High Point 9, Southern Maryland 1
WALDORF, Md. – High Point right-hander Ryan Weiss tied the club record for strikeouts in a game and the Rockers bats erupted for seven runs in the third inning as High Point defeated Southern Maryland 8-1 on Wednesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.
Weiss (W, 1-1) struck out 12 Blue Crab hitters, tying a mark set by Edwin Carl and Michael Bowden during the Rockers’ inaugural season in 2019. Weiss fanned two batters in each of the first three innings, struck out the side in the fourth and added two more strikeouts in the fifth. He whiffed Michael Wielansky leading off the sixth for his record-tying 12th strikeout.
The Rockers held a 1-0 lead heading into the third inning. Colin Moran blasted a double off the wall in centerfield to lead-off the top of the second. He scored on a broken bat single to left by Jake Washer to give the Rockers a 1-0 lead.
In the third, High Point tallied seven times to take an 8-0 lead. Martin Figueroa drew a lead-off walk, stole second, and scored on a single to right by Connor Owings. Nick Longhi followed with a single before Southern Maryland starter Shawn Semple (L, 0-2) walked Moran to load the bases. Zander Wiel singled to plate two more runs, the second being the 200th of Wiel’s High Point career. Jake Washer then doubled to score Moran and Wiel and give the Rockers a 6-0 lead. The lead grew to 8-0 when Clayton Mehlbauer homered to score Washer ahead of him and finish off a seven-run outburst.
Weiss finished with 5.1 innings of work, allowing just two hits and one run while walking four. The lone run Weiss allowed was unearned.
The Rockers added a run in the ninth when Owings walked, moved to second on a single by newly acquired Cayman Richardson and scored on an infield ground out by Washer.
High Point’s pitching staff combined to allow just three hits while striking out a season-high 17. Ben Aklinski, Moran, Weil and Washer all had two hits for the Rockers. Wiel and Mehlbauer each drove in two runs while Washer drove home three.
Game three of the series is scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start on Thursday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.
NOTES: Wiel is High Point’s all-time leader in RBI, having driven in the 199th and 200th of his career tonight… The Rockers signed former University of Virginia utility player Cayman Richardson on Tuesday. He made his first appearance as a Rocker on Wednesday and collected a base-hit… The 17 strikeouts by the Rockers staff ties for the second-most in a game. High Point fanned 17 Blue Crabs in a 2019 game and set the record of 18 strikeouts in a game vs. York, also in 2019.
Staten Island 13-4, Long Island 3-3
The Staten Island FerryHawks and Long Island Ducks continued their “Battle of The Belt” series today on Staten Island as they squared off in a single-admission doubleheader!
The FerryHawks dominated with a 13-3 victory in game 1, powered by home runs from Joe Dunand (2-run), Ben Norman (Solo), and Jeison Guzman (Grand slam). Pablo Sandoval and Robert Brooks each went 3-4, combining for 7 RBIs. Starter Christian Capuano (2-0) pitched 5 innings, allowing 3 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), and striking out 6, to seal the win and continue his strong early-season performance.
In the second contest, pitching became the name of the game as the two teams traded early blows before putting zeroes up on the board. The Ducks plated 1 in the first, but were quickly neutralized by the Hawks as they put up a 3-spot of their own to take a 3-1 lead. In the 2nd, Long Island scratched across 2 more to tie the game at 3. The contest would remain this way until the bottom of the 7th when Pablo Sandoval roped a hit to bring in the winning run and walk it off in this 7-inning contest. The moment served as a reminder that Pablo was, and still is, one of the best hitters when the lights are the brightest – he holds a .426 average with 20 hits, 3 homers, 8 RBIs and 9 runs scored in 12 games in the World Series in his career.
The FerryHawks move to 7-5 on the season as they remain undefeated against the Ducks. The two teams will square off again tomorrow to close out the serries before the FerryHawks welcome the Lancaster Stormers to town for the weekend!
Gastonia 5, Hagerstown 2
Malik Binns made his first start on the mound today for the Flying Boxcars, going 4 innings. McKinney started for the opposition, notching 5 strikeouts through 6 innings of work.
Gastonia took the lead early, with infielder Justin Wiley bringing home the first of his 3 runs batted in. Josh Stowers kept the ball rolling for Gastonia in the second, scoring Jack Reinheimer with a base hit single.
De La Rosa and Curtis Terry exchanged runs in the fourth, with De La Rosa bringing home a runner with a single and Terry scoring Christian Sepulveda with a sac fly, bringing the score to 4-1 in favor of the visitors.
In the ninth, Justin Wylie and Curtis Terry notched homers to finalize the game at 5-2, Gastonia.
Christian Sepulveda notched two hits on the night, and has been an instant impact offensively since the Boxcars acquired him through trade with York, yesterday.
Hagerstown and Gastonia will meet for the final game of the series, tomorrow night at 6:30 pm, at Meritus Park, closing out the sides inaugural six game home stand.
York 8, Lancaster 7 (10 innings)
(May 8, 2024 – Lancaster, Pa.): The York Revolution went to extra innings for the first time in 2024 and walked the tightrope throughout the night, but ultimately came out with an 8-7 win over the Lancaster Stormers on Wednesday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium. Jacob Rhinesmith’s single in the top of the tenth proved to be the decisive blow. The Revs have now won each of their first three road series of the season.
For the second night in a row, York got the scoring started in the first inning as Matt McDermott led off the game with a single, stole second, and eventually scored on Donovan Casey’s RBI groundout.
Revs starter Will Stewart issued three walks in the first inning, and with the bases loaded and one out, Chris Proctor singled up the middle to score a pair and put the Stormers up 2-1 for their first lead of the series.
Nick Lucky led off the bottom of the second with a single and scored two batters later on a Shawon Dunston Jr groundout to extend the Stormer lead to 3-1.
Rhinesmith sliced an RBI double to left field in the fourth inning to score Trey Martin and cut the deficit in half at 3-2.
Stewart pitched into the fifth but exited after issuing a two-out walk to Proctor. Michael Horrell replaced him, and after issuing a walk of his own, ended the inning with a groundout to second base.
Horrell came back out in the sixth and issued a leadoff walk to Lucky who moved around to third base on a sac bunt and groundout. Isan Diaz provided insurance with a base hit to center field off reliever Denny Bentley as Lancaster’s lead reached 4-2.
For the second straight night, the Revs made their move in the top of the seventh inning. After Jamari Baylor and Rudy Martin Jr led off the inning with walks, McDermott took advantage of the short porch in right field, sending out his third Revs homer, a go-ahead three-run shot to propel York ahead 5-4.
Baylor added insurance in the eighth with his second homer in as many nights, this time a two-run blast to right field, extending the lead to 7-4.
Lancaster did not make things easy in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with nobody out against Mac Lardner. The Stormers got a run back on a sacrifice fly by Christian Santana before York turned to Frankie Bartow for a five-out save attempt.
Bartow issued a walk to Gaige Howard to load the bases and another Stormer run scored on a fielder’s choice. Bartow got Joseph Carpenter to fly out to right field, stranding a pair of runners and keeping York ahead 7-6.
York was unable to score in the top of the ninth after Carter Raffield erased a leadoff walk with a double play.
The Stormers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Bartow, who proceeded to strike out Diaz for the second out. However, a wild pitch scored Kyle Hess to tie the game and send it to extras.
David Washington was the zombie runner at second base and stole third with one out in the tenth. Rhinesmith drove him in with a laser of an RBI single to right to put York back up 8-7.
Adam Stauffer entered to pitch in the bottom of the tenth inning and immediately found himself in trouble after a wild pitch moved the tying run to third base. Stauffer locked in, however, and retired the next three on a groundout, strikeout, and lineout to earn his fourth career save as Lancaster stranded its 15th runner of the night.
York will look for their first sweep of the season on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. They will send lefty Ethan Lindow to the mound to oppose Lancaster’s Brady Tedesco. 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.
Notes: The 6-2 road start is the best in franchise history. Their 8-4 start is tied for the best opening 12 game stretch in franchise history, alongside 2011. York has won five of its last six overall.
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