Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters
ABERDEEN, MD — Shane Selman’s two-out go ahead RBI single in the top of the eighth led the Lake Monsters to a 7-5 victory over the Aberdeen Ironbids Sunday evening at Ripken Stadium as Vermont finished off its six-game roadtrip with a 5-1 record.
The Ironbirds had rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game in the seventh, but Vermont quickly loaded the bases in the eighth on back-to-back singles from Kevin Richards and Lawrence Butler before Jorge Gordon was hit by pitch. After a double play, Selman put the Lake Monsters in front with an RBI single to right (Vermont got a second run on throwing error).
Jeferson Mejia came on in relief of Carlos Sanchez (3-0) in bottom ninth with two on and no outs, earning his fifth save after striking out each of the next three Ironbirds to perserve the victory. The Lake Monsters scored 37 total runs and collected 56 hits over the last six games, which was Vermont’s first 5-1 roadtrip since July 16-20, 2000 at Pittsfield and Hudson Valley.
Vermont had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first when after loading the bases on a walk, single and hit batter, Kyle McCann delivered a two-run single into rightfield and one-out later Kevin Richards made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to left.
The Ironbirds got a leadoff homer from Dalton Hoiles in the third inning before Vermont added a couple of runs in the fifth on a McCann grounds-rule RBI double scoring Selman, who had led off the inning with a double, and a Marty Bechina RBI single for 5-1 lead.
Aberdeen rallied with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on three straight one-out singles and a sacrifice fly off reliever Leudeny Pineda, who then allowed a Shayne Fontana leadoff homer and a Kyle Stowers sacrifice fly to tie game 5-5.
McCann’s three-RBI night gave him 12 total RBI during the Lake Monsters six-game roadtrip, while Bechina went 3-for-5 on Sunday to hit safely in his sixth straight game (13-for-25, raising his average from .150 to .258). Vermont starter Michael Murray allowed one run on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts over his four innings.
Toby Welk was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Aberdeen (28-21), while 2019 first-overall pick Adley Rutschman went 2-for-3 with two walks, a run and an RBI. Yelin Rodriguez (1-2) allowed two runs on four hits over two innings to suffer the loss.
Vermont (21-28) returns to historic Centennial Field for a three-game homestand against the Staten Island Yankees Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights starting at 7:05 pm. The series opens Monday as the Lake Monsters celebrate CHAMP’s birthday at the ballpark.