Lancaster 17, Long Island 5
Niko Hulsizer singlehandedly rewrote the Lancaster Stormers record book on Sunday afternoon.
The center fielder mashed homers on three consecutive at bats, driving in a total of nine runs as Lancaster routed Long Island for the second day in a row, 17-5, at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
Hulsizer slugged a 454’ homer with a man aboard in the fifth inning and added a three-run homer to right center for the lead in the seventh. The Berks County native got another opportunity later that same inning and cranked a towering grand slam onto the hill in left to cap the 10-run inning.
In the process, Hulsizer set the single game franchise record with nine RBI. He became the first right-handed Stormer in history to hit three homers in a game and only the second player to homer twice in the same inning.
Long Island grabbed a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth on a grand slam by Ryan McBroom. Wei-Yin Chen retired two of the first three batters in the bottom of the inning before Hulsizer connected for the first time to cut the lead to 5-4.
Justin Alintoff (2-2) retired the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth. Shawon Dunston, Jr. walked and stole second before Chris Proctor singled to right field to produce the run.
Damon Dues opened the seventh with a double lined to the warning track in right. Isan Diaz dunked a single into shallow left to add a second runner in front of Hulsizer’s second homer. Joseph Carpenter busted his bat on a double down the right field line and went to third on a grounder by Gaige Howard. Dunston kept the inning going with a walk, and Carpenter scored on a ball four wild pitch. After another steal of second, Proctor singled home Dunston again for a 10-5. Lancaster loaded the bases, and Diaz forced one home with a bases loaded walk. Hulsizer launched his slam onto the hillside for a 15-5 lead.
Hulsizer had a chance to add to his records in the eighth but popped out to second with the bases loaded to close out the attack.
James Hoyt (2-3), the fourth of six Lancaster pitchers earned the win. He allowed one hit but faced only three batters in the top of the seventh inning.
Lancaster is off on Monday before opening a three-game series at Hagerstown on Tuesday evening. Oscar De La Cruz (0-2) will make the start for Lancaster. Fans may tune into FloBaseball beginning at 6:25.
NOTES: Blake Gailen was the other Stormer to homer twice in one inning…He did it in September, 2014…The previous RBI record was seven…Lancaster’s relief staff has allowed only three earned runs in 17 innings over the last five games…The Stormers had a 5-1 homestand and will take a one-game lead in the division into Hagerstown.
High Point 8, Hagerstown 2
HAGERSTOWN, Md. – The High Point Rockers used the long ball to derail the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at Meritus Park. The Rockers blasted five home runs with Clayton Mehlbauer hitting two, each to dead center field, in winning their seventh straight game.
The Rockers improved to 7-1 in the second half and continue to hold a two-game lead over Gastonia (5-3) in the Atlantic League’s South Division second half pennant race.
The Rockers scored three times in the third when Ben Aklinski singled and Connor Owings followed with a homer, his third consecutive game with a round-tripper. After a Quincy Latimore groundout, Evan Edwards followed with a solo homer to give High Point a 3-0 lead.
Mehlbauer added a solo homer leading off the fourth inning to put the Rockers in front 4-0.
The Boxcars tallied a pair of runs off Rockers’ starter Cam Bedrosian (W, 5-1) in the fourth. Welington Dotel coaxed a two-out walk in front of back-to-back doubles by Dariel Gomez and Blake Berry.
High Point extended the lead to 5-2 when Gilberto Jimenez led off the top of the seventh with a solo homer, his first as a Rocker.
Bedrosian went five innings, yielding four hits and two runs while striking out six. Garrett Schilling, Will Carter and Zach Vennaro each threw a shutout inning in relief.
Hagerstown starter Anthony Rodriguez (L, 0-3) allowed eight hits, three walks and four runs in his 4.2 innings of work.
Mehlbauer added his second homer of the game in the eighth to extend High Point’s lead to 7-2, driving in Brian Parreira who had drawn a two-out talk. High Point added a run in the ninth when Aklinski walked, stole second, went to third when a pick-off throw from the catcher rolled into center, and scored on a check-swing single by Edwards that rolled slowly up the third baseline and never crossed the foul line.
Nate Espelin, a lefty who signed with the Rockers earlier this week, retired Hagerstown in order in the ninth to highlight his first professional outing.
Edwards finished with three hits and a pair of RBI while Mehlbauer had three runs driven in on his two homers. Owings added two hits and two RBI.
The Rockers will enjoy an off-day on Monday and then begin a three-game series at York on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
NOTES: The Rockers have now won seven straight games, their second-longest of the year… The longest was an eight-game streak from June 8-16… In a statistical oddity, the Rockers had 11 base hits in 36 at-bats in each of the three games at Hagerstown… The Rockers had 15 extra base hits in the series including seven doubles and eight home runs.
York 4, Staten Island 1
(July 14, 2024 – Staten Island, NY): Zach Neff spun a gem on Sunday afternoon as the York Revolution completed a sweep of the Staten Island FerryHawks, winning 4-1 at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park. The win is the fifth consecutive victory for the Revs (48-23) who notch their sixth series sweep of the year.
York grabbed a first inning lead, and with Neff in charge, never looked back.
After a 34-minute rain delay at the outset, Matt McDermott was hit by a pitch to get things started and Rudy Martin Jr dropped down a sacrifice bunt that resulted in a throwing error by Hawks pitcher Mike Shawaryn, landing runners at the corners with no outs. A wild pitch brought home McDermott with the game’s first run and advanced Martin Jr to second. A fly out sent Martin Jr to third base from where he scored on Zander Wiel’s sac fly to left for a 2-0 lead.
The biggest threat against Neff came right out of the gates as Staten Island’s first four batters reached safely, but the lefty yielded just one run, keeping the Revs in front 2-1. A pickoff of leadoff hitter Nate Scantlin helped the cause, and Ben Norman’s sac fly provided the only FerryHawks run of the day while it also kicked off a stretch of 17 batters faced over which Neff faced the minimum, a streak that he carried through the end of the sixth.
York added to the lead in the third as Martin Jr ripped a one-out single, stole second, and scored as Colton Welker drove an RBI double to left to make it 3-1.
Shawaryn enjoyed his own stretch of relative cruise control from there, setting down 13 of 14 batters until the Revs mounted a two-out rally in the seventh.
With the righty north of 100 pitches on his day, McDermott kept the seventh alive with a two-out single to left and raced all the way home from first as Martin Jr (3-for-4) drilled an RBI double down the right field line to make it 4-1.
Neff (5-4) handled a career-high 6.1 innings and was lifted after a pair of singles in the seventh, his first two hits allowed since the first two batters he faced on the day.
Tom Sutera came in and cleaned things up, retiring Kolby Johnson on a fly out before striking out Roldani Baldwin to end the threat.
Will Stewart celebrated his 27th birthday with a scoreless eighth, erasing a leadoff hit by pitch with a double play grounder off the bat of Scantlin.
Brett Schulze logged his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning as the Revs finished their second straight combined four-hitter, winning 4-1 one day after a 2-1 triumph.
The Revs improve to 25-11 on the road with their second road sweep of the year. It is their first series sweep at Staten Island in franchise history.
Notes: Neff surpassed his previous career-high of six innings set twice, most recently in a scoreless performance at Staten Island on June 15. Revs starters have gone at least six innings in four consecutive games for the first time this season. The York bullpen has registered a save in three consecutive games for the first time this year. McDermott went 2-for-4, taking the league lead with 97 hits and extending his hitting streak to 13 consecutive starts. Martin Jr stole two bases, increasing his league leading total to 48 for the season and moving ahead of teammate Trey Martin’s total from last year for third most in a season in franchise history, just seven shy of the club’s single-season record shared by Wilson Valdez (2014) and Darian Sandford (2021). His 48 steals are already ninth-most on the franchise’s career-list, moving ahead of Keoni DeRenne (47). Welker has totaled 36 RBI and 20 extra-base hits including 12 doubles over his last 24 games. The five-game winning streak is the Revs’ fourth streak of at least five consecutive victories this year and caps a 5-1 road trip. York returns home Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to kick off a six-game homestand with the first of three against the High Point Rockers. RHP Michael Horrell faces RHP Neil Ramirez in the opener on a WellSpan Sports Medicine Silver Sluggers Tuesday and AARP Member Appreciation Night. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
Gastonia 9, Lexington 5
Charleston 8, Southern Maryland 5