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Aberdeen IronBirds

Aberdeen Walks Off On Connecticut, 2-1

July 25, 2014 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Aberdeen IronBirds News Release


Aberdeen, MD- The IronBirds trumped the Tigers 2-1 in walk-off fashion. The game starte doff as a pitching duel, but turned into something much, much more.

The IronBirds made things interesting in the bottom of the first. After a Jay Gonzalez walk, Justin Viele and Austin Anderson both reached base and got to second and first respectively, as Gonzalez was forced out when Viele reached on a fielder's choice.. Alex Murphy then stepped up and grounded out to first, but Viele and Anderson still managed to get to third and second. After a Hector Veloz walk, Oswill Lartiguez came up with the bases loaded but hit a grounder to third to end the inning.

After two innings that saw solid pitching, the Tigers managed to get Bennett Parry and rest of the IronBirds to sweat a little bit in the top of the fourth.

Parry hit leadoff batter Michael Gerber and then gave up a blooper single to Joey Pankake, moving Gerber to second. Domingo Leyba then hit a nice sacrifice bunt down the third base line, which allowed the runners to move to third and second, respectively. But Parry forced the next two batters to fly out and ground out to get out of the inning.

This was a pitching duel from the beginning, as the teams could only muster a combined five hits by time the ninth inning rolled around. Starting from the final out in the first, the Tigers pitching staff retired 14 straight IronBird batters.

It wasn't until the bottom of the sixth when the IronBirds broke that drought and got a run on the board.

Jay Gonzalez got a lead-off single and then got to second off of a Viele sacrifice bunt. Then with Austin Anderson at the plate, Gonzalez stole third and eventually took home as the catcher made a throwing error to third. Alex Murphy would get a single of his own in the inning but the IronBirds were unable to get any more runs that inning.

The IronBirds seemed to be in cruise control after that inning, but hit a snag in the top of the ninth. Nigel Nootbaar came in to relieve Crichton who went two innings without allowing a hit. Nootbaar walked leadoff man Gerber and then gave up a single to Joey Pankake down the third base line, moving Gerber to second. Leyba then bunted, and in a moment of confusion, Nootbaar ran past the ball, thinking a man was behind him to make the play, and allowed Leyba to get first and load up the bases. Then Pirtle stepped up and hit a single, scoring Gerber to tie the game up. Nootbaar then struck out the next three batters to get the defense off the field and leave the runners on base.

In the bottom of the ninth the IronBirds managed to get the bases loaded with one after an Alex Murphy single and two intentional walks, but were unable to get any runs, sending the game to extras.

After holding the Tigers off in the top of the 10th, the IronBirds won the game in the bottom of the inning. Jay Gonzalez got the IronBirds going with a triple into deep left, but the hero proved to Riley Palmer. Palmer, who hadn't played all game, came in to pinch hit for Viele. With a 1-1 count, Palmer hit a hard line drive into deep center over the head of Kivett to give the IronBirds their first walk-off win of the season.

Tomorrow night the IronBirds look to win the series in game three versus Connecticut. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

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