Gastonia 4, Lexington 2
GASTONIA, N.C. – Gastonia closed out the first half by winning eight straight games, improving to 46-17 and owning the best winning percentage (.730) in a single half in the history of the Atlantic League.
The win to clinch the honors of “best half in league history” was on Friday night, with Gastonia defeating Lexington, 4-2.
The Club mustered up just two hits and didn’t score over the first five innings in the series opener against the Legends. The offense then broke out for four runs on four hits in the sixth off Lexington starter Dustin Beggs.
Justin Wylie hit a two-run double and Clint Coulter knocked in two with a single to give Gastonia a 4-1 lead.
Ian McKinney held the Legends to just the one run, going six innings in a strong performance Friday night. The player-coach allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out six in the outing, picking up the win.
McKinney utilized the high fastball well in two-strike counts, as he recorded three of his first four strikeouts with the elevated heater. He was relieved by two pitchers who made their Gastonia debuts.
Richie Dell and Paul Hall Jr. were both signed and activated for Friday’s contest. And they each pitched scoreless frames in relief of McKinney. Dell pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, and Hall Jr. allowed one baserunner in the eighth, keeping the Club leading by three runs.
Phoenix Sanders allowed a run in the ninth, but was able to record the final out to pick up his 11th save of the season.
Gastonia finished the first half 29 games over .500, winning 73% of its games – a feat that hasn’t been done before in the 26 years the ALPB has been around. The previous record holder was Southern Maryland, who had a .727 winning percentage in a half in 2022. Gastonia was able to top that at .730.
The Club won 16 of its 19 series, recorded seven walk-offs and took eight out of nine games against its rival High Point Rockers throughout the dominant first half.
The second half starts on Saturday, with Gastonia taking on Lexington at 7 p.m.
York 14, Staten Island 4
(July 5, 2024 – York, Pa.): The York Revolution put up yet another double-digit scoring output on Friday night to close the first half with a 14-4 win over the Staten Island FerryHawks at WellSpan Park. With the win, the Revs finish the first half at 43-20, tying the franchise record for most wins in a half and tying an Atlantic League record for biggest first place lead in a first half at 12.0 games.
The Revs got off to a quick start as it took starter Ethan Lindow just six pitches to retire the side in the first inning.
Colton Welker opened the scoring with a single in the bottom half, scoring Matt McDermott who had led off the game with a double.
Staten Island scratched across a run on a double play in the second to even the game at 1-1, but Lindow allowed just one run, escaping a bases loaded no-out jam.
FerryHawks starter Taylor Lepard got the first two outs of the second inning, but York had six straight reach to score four runs. Michael Berglund doubled home a run, Donovan Casey added a two run single to tie a franchise single half record with 73 RBI, and Welker legged out an RBI infield single, stretching the York lead to 5-1.
The Revs added another run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Alfredo Reyes, and Jacob Rhinesmith contributed an RBI single in the fourth which extended his hitting streak to 13 games and expanded the lead to 7-1.
After Staten Island loaded the bases in the second, Lindow retired ten consecutive hitters before running into trouble with two outs in the fifth. The FerryHawks knocked four consecutive singles, including RBI hits by Ben Norman and Joe Dunand. Lindow got what could have been an inning ending grounder from Pablo Sandoval, but the ball rolled under second baseman Alexis Pantoja’s glove to score another run on the error, cutting the York lead to 7-4.
Trey Martin doubled home a run in the bottom of the sixth and York scratched across two more with an RBI groundout from Pantoja and a wild pitch by Hawks reliever Christian Allegretti to put themselves in double digits again, leading 10-4.
Casey made history in the seventh, launching a towering two-run homer over the Arch Nemesis. It brought Casey’s RBI total for the half to 75, setting a Revs record for a single half, surpassing Carlos Franco’s 73 from the first half in 2022.
The offense would not stop there as Martin smoked an RBI double off the top of the Nemesis and Reyes capped off the offensive night with an RBI single to right.
The bullpen trio of Alex Valverde, Will Carter, and Nelvin Correa retired all 12 hitters they faced as York pitching retired the last 13 hitters combined in the 14-4 win.
York will open the second half on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. when Aaron Fletcher takes the ball against Staten Island’s Christian Capuano. It is Hershey Park Day featuring a Hershey Park ticket giveaway to the first 1,000 fans ages 12-under. The night concludes with a Post-Game Movie (Field of Dreams). Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
Notes: The Revs’ 43 wins ties the 2012 second half Revs (43-27) for most wins in a half. York’s .683 winning percentage eclipses the previous franchise record of .614 set in the 2012 second half. It is the sixth-best half (percentage) in Atlantic League history and the fourth-best first half. Their 12-game lead for first place ties Southern Maryland (2022) for the largest first half lead over a second place club in league history and is tied for the second largest lead at the end of any half in league history. It is the ninth 40-win half in team history, tied for the league’s second-most all-time. It is the Revs’ fourth 40-win first half, tied for the league’s third most all-time. The half-season division title is the Revs’ ninth, also tied for third most in league history. The Revs have won six straight, 14 of 16, and 18 of their last 21 overall. They only suffered one three-game losing streak during the first half (May 12-15) which dropped their record to 10-8; they have gone 33-12 in the 45 games since. They have only lost back-to-back games three other times. Their 43-20 record is six games ahead of the 2010, 2014, and 2023 teams for best 63-game mark in club history. They have won 18 of their last 20 at home, improving to 23-10 at WellSpan Park. The Revs scored double digits for the 19th time overall and for the 18th time in the last 42 games since May 19; they have also done it in three consecutive games (35 runs total) and four of the past five (60 runs total). They have scored in the teens 11 times, all in the past 42 contests. They lead the league with 480 total runs, 80 more than the next closest team. They are averaging 7.6 runs per game for the season, on pace to break the league record of 7.4 set by Lexington in 2021; the franchise record is 6.4 runs per game set last year. They have scored 372 runs in 42 games since May 19, averaging 8.9 per game during that span. Casey has back-to-back four-RBI games and five straight multi-RBI performances, having driven in 15 runs in the past five games. Welker drove in two runs and now has RBIs in 15 of his past 16 starts (29 RBI on that stretch). Lindow (7-4) earned his fifth straight victory, tying for the league lead with his seventh win. The Revs stole a pair of bases, increasing their season total to 182, just six shy of a franchise single season record 188 set in 2014.
Lancaster 17, High Point 4
Another night, another lopsided game.
Lancaster cranked out 19 hits, including nine doubles in a 17-4 romp over the High Point Rockers Friday evening at Truist Point.
With the win, the Stormers closed out the first half with a 31-32 record and clinched second place in the North, 12 games behind York.
The Stormers set new season highs in runs and total bases while matching the season’s best with 19 hits. Shawon Dunston, Jr. and Chris Proctor each drove in five runs.
Individuals fell short of franchise history, though. Mason Martin doubled in three of his first four at bats. Dunston had a single, double and triple in his first three at bats but failed in three attempts to hit for the cycle. No one got to a fourth hit.
On the other hand, everyone in the starting lineup collected at least one hit, and all but Niko Hulszier and Isan Diaz had at least two.
Hulsizer opened the scoring with a solo homer to left in the top of the first off Cooper Casad (1-1). Lancaster tacked on two more in the second inning on consecutive doubles by Martin, Dunston and Proctor.
The Stormers’ third inning broke the game open. Diaz singled to right and went to second when Hulsizer was hit in the hand by a pitch, which ultimately took him out of the game. Martin drilled a double into the right field corner, scoring one. After Joseph Carpenter grounded out, Gaige Howard walked to load the bases, and Dunston ripped a two-strike pitch down the right field line for a base clearing triple. Trace Loehr singled home Dunston, and Damon Dues capped the inning with a double to left center.
Carpenter added a two-run homer in the fifth, and Proctor contributed a three-run homer in the seventh for the Stormers’ final blow.
Max Green (5-4) worked six innings, yielding seven hits and three walks. The only run off Green was on a leadoff homer by Connor Owings in the fourth.
The Stormers will send Max Bremer (6-3) to the hill on Saturday at 6:35 against left-hander Jonah Scolaro (2-0). Fans may tune into FloBaseball, beginning at 6:30.
NOTES: Proctor extended his hitting streak to 11 games while Dues stretched his to six…Green threw his fourth quality start in his last five outings…High Point left 14 runners on base…Dean Miller, picked up in a trade with Gastonia, struck out batting for Martin in the eighth inning…Austin Parsley, who pitched the final five innings for the Rockers was out of baseball as of 2:00 in the afternoon…High Point had lost multiple players, mostly pitchers, to Mexico, over a 48-hour span.
Long Island 7, Hagerstown 2
(Hagerstown, Md., July 5, 2024) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars 7-2 on Friday evening in the opener of a three-game series at Meritus Park.
Long Island took a 1-0 lead three batters into the ballgame as Ivan Castillo launched a solo home run to right centerfield off Hagerstown starting pitcher Parker Markel. Hagerstown tied the game at one in the second versus Ducks starter Jimmy Robbins as Ozzie Abreu hustled down the line from third base on an error committed by Scott Kelly. The visitors made it 2-1 in their favor in the fourth when Castillo crossed the plate on a Markel wild pitch.
A Zach Racusin two-out RBI infield single in the sixth made it 3-1 Ducks, and the Flock broke the game wide open in the seventh as they scored four times for a 7-1 cushion, highlighted by a Nick Heath run-scoring triple, a sacrifice fly off the bat of Castillo, and a two-run home run to right center produced by Aaron Antonini.
Robbins (4-2) won his fourth consecutive start as the southpaw allowed just one unearned run on eight hits across five innings pitched, walking and striking out three. Markel (1-3) was tagged with the loss, surrendering two runs on three hits in five innings on the mound, walking and striking out a pair.
Castillo, Racusin, and Ryan McBroom had two hits apiece to lead the way offensively for Long Island.
The Ducks and Flying Boxcars continue their three-game set on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Meritus Park. Fans can follow all the action live on FloBaseball by CLICKING HERE. Right-hander Daniel Corcino (2-4, 5.53) toes the rubber for the Ducks against Flying Boxcars lefty Mike Kickham (4-4, 5.68).
Long Island returns home on Tuesday, July 9, to begin a three-game set with the York Revolution. Game time is slated for 6:35 p.m., with the Fairfield Properties Ballpark gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders). As fans exit the ballpark following the game, Ducks staff members will be handing out coupons for a special offer from Francesco’s Trattoria East Islip. It’s also a Triple Play Tuesday, and if the Ducks turn a triple play during the game, one lucky fan will be a grand prize winner of $25,000. Tickets for the game, and all Ducks games, are available by visiting the Fairfield Properties Ballpark box office, calling (631) 940-TIXX or CLICKING HERE.
Southern Maryland 11, Charleston 6