'Burgers Fall Inches Short on Friday Night

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SAL Hub City Spartanburgers

'Burgers Fall Inches Short on Friday Night

June 27, 2025 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hub City Spartanburgers News Release


SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Aberdeen IronBirds (3-4, 27-45) snuck out of Fifth Third Park with a 6-5 win Friday night over the Hub City Spartanburgers (3-4, 33-38). The IronBirds executed a perfect relay from right field to cut down the potential tying run at the plate and end the game in the bottom of the ninth.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Casey Cook smoked a line drive into the right-center gap. Luis Marquez and Anthony Gutierrez both scored, and John Taylor raced around the basepaths from first. Aberdeen right fielder Vance Honeycutt cut the baseball off, fired it in to Ryan Stafford, who made a pinpoint relay throw to the plate. Catcher Aneudis Mordan slapped the tag on Taylor right as he dove into home. Umpire Brooks Pritchett called Taylor out and put the game on ice.

The 'Burgers' lineup continues to make consistent contact. On Friday, Cook recorded the first four-hit game in Hub City history; Gutierrez smacked three hits; and Keith Jones II also knocked two singles. Jones takes the team lead in multi-hit games with 17.

Both starters were lights out through the first three innings. Dalton Pence, in his first High-A start, limited the IronBirds to just one walk through the first nine batters. Julian Brock helped his battery mate, throwing out the runner who tried to steal second. Aberdeen southpaw Luis De Leon (W, 1-1) retired the first nine he saw.

The Spartanburgers broke the seal in the fourth. Jones led off the inning with a single, then Dylan Dreiling replaced Jones on first after a fielders choice retired the leadoff man at second. Gutierrez knocked the first of three hits to advance Dreiling to second, then Cook blooped his first hit into shallow left.

D.J. McCarty (L, 0-4) entered for Pence in the fourth and tossed two scoreless innings, but Aberdeen jumped on the right-hander in the sixth. Three straight singles started the frame, the third of which from Vance Honeycutt brought in the IronBirds' first run, then Austin Overn scored from second on a bunt back to the mound. The next batter, Aron Estrada, knocked in Honeycutt to increase Aberdeen's lead to 3-1. Cook singled in Gutierrez in response in the bottom half of the sixth.

An error allowed the leadoff runner for Aberdeen to reach to start the seventh. Austin Overn singled home the unearned run later in the inning. With a walk and a single, the Spartanburgers threatened again in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Gutierrez came up with his third hit of the day to score a run and cut the lead back to one.

Aberdeen loaded the bases on two walks and a single with an out in the eighth against Anthony Susac. A wild pitch advanced the IronBirds lead back to two. Susac used a strikeout and groundout to limit the damage.

After the Spartanburgers went scoreless in the eighth, Adonis Villavicencio relieved Susac to start the ninth in a 5-3 game. With one out, Overn walked, stole second and advanced to third on an error. Villavicencio picked up a strikeout before Aneudis Mordan drove the ball deep to center field. Dreiling had it hit off his glove on a sprint back toward the wall. Overn scored easily to make it a 6-3 Aberdeen lead going to the bottom of the ninth.

Carter Rustad stayed in the game for his third inning of work. An infield single for Marquez and a walk to Jones brought the tying run to the plate before an out was recorded. After two fielder's choice bounce-outs, Hub City had runners at the corners with two outs. Gleider Figuereo worked a walk to load the bases. Zane Barnhart (S, 3) relieved Rustad. Taylor pinch-ran for Figuereo at first as the tying run in his Hub City debut. Cook took a 3-2 pitch from Barnhart into the right-center field gap. Honeycutt stopped the ball before the track and relayed it to Stafford at second. Taylor tried to score from first and was cut down by mere inches to end the game.

On Saturday, Hub City can clinch a share of the series with a victory. A pair of top 30 prospects are on the mound: LHP Mason Molina (0-0, 0.00 ERA) and RHP Michael Forret (1-1, 1.34 ERA) for a 6:35 p.m. ET first pitch.

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