played one game in a best-of-three title series and the remainder was canceled after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
One of those back is second baseman Cuello, a leadoff man who produced 30 RBIs and was rated one of the top 10 prospects in the league.
He got the Crosscutters off to a flying start with his home run over the right-center-field fence. Williamsport went on to produce three more hits in the first inning off Keefer, but did not score again in the inning.
Keefer's pickoff of Anthony Bocchino enabled him to avert further damage and remain in the game.
The closer for Appalachian League titlist Bluefield last summer, Keefer struck out 13.5 hitters per nine innings and held opponents to a 1.79 batting average.
He settled down after the shaky start, allowing a two-out single to Matt Meath in the second and a leadoff double to Bocchino in the third. Bocchino advanced to third base on a grounder but did not score.
Left-hander Gravelle, who did not play last season, started for the Crosscutters and allowed only one hit through the first three innings, a looping, opposite-field single by Mike Huggins in the first.
Gravelle struck out the side in the second inning and got two of three batters on strikes in the third while also issuing a harmless walk to Jose Rodriguez.