Charleston 6, High Point Rockers 2
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Charleston Dirty Birds hit three home runs and turned those into a 6-2 win over the High Point Rockers Sunday afternoon at Truist Point. The win puts Charleston back in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic League’s South Division at 20-10 while the Rockers drop a game back at 19-11.
Charleston wasted no time in going on the offensive. Lead-off hitter Phillip Ervin singled to left on the first pitch he saw from Rockers starter Jeremy Rhoades (L, 2-3) before Joseph Rosa homered to right for a 2-0 lead.
High Point cut the deficit in half in the second when Ben Aklinski singled and Charleston starter Adrian Almeida (W, 6-2) issued walks to Trey Martin and Brian Parreira to load the bases. But Almeida induced a weak grounder to short from Gilberto Jimenez that resulted in an out at second with Aklinski crossing the plate. D.J. Burt grounded out to end the inning.
Charleston increased its lead to 4-1 in the third on a two-run homer by Tillman Pugh.
Rhoades exited after the fifth inning, having allowed four runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out two.
In the eighth, with Kyle Halbohn on the mound for the Rockers, Rusber Estrada hit a two-out solo shot to right to give the Dirty Birds a 5-1 lead. In the top of the ninth, a fielding error by Burt led to an RBI single from Rosa to make it a 6-1 ballgame.
Martin Figueroa homered to lead off the ninth for the Rockers, marking his third consecutive game with a homer. But reliever Ricardo Gomez retired the final three hitters to secure the win. With two outs, Connor Owings’ hit a deep drive to right field that Pugh leaped against the fence in right and brought a sure home run back for the final out of the game.
The Rockers will enjoy an off day on Monday and then start a three-game home series with Gastonia on Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. Gastonia trails the Rockers by 2.5 games in the South Division second half race.
York 8-2, Long Island 7-4
(August 11, 2024 – York, Pa.): The York Revolution pulled out game one of their doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at WellSpan Park, 8-7 in eight innings on a walk-off passed ball. The Long Island Ducks took the eventual rubber match of the series, 4-2 in game two.
York struck first in the second inning of game one, as Zander Wiel continued his run production from a night prior with a sacrifice fly having driven in each of the Revs’ first four runs of the series. The tally was set up by Joe Perez who went first to third on a wild pitch from Wei-Yin Chen, allowing himself to score on the flyout.
Ethan Lindow pitched the first two frames in scoreless fashion but was burned by Ryan McBroom with two outs in the third inning. McBroom, who drove the game winning two-run double the night before, struck again with a sinking liner that got past the dive of Wiel in left field. The double scored two, giving the Ducks a 2-1 advantage.
York had a chance to respond quickly in the third, getting two runners on with one out but Chen escaped with a groundout and strikeout.
It remained a 2-1 game until the fifth when York finally broke through with two outs against Chen. David Washington gave York the lead with an opposite field double, scoring a pair to make it 3-2. Joe Perez followed with an RBI single and Jacob Rhinesmith capped off the four run frame with a single of his own. After five, the Revs held a 5-2 advantage.
Aaron Antonini tried to carve away, leading off the sixth with a solo home run to left field off of Lindow. The lefty was able to get out of the inning without further damage and was in line for a potential ninth consecutive winning decision to tie a franchise record.
In the seventh, York went to Frankie Bartow who got Nick Heath to fly out before JC Encarnacion homered to right field to bring the Ducks within one at 5-4. Long Island kept the game alive with a pair of two-out singles for Yoelquis Cespedes, who hit a three-run blast to right field to put Long Island ahead, 7-5. The two long balls were the first allowed by Bartow all season.
York got back-to-back singles from Rudy Martin Jr and Matt McDermott to open up the bottom of the seventh. After Martin Jr moved up to third on a fielder’s choice, Perez drove a deep sac fly to center to bring the Revs within one. Rhinesmith tied the game with a clutch two-out single off the glove of a diving Ivan Castillo at second. York threatened to win as Wiel followed with a single and both runners moved up on a wild pitch, putting the winning run at third base for Alfredo Reyes. Al Alburquerque managed to punch Reyes out on a check swing to send the game to extras tied at 7-7.
Denny Bentley (3-0) retired the side in order in the eighth, preventing the inherited runner from advancing past second base.
York loaded the bases against Tim Melville with one out in their half of the eighth inning as Ciaran Devenney was hit by a pitch and Martin Jr took an intentional walk. Melville notched a strikeout of Matt McDermott, but with two outs, a passed ball by Antonini behind the plate allowed Reyes to scamper across for the winning run, giving York an 8-7 victory in game one.
Game two was scoreless through the first two frames with Ducks starter Sal Romano retiring the first six he faced.
Revs starter Zach Neff got two outs in the third before Encarnacion hit a two-run shot to right center field to open the scoring, his third home run in as many games on the weekend.
York scratched across a run in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by Martin Jr and threatened to at least draw even as McDermott scorched a ball to the gap in left center field, but Scott Kelly ran it down to keep the Ducks lead intact.
Washington greeted reliever Nick Tropeano with a solo blast to right field in the bottom of the fourth to even the score at 2-2.
Both Neff and Tropeano tossed scoreless fifth innings but Neff (6-5) ran into trouble in the sixth. Encarnacion led off with a single, and two batters later, McBroom blasted a two-run home run to left center field, putting the Ducks ahead 4-2. It was McBroom’s third go-ahead two-run extra base hit in as many games in the series.
Chris Vallimont pitched the top of the seventh in his return to the Revs, his first Atlantic League outing since May 23rd after having his contract purchased by the Los Angeles Dodgers where he pitched out of Triple-A Oklahoma City’s starting rotation. He worked around a two-out error to complete a scoreless inning, capping it off with a strikeout.
York brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning after singles by Rhinesmith and Reyes, but Tropeano finished four innings of relief with a game ending fly out as Long Island took game two, 4-2.
York will head to Southern Maryland for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 5:05 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and FloBaseball.TV beginning at 5 p.m.
Notes: The game one walk-off victory was the fifth of the season for the Revs who improved to 7-3 in extra innings (2-3 vs Long Island). Lindow worked three innings for the third consecutive start. Rhinesmith went 6-for-11 in the series. Washington’s homer is his 27th of the season, breaking a tie with Nellie Rodriguez (2022) for fourth-most in a season in Revs history; it was also the 96th home run of his Atlantic League career. Martin Jr stole his league-leading 62nd base in the sixth inning of game two. York is now 62-31 on the season, owning the league’s top overall record. The Revs are 19-11 in the second half, one game back of first place. The Revs fall to 22-6-2 in series; they have won seven of their last nine series with the only two losses coming in their last two home series, both against Long Island. The Revs are now 11-10 against the Ducks for the season.
Lancaster 8, Lexington 3
The Lancaster Stormers rapped out 12 hits on Sunday afternoon, salvaging the finale of a three-game series with an 8-3 victory over the Lexington Legends.
With the victory, the only one for the Stormers in the series, Lancaster temporarily remained one-half game ahead of York in the Northern Division race, pending the outcome of the Revolution’s second game against the Long Island Ducks.
The Stormers would use doubles by Gaige Howard and Isan Diaz in the top of the first to grab the early lead, but Korry Howell greeted Noah Bremer with a homer to left, immediately answering. Loehr’s controversial homer down the right field line with one out in the third staked Lancaster to a lead off Matt Reitz (2-5, 2-8) that it never lost.
Damon Dues walked, stole second and scored on outs in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 3-1, and Dues came through again in the seventh with a bases loaded single to left to push the lead to 5-1.
Mason Martin added a two-run homer in the eighth. Chris Proctor singled home Joseph Carpenter with a later run.
Lancaster survived the afternoon with a patchwork quilt of pitching. Noah Bremer started for the fourth time in nine days, but lasted only 3 1/3 innings, limited to 55-60 pitches (he threw 57). Jackson Rees (5-1) got the next five outs, walking one and striking out three. Kyle Johnson fired a perfect sixth inning but walked Roberto Gonzalez to open the seventh, ultimately costing him a run.
From there, Scott Engler took over and struck out the two batters he faced. Howell hit his second homer of the afternoon on a 2-2 pitch from Phil Diehl in the eighth, but Diehl retired the side in order afterward. Steffon Moore brought Lancaster within one out of the win, then walked two before striking out Keenan O’Brien to finally nail down the win.
The Stormers head home to face the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars Tuesday at 6:45. Fans may tune into FloBaseball or Blue Ridge 11 at 6:40.
NOTES: Martin’s homer extended his hitting streak to 12 games…It was the second straight contest where his streak was kept alive on his final at bat…Howard had his 33rd multi-hit game…Over the four starts, Bremer allowed two runs on six hits in 11 total innings…His ERA dropped to 3.67…Loehr left the game and was replaced by Kyle Kasser, who went 2-for-2.
Staten Island 4-3, Hagerstown 2-0
The Staten Island FerryHawks took both games of their doubleheader against the Hagerstown Flying Box Cars Sunday afternoon. With the sweep of the doubleheader, Staten Island also secured the series sweep and have now won their last 5 contests.
The FerryHawks defeated the Flying Box Cars by a final score of 4-2 in the first game of the twin bill.
The first seven-inning game featured Taylor Lepard on the mound starting for the home FerryHawks. The Toronto native gave his team four solid innings of work, allowing just four hits, one earned run, and punched out three. Southpaw reliever Christian Allegretti got the bulk of the load in relief for his FerryHawks, registering the win after his 2.2 innings of one-run ball. Allegretti gave up only two hits and also struck out three. Brian McKenna got the save, taking over for Allegretti and only needing to record one out. This was McKenna’s 6th save of the season.
Offensively, Staten Island scored 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 errors by Hagerstown. Only one of the four runs for the Staten Island squad were earned. All 6 hits were registered by different players; Nate Scantlin, Luis Castro, Ben Norman, Kolby Johnson, Alejandro De Aza and Kyle Dernedde. Dernedde’s knock was a double, his fifth of the year. Castro crossed home twice, and the other two runs were Norman and De Aza.
The FerryHawks sent the Flying Box Cars packing with a 3-0 shutout win in the second game of the doubleheader.
Nate Roe opened the game for the Hawks, producing three innings of quality pitching and limiting the Hagerstown offense to just one hit. Brennen Oxford made his debut for the team out of relief, going one inning and striking out one. Oxford was the winning pitcher in the early evening game. Josh James, J.P. Woodward and Robbie Baker were each utilized for one inning out of the pen as well, and Robbie Baker notched his 8th save of the 2024 campaign after successfully closing out the 7th.
Ben Norman and Kyle Dernedded were the highlights for the FerryHawk bats, as each went 2-3 with an RBI. Norman hit his 17th homer of the season in the 6th inning to provide some more insurance going into the 7th frame. Johnson and De Aza were the other two FerryHawks to cross home in game two.
The FerryHawks look to remain hot and keep the win streak alive as they welcome in their Battle of the Belt opponent, the Long Island Ducks, this Tuesday-Thursday at SIUH Community Park.
Southern Maryland 11, Gastonia 4