Blue Crabs rally from seven down, beat FerryHawks 12-11

Southern Maryland turned a 7-0 deficit into a 12-11 walk-off win over Staten Island on Sunday afternoon at Regency Furniture Stadium, finishing a sweep and posting what the Blue Crabs called their largest comeback victory of the 2026 season. Ezequiel Pagan delivered the payoff with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth, his second walk-off of the year, after the Blue Crabs spent the middle innings clawing back one run at a time.

The game got away early when Staten Island batted around in the first and struck for six runs, capped by Lamar Briggs’ grand slam off Southern Maryland starter Justin Sanchez. Gary Mattis and Nick Decker drew bases-loaded walks before Briggs cleared the bases, and Decker later added a sacrifice fly in the second to push the FerryHawks ahead 7-0. Juan Fernandez kept the damage from growing any worse by escaping a bases-loaded jam in the opening inning, a small stop that mattered once the comeback started to take shape.

Southern Maryland began to chip away in the second when Carlos Rojas, who finished with his fifth home run of the season, went deep to get the Blue Crabs on the board. Phillip Sikes followed in the fourth with his ninth homer, and Sebastian Mueller launched his first of the season in the fifth as the lineup kept extending innings and forcing Staten Island back onto the field. The Blue Crabs also scored in the seventh, closing the gap enough to make the late innings a contest instead of a recovery project.

That mattered because the finish carried more than one milestone. Brett Jodie picked up his 600th Atlantic League victory while guiding Southern Maryland through a sweep that followed an already dominant first half, one the Blue Crabs clinched on June 30 after going 40-20. They entered the game at 54-22 and 3-0 in the second half, and the win kept them planted atop the South Division.

Ethan Hammerberg earned the win and Pedro Payano took the loss after the ninth-inning collapse. The result also reinforced how thoroughly Southern Maryland has handled Staten Island in 2026, after opening the season with a 11-1 sweep on April 24. On a day when Briggs put the FerryHawks on top by seven, the Blue Crabs answered with patience, power and one last swing from Pagan to finish the sweep on their own terms.