Lancaster 9, Staten Island 7
The Staten Island FerryHawks dropped their final game of the 2024 season to the Lancaster Stormers 9-7 Sunday afternoon.
The FerryHawks, who finished the season (55-69), with a second half record of (25-36), handed the ball off to Toronto native Taylor Lepard for the final game of the 2024 campaign. Leopard surrendered 6 runs, but only three earned, on 9 hits and two walks in his 5-inning outing. This was the righty’s 13th start with Staten Island and 25th total (Hagerstown) on the year.
Staten Island struck early on the offensive side of things, plating two runs in the first inning and three runs in the second. Calvin Estrada’s single in the opening frame brought Ben Norman and Alejandro De Aza home, which marked Estrada’s 13th and 14th RBI with the FerryHawks this year. In the second inning, hometown catcher David Melfi singled to score Clayton Mehlbauer. Nate Scantlin followed up the base knock with his 23rd double of 2024, which allowed Melfi and Kolby Johnson to score and advanced the FerryHawk lead to 5-0.
In the fifth inning, David Melfi continued his productive afternoon with a sacrifice fly to give the Hawks a 6-4 advantage. An RBI single from Johnson brought home Jackson Loftin, but that 7th run would be the last to score for the FerryHawks this season.
Johnson’s 3-5 efforts at the plate led the team in hits for the day, as every other Staten Island starter logged one hit in the afternoon game for a total of 11 hits in the season finale. Nate Scantlin, Calvin Estrada, and David Melfi each were responsible for 2 RBI in the finale, while Johnson had one.
Out of the bullpen, member of the 2023 and 2024 Staten Island FerryHawks, Christian Allegretti, pitched 1.2 innings. Allegretti did endure the loss in the game, giving up three runs on three hits. Righty John LaRossa tossed the remaining 1.1 and struck out a pair of Stormers.
York 5, Hagerstown 1
(September 15, 2024 – Hagerstown, Md.): The York Revolution capped a record setting regular season with their 80th victory in a 5-1 triumph over the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars on Sunday afternoon at Meritus Park. Matt McDermott and Zander Wiel each put their own stamps on Atlantic League history in Sunday’s win. York finishes the season a franchise best 80-45 as the Revs head into the playoffs having won five in-a-row and seven of their last eight overall.
York built a lead right away in Sunday’s finale, scoring three times in the top of the first. Chase Dawson was hit by the first pitch of the game and McDermott (eight-game hitting streak) singled to left. Rudy Martin Jr walked to load the bases with no outs, setting up Wiel who cracked a two-run double to right center, becoming the fourth in the league to 30 doubles on the season while also reaching 90 RBI, just the start of a major milestone day for Wiel. David Washington followed with a deep sac fly to center for his 96th RBI, tying Donovan Casey for third most in the league this season and fifth most in a season in Revs history.
That was all of the run support needed by York lefty Zach Neff (8-7) who tossed a scintillating five innings to earn the win. Neff bounced back from absorbing a first inning line drive comebacker off his pitching hand to allow just two singles in the second and nothing the rest of the way, retiring his final 11 batters. He walked none, struck out three, and needed just 55 pitches (42 strikes).
Hagerstown threatened in the sixth as the first four batters reached against reliever DJ Johnson with Cito Culver’s single up the middle driving in a run. With the lead cut to 3-1 and the bases loaded and no outs, Tom Sutera entered to record a line drive double play off the bat of Nellie Rodriguez and another line out to right field to escape any further damage. Sutera remained in for the seventh and started another line drive double play himself on a comebacker to end that frame.
York added an insurance run in the seventh with three walks from reliever Domingo Jimenez setting up Dawson to score on a passed ball for a 4-1 lead.
Wiel crushed a solo homer to left in the top of the ninth for another huge milestone, his 30th home run of the season, providing the final margin and another piece of Atlantic League history as he joins Courtney Hawkins as the second player in league history with multiple 30-homer seasons.
Frankie Bartow worked past a leadoff double for a scoreless bottom of the eighth, his sixth consecutive scoreless appearance, and Denny Bentley struck out two in a perfect ninth to close it out.
Notes: McDermott’s first inning run moved him past Ben Aklinski (High Point, 2023) for sole possession of third in Atlantic League history with 115 runs scored; it marked the league’s highest total since 2010 when York’s Scott Grimes set a league record with 138 runs. Martin Jr tallied his 108th run scored in the first inning, taking over sole possession of third on the Revs’ all-time single season list and moving into a tie for ninth in league history. Wiel drove in eight runs in the three-game sweep. He belted 17 of his 30 home runs after joining the Revs, and has now hit 32, 29, and 30 home runs in his three Atlantic League seasons. Jacob Rhinesmith finishes the season 32-for-32 in stolen base attempts after swiping second in the top of the eighth, setting a franchise record for top steal percentage in a season. The Revs finish the season with a league best .287 team batting average and 859 runs (second most in league history). Their 6.87 runs per game finishes as the third highest mark in league history. York also set a league offensive record with 335 stolen bases, topping the previous all-time record by 30. York’s .857 team OPS finishes third all-time. The Revs’ .640 winning percentage is tied for ninth best in league history. They finish 41-21 on the road. York goes 18-6 against Hagerstown setting a franchise record for wins against one opponent. The sweep is the 10th of the season for the Revs, fifth on the road, and fifth against Hagerstown (third at Meritus Park). The 10 sweeps are one shy of a club record 11 set in 2011, and the five road sweeps tie a club record set in 2019. York returns to the postseason for the first time since 2019 with Game 1 of the North Division Series on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. at Lancaster, as Chris Vallimont (6-2, 2.13) faces Noah Bremer (10-7, 4.06) in the opener. 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 6:25 p.m.
High Point 9, Long Island 2
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – The High Point Rockers ended the season on Sunday by completing a rare six-game sweep of the Long Island Ducks, adding a 9-2 win at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.
The Rockers finished the second half of the season with a 38-25 record, tying the Charleston Dirty Birds for first place. However, the first tiebreaker in the Atlantic League is head-to-head competition in the second half of the season and Charleston won eight of the 13 second half games from the Rockers.
The Rockers ended the season with the third-best overall record in the league at 74-52, trailing only York (80-45) and Gastonia (83-43).
Sunday’s victory was the sixth straight for the Rockers, all at Long Island.
Evan Edwards hit his fifth home run of the series, taking Long Island starter Chris Ellis deep after Ryan Grotjohn had doubled to give the Rockers a 2-0 lead.
The Ducks tied the game with single runs in the second and third. Yoelquis Cespedes doubled off High Point starter Jeremy Rhoades (W, 5-3) in the second and came around to score on a sac fly by Alexis Pantoja. In the third, Leobaldo Cabrera singled home Nick Heath to knot the game at 2-2.
The Rockers tied the game in the sixth when Edwards hit an infield pop-up that first baseman Kendon Strachan was unable to catch. An errant pickoff throw to first allowed Edwards to move to second and he scored when Connor Owings lined a single just out of the reach of shortstop Alexis Pantoja.
High Point added multiple insurance runs in the eighth, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring six runs to increase its lead to 9-2. After Martin Figueroa singled to left, he moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored from second on another wild pitch by Ducks reliever Daniel Corcino. Following a walk to Ben Aklinski, he stole second and then scored on a double by Owings. Corcino, who previously walked Edwards, then hit Quincy Nieporte with a pitch to load the bases. A walk to Brian Parreira drove home another run before the Ducks went to the bullpen for Rolando Casihis. Michael Martinez lined a two-run single and Figueroa lined to left to plate Parreira.
Rhoades went five innings and allowed just four hits while walking four and striking out three. Austin Warner threw two scoreless innings and Jacob Edwards pitched around a leadoff single to throw another shutout inning in the eighth then retired the first two Ducks in the ninth before exiting. Kyle Halbohn came on for the Rockers to retire Kevin Higgins on a grounder to short for the final out of the game.
NOTES: High Point’s 74 overall wins are tied for the second-most in club history. The 2023 team won 78 games… The Rockers have now won or tied for the South Division title in three of the last four half-seasons… OF Ben Aklinski led all ALPB players with 125 games played… SS Ryan Grotjohn tied for the league lead with seven triples… Connor Owings led all ALPB players with 12 sacrifice flies on the season with 12… Jonah Scolaro led all ALPB pitchers with two complete games… Charleston and Gastonia will play for the ALPB South Division Championship starting on Tuesday while York and Lancaster will battle for the North title. The two winners will meet in the League Championship Series that is slated to start September 24.
Lexington 5, Southern Maryland 3
Gastonia 10, Charleston 2