York Revolution 9, Lancaster Stormers 2
York slugged five homers on Tuesday evening, four of them to open innings, and went on to defeat the Lancaster Stormers, 9-2, in the opener of a six-game, home-and-home series.
Lancaster was able to maintain a three-game divisional lead over Long Island, which lost, 5-2, at Gastonia. Meanwhile, York has taken a 9-7 lead in the 2025 War of the Roses.
Brandon Lewis tied the game at 1-1 with a leadoff homer to right in the third inning. Ryan Higgins yanked a long ball to left to open the fourth off Luke McCollough, giving the Revolution a lead the squad never lost.
Caleb McNeely tacked on a leadoff homer to right off McCollough in the fifth inning for a 4-2 edge. William Simoneit followed a dropped pop fly with a two-run homer in the eighth, and Jeremy Arocho found right center with a leadoff homer in the ninth. Both came off lefty reliever Keylan Killgore.
Between the home runs, York picked up an RBI single from Shayne Fontana in the sixth and Higgins in the seventh. York scored in each of the last seven innings.
Mason Martin drove in both Lancaster runs on RBI singles in the first and third innings.
Jimmy Burnette, the third of six York pitchers, was awarded the win.
Right-hander Brock Bell will make his Atlantic League debut on Wednesday against York right-hander Kevin Miranda (3-2). Fans may tune into the game on FloBaseball at 6:40.
NOTES: Joe Campagna lost his 10-game hitting streak…He was 0-for-2 with a walk and reached base on catcher’s interference for the second straight game…Danny Amaral double in the fourth inning, giving him three extra base hits in three games since coming off the injured list…The five homers tied the most allowed by the Stormers in a game this season.
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 4, High Point Rockers 3
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs hit a pair of two-run homers and that was all they needed in posting a 4-3 win over the High Point Rockers Tuesday night at Truist Point.
The homers, from Sam Dexter in the second and Brett Barrera in the sixth, spoiled an otherwise outstanding pitching performance from Rockers starter Ben Wereski (L, 2-4). The first-year lefty went six innings, allowed five hits, walked two and struck out eight.
Dexter’s homer in the third was preceded by a walk to Giovanni Digiacomo while Barrera’s blast came after a double by Dondrei Hubbard.
The Rockers are 67-45 on the season and 26-23 in the second half, trailing Gastonia (29-20) by three games.
The Rockers tallied a run in the fourth to close the margin to 2-1 when Alex Dickerson doubled home Drew Mendoza who had drawn a walk from Blue Crabs starter Kyle Virbitsky (W, 1-0).
Down 4-1 in the seventh, the Rockers scored a pair of runs. After Virbitsky allowed a single by Ben Aklinski and walked Dickerson, Jordan Carr came on in relief. Carr walked Evan Edwards to load the bases. Max Viera’s grounder to third was misplayed, allowing Aklinski to score. Braxton Davidson hit into a triple play. His grounder to second was shuttled to the shortstop for the first out, the relay to first retired Davidson for the second out and Edwards, coming from second base, rounded third too wide and was cut down on a throw from first baseman Jamari Baylor to Barrera at third.
High Point had a shot to tie the game in the ninth when Viera doubled into the left field corner. But Davidson’s line drive single to right was played perfectly by right fielder Pearce Howard who threw home. Baylor cut the ball and threw to the plate in time to beat Viera’s head-first slide.
Endrys Briceno (S, 4) pitched the final inning and two-thirds, striking out two while allowing two hits.
High Point finished the night with eight hits to SMD’s seven.
Game two of the series is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The Rockers will send RHP Jake Gilbert (1-1, 4.11) to the mound to face Southern Maryland’s Jason Blanchard (0-0, 0.52). Rocker fans can catch all the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app.
NOTES: The Rockers released three players prior to the game, all left-handed pitchers in Alex Barker, Win Scott and Sam Clay . . . High Point acquired OF Bryson Parks in a trade from the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League . . . Parks played his college baseball at Western Carolina University . . . The Rockers also signed RHP Andre Scrubb, a former High Point University pitcher who spent time in the Major Leagues with the Houston Astros.
Gastonia Ghost Peppers 5, Long Island Ducks 2
GASTONIA, N.C. – Justin Wylie had a .481 on-base percentage in the month of August. He walked 26 times, seven more times than he struck out.
And the second baseman carried his trained eye into September, reaching base all four times in the Ghost Peppers’ 5-2 win over Long Island on Tuesday night.
Wylie singled in his first at-bat, blopping one into shallow center out of the diving reach of Chris Roller. He then scored on Cole Roederer’s two-run homer to left field, which was the lefty’s 18th home run of the season to put Gastonia up 2-0 in the first.
The Chandler, Arizona, native walked in the third inning. Wylie entered the night leading the Atlantic League with 75 free passes accumulated, and the third-inning walk was one of two for him on Tuesday.
Wylie scored after his second walk, coming home on a Carter Aldrete two-run double that gave the Peppers a 5-0 advantage in the fifth. Aldrete drove in a league-high 36 runs in August, and has now recorded 46 RBIs in 36 games with the team.
Wylie’s final plate appearance was in the seventh inning, and he tripled off the center-field wall. It was the second three-bagger of the day for Gastonia, as Narciso Crook drove in Aldrete with a triple in the fourth inning.
Matt Hartman got the start for the Peppers, and the reigning ALPB Pitcher of the Month spun five shutout innings. Hartman allowed just one Long Island hit over the five frames. The righty handed off the 5-0 lead to Donovan Benoit, who struck out a pair in two scoreless innings.
The Ducks managed to get the tying run on deck in the ninth, but Nick Horvath punched out his third batter to shut the door on Long Island and close out the win for Gastonia.
The Peppers improved to 29-20 in the second half, with their magic number to clinch a playoff spot falling to 11. The second game of the series between Gastonia and Long Island is on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.
Charleston Dirty Birds 11, Lexington Legends 10