Cyclones Defeat Aberdeen Ironbirds 6-3

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What’s more unlikely through three innings of play? That the Cyclones hit into three double plays, or that the Aberdeen Iron Birds left four men on base? Well, it may not have mattered, as both team’s depleted offense yielded much of the same results early on.

 Nick Carr’s performance as well as stuff early on would foretell what fans would sit and watch throughout the rest of Carr’s short and abrupt outing. His stuff looked very reminiscent of his standout, ten strikeout debut against the Renegades over a week ago, albeit with less usage of his slider, but the Iron Birds took advantage of his control problems, continiously fouling off pitches. After working himself out of a two on, two out jam in the second, Carr allowed a solo shot to Georgia Tech alumni Wally Crancer, putting the first run of the game on the board. He was relieved two batters leter when Iron Birds outfielder Anthony Martinez hit a deep fly ball to left field, only to be stopped by an over-the-wall highlight reel play by Cyclones outfielder Brandon Kawal.

 Iron Birds starter Nathan Nery was a bit less wild, but he showed nice poise on the mound virtually all night. With his pitch count close to its’ end, the Cyclones managed to get to Neary in the fifth inning. After Raul Reyes was hit in the leg by a pitch and Jacob Eigsti advanced to first on a walk, Yasmil Bucce, who was solid behind the plate tonight and the hero of last night’s game, struck out, left it up to Brandon Kawal. In his first game this season Aberdeen shortstop Jedidha Stephen was spectacular on defense up until that point, allowing Kawal to reach base on error and scoring Reyes, tieing the game up at one.

With a one-one game entering the eighth, the Iron Birds were reminded of the fact they’ve lost all four games against the Cyclones this year. After Scott Mueller, who replaced the hard throwing John Marrioti, came in, he started the inning off hitting J.R. Voyles, and in a surprise move with arugably the team’s best all around player, Edgar Alfonzo kept the bunt plat on with outfielder Will Vogl after failing to properly put the ball on the ball the first two times. With the defense panicking, Muller threw the ball away to first, moving Vogl to second and Voyles to third, who was hustling as soon as the bat met the ball.

The Cyclones hardly capitalized on the oppurtunity however, scoring just one run on Jason Jacobs’s sacrafice fly, but it looked as though it might be enough for awhile. In a slew of defensive moves, putting the power hitting Lucas Duda at first base while Jacob Eigsti, who started the game at third, moved from first to shortstop to replace the talented fielder Matt Bouhcard. After Jedidaha Stephson led-off the inning with a double, Steven Clyne, brought on to close the game, retired the nect two batters with ease, before surrendering a single to pinch hitter Robbie Windlansky, nodding the game at two.

The Cyclones showed their resliency once again the very next inning. With two on and nobody out, Ender Chavez continued to hurt the team with the bat, striking out in a critical spot, but Jacob Eigsti than doubled, scoring Jason Jacobs, and that set the tone for a huge rally, in which the Cyclones scored two more runs, including a double by Lucas Duda. Alfonzo surprisingly kept steph Clyne in, and after allowing one run, but retiring two, Grady Hinchman picked up the save, retiring the last batter of the ballgame.

Notes: Eric Niesen, the Mets 3rd round draft pick this year out of Wake Forest, will get the nod tomorrow in the rubber game against the Iron Birds.

Pretty much just came apparent to me how much I like J.R. Voyles in the second spot, who went 0-3 tonight before being replaced in the bottom half of the 8th by Micha Schilling.

There were strong implications that Raul Reyes was taken out of the game after getting hit by a pitch in his leg in the fifth, but nothing official has been announced, and he did stay on first before being replaced in the eight inning in the field with Ender Chavez.