Lancaster 14, York 3 (York leads 2 games to 1)
After being held largely in check for two games, the Lancaster bats busted out on Friday.
Joe Stewart and Gaige Howard belted three-run homers in the sixth, and Niko Hulsizer put a cap on the night with a ninth inning grand slam as the Stormers drubbed the York Revolution, 14-3, in the third game of the best-of-five North Division Series.
York still holds a 2-1 heading into Saturday.
Lancaster led, 2-1, entering the bottom of the sixth. Jon Olsen (0-1) walked Mason Martin and was chased by Hulsizer’s drive off the top of the tall wall in left. Lefty Denny Bentley was summoned, but his first pitch was sent to the playground by Stewart as Lancaster’s lead grew to 5-1. Chris Proctor tripled to deep right and scored on a single to right center by Kyle Kasser. Bentley was replaced by Oliver Garcia, who got the first out off from Jack Conley on a roller up the third base line. Damon Dues singled Kasser to third, and both scored when Howard rode a ball over the wall in left center.
The game was marred by a brawl in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Alerick Soularie was hit by a pitch from Oscar De La Cruz. After De La Cruz struck out Jacob Rhinesmith for the second out and the right-hander’s eighth K of the night, Alejandro Rivero hammered a triple to right center. After Soularie scored, he angered De La Cruz, and the Lancaster starter became involved in a fistfight to the foul side of home plate.
When everything settled, De La Cruz and Soularie were both tossed as were Conley on the Lancaster side and Garcia on the York side. Christian Scafidi took over on the hill and struck out an injured Roldani Baldwin on three pitches to end the inning. Scafidi, Jackson Rees and Kyle Johnson took the game the rest of the way for Lancaster.
The teams exchanged runs in the seventh, before Hulsizer hit his slam to right center off D.J. Johnson in the ninth.
Lancaster will send lefty Max Green (12-5) to the mound on Saturday against right-hander Michael Horrell (6-8). Fans may tune into FloBaseball at 6:25.
NOTES: Hulsizer also hit a grand slam during the regular season…He has homered in three of his last four games at WellSpan Park…Lancaster had scored 15 runs in Game Four at Southern Maryland in 2022…De La Cruz picked up his third post-season win for the Stormers, the first ever to do so.
Charleston 3, Gastonia 2 (Charleston leads 2 games to 1)