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Frederick 11, Lexington 3

Frederick, MD- A Frederick team that started the year with 13 consecutive losses has suddenly won four straight. Tuesday’s game was perhaps the most emphatic, as the offense exploded for an 11-3 win to open the series with Lexington. 

They looked to threaten in the first inning, loading the bases with one out after three straight walks by righty starter Yeudy Garcia, but a double play ball ended the threat. 

Leobaldo Cabrera, who walked off Sunday’s game two victory, kicked off the second inning by blasting a home run to center field to give Frederick an early 1-0 lead.  

Chris Owings answered back by taking the first pitch he saw in the fourth inning over the right field wall to tie the game up. Lexington proceeded to take the lead in the top of the fifth thanks to an RBI groundout. 

In the fifth inning, Frederick again loaded the bases against Garcia due to three straight walks, but another double play ended the frame without a run. 

After a rather sluggish first six innings at the plate, the offense finally found its groove in the seventh inning. With one out, Lexington opted for lefty Logan Salow. Luke Becker greeted the southpaw with an RBI double that scored Scott Kelly all the way from first base. Three batters later, Jose Marmolejos hit a pop up to shallow right field that dropped in, allowing another run to score and give Frederick the 3-2 lead. 

After Salow was pulled, Kole Cottam greeted new righty Joey Steele by blasting a grand slam to left field to break the game open. To add to the barrage, Cabrera followed that up with his second solo HR of the game. Cottam’s slam was the first in franchise history. After an eighth inning bases loaded walk, Cottam finished the night with 5 RBIs, the first of such in franchise history. The inning ended with seven runs crossing the plate. They scored three more in the eighth inning despite not recording a hit in the frame.

Tai Tiedemann finished the job in the ninth, giving Frederick their fourth straight win by an 11-3 score.  

Max Povse will take the hill for his season debut on Wednesday for an 11 AM start for STEM Day presented by AstraZeneca. Fans can tune in on Flo Sports or through the Frederick Baseball Network on Mixlr. 

Staten Island 10, Lancaster 5

Cristian Santana unloaded a pair of three-run homers, and Staten Island turned three critical double plays as the FerryHawks defeated the host Lancaster Barnstormers, 10-5, Tuesday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The loss was the fifth in a row for Lancaster (4-12) while Staten Island (5-9) picked up its third straight win.

Santana gave the FerryHawks a lead they never lost in the fourth.  After Jack Elliott singled home Adrian Sanchez with a two-out run, and Luis Castro walked, Santana drilled the first of his two blasts deep to right center off Brandyn Sittinger (1-3) for a 4-2 edge.

Ricardo Cespedes chimed in with a solo homer in the fifth which was countered by a long ball off the bat of Melvin Mercedes.

The Barnstormers were given an opportunity to retake control of the game in the seventh.  Reliever Anthony Quattrocchi walked Chris Proctor and hit Jack Conley within his first six pitches.  Jake Hoover popped up a bunt before Trace Loehr walked to load the bases.  A wild pitch allowed Proctor to score to cut the lead to 5-4.  Melvin Mercedes walked to refill the bases.  Lefty Alex Katz entered and coaxed a 5-2-3 double play out of Trayvon Robinson to get out of the threat.

Castro rebuilt a 6-4 lead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth before Santana launched his second three-run shot of the night to put the game away.

The Barnstormers will send Jared Lakind (1-2) to the mound on Wednesday morning against Staten Island right-hander Austin DeCarr (0-2).  Fans may tune into Flobaseball at 10:55.

NOTES:  Mercedes’ homer extended his hitting streak to 12 games…He has reached on 10 of his last 11 plate appearances…He is 21-for-47 with six walks in the 12-game streak…He finished the night batting .393…Ariel Sandoval went 3-for-4…He is hitting .407 on the season and has batted safely in 14 of 15…Lancaster has allowed 16 homers in the last seven games…Eleven have come with at least one runner on base.

High Point 4, Southern Maryland 3

WALDORF, Md. – High Point’s John Nogowski blasted his seventh home run of the year, in the top of the ninth inning, to break a 3-3 tie and propel the Rockers to a 4-3 win at Southern Maryland on Tuesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium. The win leaves the Rockers with the best record in the Atlantic League at 14-3 while Southern Maryland falls to 11-5.

Ryan Dull earned his fourth save of the year by setting the Blue Crabs down in order in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts. The win marked the 995^th of Rockers’ manager Jamie Keefe career as he approaches his 1,000^th all-time victory.

The Rockers took an early 1-0 lead when D.J. Burt led off the game with a single and then stole second before Ben Aklinski doubled to left to give High Point the early advantage. That lead increased to 2-0 in the top of the third when Burt homered to left, his second of the year.

The Blue Crabs began to claw back, scoring a single run in the bottom of the third when Felix Aberouette and Michael Wielansky each doubled with Aberouette scoring to pull So. Maryland to within one at 2-1. So. Maryland then took a 3-2 lead in the sixth when Michael Baca singled with the bases loaded to score two with the go-ahead run cut down at the plate behind a throw from Rocker leftfielder John Daly and a relay from shortstop Ryan Grotjohn to catcher Beau Taylor. Daly then would provide offensive heroics as he hit his first homer as a Rocker with one out in the seventh to tie the game again at 3-3.

The score remained knotted at 3-3 until Nogowski hit his solo homer to left with one out. The homer gave reliever A.J. Cole (W, 1-1) the win after he recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning. James Dykstra (L, 1-1) took the loss after allowing a walk and Nogowski’s homer in the ninth.

Nogowski finished the night with three hits including a double while Taylor joined Burt with two hits apiece. Baca and teammate K.C. Hobson led So. Maryland with two hits each.

High Point and Southern Maryland will play game two of this three game series on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium. The Rockers will send righty Neil Uskali (0-0, 0.00) out for his second start of the season. Southern Maryland will counter with the Atlantic League’s all-time win leader and three-time defending ALPB Pitcher of the Year in Daryl Thompson (2-0, 5.03). Thompson has 93 career wins and is the Atlantic League’s all-time leader in games started and strikeouts.

Long Island 3, York 2

(Central Islip, N.Y., May 16, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the York Revolution 3-2 on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. 

The Ducks opened the scoring in the second inning on a two-run home run to left field by Joe DeCarlo off Revolution starter Nick Raquet. The Revs closed to within 2-1 in the fourth on Troy Stokes Jr.’s solo homer to right-center off Ducks starter Stephen Woods Jr. 

It stayed that way until the seventh when Alex Dickerson’s RBI double extended Long Island’s advantage to two. Nellie Rodriguez brought York within one again in the eighth on a solo homer to center, but the Revolution could not pull even. 

Woods Jr. (2-0) earned the win, tossing five and two-thirds innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out five. Raquet (2-1) took the loss, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and three walks over six and one-third innings with one strikeout. Kevin Quackenbush picked up his third save of the year with a scoreless ninth. 

Dickerson led the Flock offensively with three hits, an RBI and a run. DeCarlo added two hits, two RBIs and a run, while Adeiny Hechavarria chipped in with two hits and a run. 

The Ducks and Revolution continue their three-game set on Wednesday night. Game time is slated for 6:35 p.m., with Fairfield Properties Ballpark gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders). It’s a Waddle In Wednesday at the ballpark, and fans will be able to enjoy a special $10 off discount on QuackerJack plush hats at the Waddle In Shop throughout the ballgame. Left-hander Ian Clarkin (0-1, 3.97) takes the mound for the Ducks against Revolution righty Jorge Martinez (2-1, 4.24).

Gastonia 13, Charleston 4

In the top of the fifth inning, Charleston’s Bobby Bradley hit his seventh home run of the year, and Jose Bermudez followed that up with a double.

That gave the Dirty Birds a 4-2 lead.

And those were the last hits that they got on Tuesday night.

Gastonia, on the other hand, recorded another nine hits and scored 11 unanswered runs, as the Honey Hunters took advantage of Charleston’s four errors and dominated 13-4.

Charleston didn’t look like a team that’s ranked last in several offensive categories through the first half of Game 1 of the three-game set.

The Dirty Birds strung hits together in three of the first five innings, scoring a run off Gastonia’s ace Marcus Walden, two off lefty reliever Ryan Williamson and another one off righty Garrett Sutton.

The runs scored off Walden and Sutton were both solo homers by Bradley, who hit No. 6 and No. 7 on the year. He also increased his RBI total to 17.

When he hit his home run off Sutton, the one that gave his team a 4-2 lead, Bradley admired the ball after launching it 434 feet to right field. He then tossed his bat aside and started his slow jog around the bases.

The Charleston hitters worked great at-bats against Gastonia pitching, working four walks – including two that walked in runs with the bases loaded.

While down 4-2, the Honey Hunters tied things up in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Montrell Marshall with the bases juiced.

Marshall’s throw toward second went into right field, allowing Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco to score to tie the game.

Marshall recorded one of FOUR Charleston errors in the game – two of which came in the fifth.

The last error, which came in the sixth, was even more costly.

Heading into the sixth, it was a 4-4 tie.

That’s not exactly what the score was when the half inning came to an end.

Williams Jerez, who was celebrating his 31st birthday on Tuesday, came on in relief of starter Kit Scheetz.

And if his birthday wish was for a good outing, it certainly didn’t come true.

Luis Curbelo led off with a single that was hit 108.4 miles-per-hour off the bat. Curbelo already scored earlier in the game because of a Cole Freeman RBI double that he hit into the right-center field gap.

This time up, Freeman hit a ground ball that shortstop Luis Atiles bobbled for his team’s fourth error of the game.

After Curbelo and Freeman both stole and Jack Reinheimer walked for the second time, the bases were loaded with nobody out for J.C. Escarra.

Escarra hit a rocket down the right-field line that just stayed fair and bounced into the seats. The ground-rule double scored Curbelo and Freeman.

Jarrett then followed up with a line drive right up the middle into center field that scored Reinheimer. Jarrett had great heads-up baserunning, advancing to second on Bermudez’s throw home as Escarra stayed at third.

Franco then did exactly his job as the cleanup hitter. He cleaned up the runners Escarra and Jarrett with a two-run scoring single of his own. His base hit was into center field, and was the fourth hit off Jerez.

Gastonia scored five runs on the four hits off Jerez, and the team turned a 4-4 tie into a 9-4 lead.

And the Honey Hunters didn’t pump the brakes there.

Freeman picked up his second hit of the game, and also stolen bases three and four for him on the night, before Reinheimer plated him with a single.

Escarra then hit a booming double into the gap in right-center, scoring Reinheimer all the way from first.

Reinheimer had two runs scored on Tuesday, keeping him atop the Atlantic League leaderboard in the category with 19. The next closest is 16.

He credits the hitters behind him – Escarra, Jarrett and Franco – who had a combined 7 RBIs against Charleston.

“I really think that’s a testament to the guys hitting behind me,” Reinheimer said. “I try to get on base, and right now I’ve been doing it and our guys have been hitting me in and that’s amazing.”

Reinheimer also has seven stolen bases, getting the most recent one in the second inning on Tuesday. He’s currently tied for third in the league, two shy of first place (Trey Martin of York.) He always has the same approach when reaching base.

“Really I just try to get into a rhythm with the pitcher and time him up,” Reinheimer said. “If I get to a certain point where I feel like I can make it, then that’s probably the priority.”

The Honey Hunters dominated the Dirty Birds when all said and done, but that certainly wasn’t the case early on when Marcus Walden let up a dinger to Bradley in the second.

After the Bradley home run, Steven Sensely answered with a solo shot of his own. He hit the ball 113.9 miles-per-hour off the bat to deep right field for his fourth dinger of the year.

After another Gastonia run, there was a lightning delay in the bottom half of the inning.

Walden didn’t return after the 24-minute delay, so Gastonia used six more pitchers to get the job done – Ryan Williamson, Garrett Sutton, David Richardson, Tyler Thomas, Bryan Blanton and Jaime Schultz.

From Sutton after he gave up the homer and double in the fifth to Schultz in the ninth, Gastonia pitching retired 13 Dirty Birds in a row.

Richardson, Thomas and Blanton all pitched 1-2-3 frames, with Richardson and Blanton each striking out the side.

Thomas struck out two batters, increasing his season total to 17 in 11 innings pitched.

The Honey Hunters improved to 11-5 with the win, and now stand alone in second place in the South Division.

The Dirty Birds fell to 3-11 and are only a half game up on last-place Frederick.

Game 2 of the three-game series is on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.