Wilmington Drop Series Finale 6-2 To Aberdeen

The Wilmington Blue Rocks fell to the Aberdeen IronBirds 6-2 on Sunday, June 23, splitting the series at three games apiece.

The Blue Rocks had a good read on the strike zone in the first inning, walking three times and scoring on a sac fly from Kevin Made to take an early 1-0 lead.

Luke Young started for Wilmington, dealing his breaking ball early and often to the IronBirds. Through the second inning he only allowed one baserunner on a bloop single.

In the fourth, the Ironbirds were able to pull ahead with three hits, including a ground-rule double and a triple to snatch the lead 3-1.

Young went 1-2-3 in the fifth inning to end his start as the pitcher of record on the losing side. It was a solid performance overall for Young, but the fourth inning plagued his day. He left the game with five hits, three runs, two earned runs, no walks and four strikeouts.

Richard Guasch entered in the sixth for Wilmington, but he could not find the strike zone. After walking three and hitting a batter to give up a run that pushed the game to 4-1, he was pulled from the game, pitching just 1/3 of an inning.

Marlon Perez relieved Guasch with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the sixth and struck out two straight to escape further trouble.

The Blue Rocks battled in the seventh, when three hits in a row from Gavin Dugas, Elijiah Nunez and Viandel Pena loaded the bases. Made struck out and Jared McKenzie flew out to end the inning without scoring a run.

In the eighth, Joe Naranjo doubled and Jeremy De La Rosa followed up with a single to cut the deficit to 4-2.

The IronBirds scored two more on a wild pitch and groundout in the top of the ninth. The four-run lead hurt the chances of a Blue Rock comeback.

Wilmington loaded the bases in the ninth with the tying run at the plate and two outs. De La Rosa grounded out sharply as the Blue Rocks lost 6-2 and split the series 3-3 after winning three of the first four games this week.