The Aberdeen IronBirds coughed up a five-run lead in Wednesday night's game with Brooklyn, but then came back in the first extra frame to top the visiting Cyclones, 7-6.
"We came back, kept it close tonight," Aberdeen manager Leo Gomez said. "We never gave up. Everyone is looking like they're more relaxed at the plate, swinging at better pitches, and when you do that, you can get your pitch. Sooner or later, if you're relaxed at the plate, the pitcher is going to give you a pitch to hit, and the last couple games they've been doing that, so I'm happy with the offense."
The win put Aberdeen at 10-23 for the year, still at the bottom of the New York-Penn League's McNamara Division, but also with the kind of victory to build more on.
With the score tied 6-6 and one out in the bottom of the 10th, Sammie Starr hit a hard grounder to the left side of the infield. The Brooklyn shortstop's hurried throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, allowing Starr to reach safely. After stealing second base, Starr motored around to home for the winning run on Wynston Sawyer's single to center field.
"I was looking for a fastball to hit hard," Sawyer said in a post-game interview. "I was lucky enough to get one, and put the bat on it."
Aberdeen required no time to get its bats warmed up, scoring once in the home half of the opening frame. Glynn Davis led off the inning with a two-bagger to left, then promptly swiped third base. Starr came up next and cranked out a fly to right field, allowing the speedy Davis to tag up and score from third.
Davis, who finished 3-for-6 and racked up six hits between Tuesday and Wednesday's games, has 12 steals on the year, second highest in the league.
"I've just been trying to stay relaxed, stay back on the pitch," Davis said. "I try to look for my pitch, and when I get it, try not to miss it. I guess over the last two games, and the last week, I've been seeing the ball really well. They usually give me the green light [to steal]. I try to get the pitcher's timing down on the first or second pitch, so I know what kind of jump I need to get, and just take it from there."
The bottom of the second inning saw Austin Goolsby start what would be a two-run rally by roping a one-out single to left, which was followed by Austin Knight's walk and Dudley Leonora's base hit to right that loaded the bags.
Martin Serrata hit a grounder to first, but Goolsby was forced out at the plate on a fielder's choice. With the bases still full, Davis rifled a single up the middle, scoring Knight and Leonora and putting Aberdeen up 3-0.
The IronBirds continued their offensive run in the third frame, with Sawyer getting on first via a one-out double to right, then scoring when Connor Narron followed with another two-bagger. Goolsby moved Narron over 90 feet on a base hit to left, and Knight brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right.
Brooklyn scored its first runs in the fourth, tagging Aberdeen starter Trent Howard for two tallies on two hits, an error and a sacrifice fly.
With Aberdeen leading 5-2 in the bottom half of the fourth, Serrata got things moving with a leadoff bunt single. Davis followed with a single to left, and Starr then loaded up the bases when his grounder to short was misplayed by the Brooklyn infielder. Mychal Givens made the score 6-2 with a fly ball to center on which Serrata tagged and scored.
The Cyclones cut Aberdeen's lead to 6-4 in the sixth, bashing a two-run homer off IronBirds reliever Alex Schmarzo.
In Brooklyn's half of the eighth, with men on first and second and no one down, the third Cyclone hitter in the inning slammed a line drive to the gap that looked like it might drive in the tying run, but Knight, playing left field, ran the ball down and made a lunging catch to hold the runners. Reliever Jose Mota allowed an RBI single that put the Cyclones just one run behind, but he got out of the inning with a pair of fly outs.
Brooklyn tied things up 6-6 in the top of the ninth, hanging one run on Mota with a pair of hits, a walk and a wild pitch.
Sawyer led off the IronBirds ninth with a strikeout, and he was followed by Narron, who hit a pitch the opposite way down the left field line for a double. With Goolsby at the plate, Narron moved to third on a wild pitch, while Goolsby, after running the count full, earned a walk that put runners at the corners.
The right-handed Brooklyn reliever decided to give the switch-hitting Knight a free pass, which loaded the bases and brought to the plate Leonora, who grounded into a fielder's choice. Serrata ended the inning with a hard liner to center.
After the IronBirds held Brooklyn scoreless in the top of the 10th, the stage was set for the walk-off heroics of Starr and Sawyer.
Aberdeen's Howard went five innings in the start, striking out four, issuing no walks, and surrendering no earned runs in the no decision.
"I had good command of three of my pitches," Howard said. "I was really able to mix them in well. [Catcher] Goolsby and I were on the same page for most of the game, and it's a lot easier to pitch like that, just helps the game along."