STATEN ISLAND, NY- Staten Island Yankee left fielder D.J. Hollingsworth might not be the biggest player.

However, it was the 5-7 170 pound San Leandro California native’s willingness to get dirty which gave his ballclub its third consecutive win as they pulled out a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen in their final at bat before 2,446 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark Tuesday night.

On a night when it was very tough to score even a run, Hollingsworth’s determination to beat out an infield hit resulted in a weird ending as he collided with Aberdeen first baseman Anthony Martinez.

With shortstop Tyler Henson’s throw getting there at the same time, the speedy Bomber lunged forward into the 6-3 240 pound Martinez jarring the ball loose which allowed second baseman Damon Sublett to come around from second and score the game’s only run sending an excited Staten Island dugout out to home plate to celebrate the unusual win.

“That’s the second time I ran into someone way bigger than me and I don’t think I’ll ever do anything like that again,” a pleased Hollingsworth indicated. A line drive, [Henson] catches it. Doesn’t catch it and then a collision at first base to end the game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.”

Before their final at bat, the Bombers managed only three hits. None of that mattered when Sublett started the rally with one out by beating out an infield single just getting his foot on the bag. Catcher Jose Gil followed by climbing out of an 0-2 hole working the count full before lining a clean single to left which put runners on first and second.

Following Matt Morris’ popup for the second out, Hollingsworth lined a shot to Henson which the Aberdeen shortstop couldn’t glove for the final out. He threw a strike to first but the gritty Hollingsworth did what he had to do to give his team another big win.

“[Joseph Esposito] came in when we were in Aberdeen and he struggled a little bit. … But tonight he came out and pitched very well. Had us all off balance. The first lefthander [Zach Britton] was doing the same exact thing. Keeping us off balance tonight. It was a struggle for hits but fight, scratch. Find a way to win at the end,” the left fielder pointed out as the wildcard leading Bombers improved to 39-25 to maintain their three-game lead over Lowell, who won 5-3 at Oneonta.

“It was a good win for us. We kind of struggled early in the game to get on base and get some hits but you know, we came up big late in the game and got a win,” Sublett added.

Though they didn’t manage a hit off Britton until Gil’s two out single to right in the fourth, starter Jason Stephens matched zeroes with the Aberdeen starter and Esposito for six frames before giving way to Jason Kiley.

Kiley almost let in the first run on Brian Bent’s infield single but shortstop Justin Snyder made a good throw to Gil to get Ryan Adams at the plate.

The Staten Island reliever worked two more scoreless to pickup his fourth victory.

“I go out there and just try to keep the game close,” Kiley said after also getting a huge 4-6-3 double play in the ninth after a call went against him.

“Our pitching has been doing pretty good as of late. It’s great that out pitching was there to pick us up when our bats were down. If we do that, we’re going to go a long way,” Sublett said.

Notes: Gil had another multi-hit night to lift his average to .241. He’s six for his last 12 with a homer, two RBI’s and two runs. Going further back, he’s 11 for his last 24 including four two hit games. … Frank Lonigro was 2-for-3 as the designated hitter. … With six scoreless frames and six K’s, Stephens lowered his ERA to 1.70. … The game took only two and a half hours to play. … Aberdeen SP Britton went the first five scoreless allowing two hits, walking three and striking out four. … Braedyn Pruitt got the night off with Ryan Wehrle getting the start at the hot corner making a great diving stab and throw to get a runner. … Staten Island aims for a sweep of the two-game series later tonight before hosting Hudson Valley tomorrow.