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Akron RubberDucks

Urshela, Moncrief Power Aeros in 10-9 Victory

August 20, 2013 - Eastern League (EL1)
Akron RubberDucks News Release


Akron, OH - Giovanny Urshela's two-out, RBI single in the seventh inning Monday snapped a 9-9 tie, and lifted the Akron Aeros to a 10-9 victory in a thrill-a-minute series opener against the Erie SeaWolves at Jerry Uht Park.

Urshela's hit, his second of the ball game, drove in Carlos Moncrief who had doubled with one out. It came against righthander reliever David Kopp (3-4), and swung the lead back on the Aeros side for good in a game that featured five lead-changes.

The Aeros (60-67) won their fourth consecutive game, and dropped Erie into a first-place tie with Harrisburg, who was rained out at Richmond.

Using a season-high seven pitchers, the Aeros overcame eight walks to win the game. Austin Adams (2-2) was the winning pitcher, tossing two scoreless innings. He retired all five batters he face after coming into the game in the seventh inning with the bases loaded, no outs and the game tied, 9-9.

The first batter Adams faced was Erie third baseman Wade Gaynor. Adams induced a fly ball to deep right that was caught by Moncrief. Ramon Cabrera tagged up at third and tried to score the go-ahead run, but Moncrief fired a perfect one-hop throw to catcher Alex Monsalve to nail Cabrera at the plate and keep the game tied. Adams got the next hitter to ground out to end the threat. It was Moncrief's league-high 16th outfield assist of the season.

After Urshela's hit gave Akron the lead, Adams returned to pitch a perfect seventh, then turned things over to Jeff Johnson, who threw a scoreless eighth, and finally righthander Trey Haley, who recorded a perfect ninth, striking out the final two hitters to secure his seventh save.

Akron overcame an early 4-2, deficit by scoring twice in the fourth inning, and then breaking through with a four-run fifth inning. During that rally, Jesus Aguilar smacked an RBI single, giving him 98 RBI on the season, and setting a new single season RBI record for the Aeros franchise. He leads all of Double-A baseball in RBI.

Erie responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, chasing starter Will Roberts from the game. It was only the second time in 20 appearances this season that Roberts failed to go at least five innings.

Cedric Hunter had another big night for Akron. He smacked a two-run homer in the first inning off Erie starter Kelvin Perez. It was Hunter's second homer in as many games, and his 11th overall. He later added a sacrifice fly to give him three RBI on the night. Center fielder Tyler Naquin extended his hitting streak to five games with a three-hit performance, including an RBI double in the fifth. The Aeros pounded out 12 hits in the game.

The 19 combined runs and 23 combined hits were plenty to keep an overflow crowd of 6,952 engaged. The Aeros are now 6-8 against Erie this season. The teams still have six games to play each other before the regular season is over.

The Aeros and SeaWolves (67-60) will play the middle game of the series on Tuesday night at 7:05. RHP Cody Anderson (0-0, 3.60) will take the ball for the Aeros, while LHP Matt Crouse (8-10, 4.48) will start for the SeaWolves. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1350 AM, and online at www.sportsradio1350.com. For more information, please call the Aeros at 330-253-5151. Follow the team on Twitter @akronaeros or on Facebook at facebook.com/theakronaeros.

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