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Southern Maryland 2, Charleston 1

(Waldorf, MD, May 15, 2022) In another low-scoring game, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs’ pitching staff outdueled Charleston Dirty Birds in a 2-1 victory.  Denson Hull threw seven terrific innings of work, allowing just one run for the Blue Crabs.  Hull did better as the game went along, as he retired the final seven batters of his outing.   

The Charleston Dirty Birds struck first in the top of the second inning.  After Denson Hull recorded the first out, Yovan Gonzalez belted a solo home run over the railing on the Mini Monster in left field, giving the Dirty Birds a 1-0.  

Southern Maryland responded in the bottom of the fourth inning.  David Harris led off the inning with a double down the left-field line.  Harris advanced to third on a fly ball to right field from Alex Crosby.  The next batter, Braxton Lee, hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Harris and tying the game.   

From there, both teams were held off the board until the eighth inning. Nick Wells (W, 3-1) entered the game in the top of the eighth in relief of Denson Hull and worked around a couple of hits for a scoreless inning 

In the bottom of the eighth, Zach Collier walked with one out.  The next batter, Alex Crosby, ripped a single into right field, advancing Collier to third base.  The Dirty Birds’ pitcher, Walker Weickel (L, 0-1), threw a wild pitch, scoring Zach Collier from third, to give Southern Maryland a 2-1 lead. 

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs turned to Endrys Briceno (SV, 1) in the ninth inning. Briceno conceded a bloop single into right field to lead off the inning, before setting in.  Briceno proceeded to strike out Angel Garced, Miles Williams, and Tyler Blaum to save a 2-1 win for the Blue Crabs. 

With the Blue Crabs' win, they move to 18-3 on the season, and now lead the North Division by 9.5 games.  Southern Maryland travels to Gastonia on Tuesday to take on the Honey Hunters as part of a three-game set.  The Blue Crabs return to Regency Furniture Stadium on Friday for the first game of a three-game series with the Long Island Ducks.  

Lancaster 7, York 6

May 15, 2022 – Lancaster, Pa.):  It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday at Clipper Magazine Stadium as the York Revolution looked for a sweep of the Lancaster Barnstormers, although you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. In a game that saw a bench clearing confrontation, five hit by pitches, and four ejections, the Barnstormers were able to avoid the sweep with a 7-6 win.

Troy Stokes Jr. got the scoring going early with a solo home run to left three pitches into the game. He later doubled the lead in the third inning with his second on the day, and third on the season with a solo shot to right-center. Elmer Reyes was hit on the first pitch the following at-bat, and that would be important context for the next half inning. 

Jake Hoover led off the bottom of the third and saw the second pitch sail over his head from Nick Travieso whose teammates had been hit for the eighth time in six games in Lancaster this season. Warnings were issued on both sides, but that would not be the end of the theatrics for the afternoon.

The biggest bang of the inning was a bases-clearing three-run double to right-center with two outs from Anderson Feliz, making it a four-run inning as Lancaster took a 4-2 lead.

The Revs got a run back in the top of the fifth as Melky Mesa walked with the bases loaded, cutting the deficit to 4-3. 

Kelly Dugan answered back with his fifth home run in as many games against the Revs to once again make it a two-run Lancaster lead at 5-3 after five innings. 

Travieso (1-2) finished the day after five innings, charged with five runs on four hits while striking out four. 

For the next act in a series of chip away efforts by the Revs, JC Encarnacion tripled to deep center field in the top of the sixth and came across to score on a two-out bloop RBI single to left from Jack Kenley, drawing within 5-4. 

Lancaster answered with two runs in the bottom half thanks to a Devon Torrence RBI single and a LeDarious Clark run-scoring groundout making it a 7-4 game. 

The top of the seventh is where things got messy. On a 3-1 pitch, Stokes Jr was drilled in the back by Lancaster reliever Tyler Suellentrop and benches emptied. The scrum and ensuing discussions resulted in a 20-minute delay and four ejections including Suellentrop and Lancaster manager Ross Peeples.  First base coach Sandy DeLeon was ejected from York’s side, while catcher Colton Shaver was sent packing from the Barnstormers bench. 

Hoping to use the skirmish to boost their momentum, the Revs got two more back on an RBI base hit to right-center from Mesa and a ground-rule double to deep left-center from Carlos Franco to cut it to a one-run game. 

That would be all for York, however, as Josh Graham set down the last six he faced, including striking out the side in the ninth for his first save, giving Lancaster the 7-6 win. 

The fun will continue in York at PeoplesBank Park this week, beginning a three game set on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. with Alex Sanabia getting the ball against Lancaster’s Brent Teller. It is Betty White Tribute Night, a WellSpan Sports Medicine Silver Slugger Tuesday, and Baseball Bingo presented by Edgar Snyder and Associates.  Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office. 

Notes: The Revs have now been hit nine times by Lancaster pitchers in six games this season.  Mesa’s seventh-inning single extended his hitting streak to 10 games.  Stokes Jr. notched the Revs’ second multi-homer game of the year (Carlos Franco, May 5 vs Gastonia) and the third multi-homer game of his career (2015 with Helena, 2018 with Biloxi).

High Point 4, Long Island 2

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – High Point starting pitcher Andrew Church held Long Island to just three hits through seven innings and Tyler Ladendorf hit a pair of home runs as the Rockers beat the Ducks 4-2 at Fairfield Properties Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.

The win gave the Rockers a 2-1 series win over the Ducks in their home park.

Ladendorf hit his second homer of the season with one out in the top of the first to give the Rockers a 1-0 lead. High Point would extend that to a 3-0 lead in the second when Jerry Downs singled and Ben Aklinski doubled to put runners on second and third. Michael Russell singled up the middle to drive home both runs and leave the Rockers with a 3-0 advantage.

Church (3-0) retired the Ducks in order through the first two innings and allowed a lead-off walk in the third but retired the next three hitters. Long Island managed its first hit with one out in the fifth when Jake Zarrello singled to center but Church immediately induced a double play grounder from Michael Wielansky to erase the threat.

High Point made it a 4-0 game in the eighth when Ladendorf hit his second homer of the game.

Church exited after the seventh, having allowed just three hits and a pair of walks while striking out four and not allowing a run.

The Ducks mounted a rally in the eighth against reliever Jonathon Crawford. Long Island strung together four singles to plate a pair of runs but the rally ended when Deibinson Romero tried to score from second on a single to right and was out at the plate on a strong throw from Aklinski.

Chasen Bradford closed out the game in the ninth by issuing a lead-off walk that was immediately erased on a double play before inducing a game-ending fly ball to right. It was Bradford’s fourth save of the season.

Downs, Aklinski and Ladendorf each finished with a pair of hits. Aklinski slammed a double and a triple to go with Ladendorf’s two round-trippers.

The Rockers will have Monday off and then open a six-game homestand on Tuesday night when they host the Lexington Legends at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point.

Staten Island 2, Gastonia 1
Gastonia 1, Staten Island 0

The Gastonia Honey Hunters split a doubleheader with Staten Island on Sunday afternoon, losing the opener in walk-off fashion by a 2-1 score. The club rebounded with a sterling pitching effort from Deck McGuire to secure the split in game two by a 1-0 final.

Game One- Jordan Simpson redeemed a lackluster effort from last Sunday to pitch his best game of the season in the opener. The right-hander pitched 6+ frames, allowing two hits and one run.

Simpson got an early jump start in the first, as Angel Aguilar launched his third homer of the season to give Staten Island a 1-0 advantage. The home run was the only blemish on the day by Honey Hunters starter Reilly Hovis, as the Gastonia native would pitched 5.2 innings, striking out four batters.

Simpson took the 1-0 lead into the seventh, where he gave up a lead off single to Joseph Rosa. After a Zach Jarrett line out to left field against Ferry Hawks reliever Victor Capellan, Rosa would claim third on a wild pitch that eluded catcher Norberto Sussini. Luis Roman would make the gaffe sting, as he roped a single through the drawn-in infield to tie the game at 1-1.

Quintin Torres-Costa, who entered the game in the sixth, surrendered an infield single to Rymer Liriano to lead off the bottom half of the seventh. With Joseph Monge in as a pinch runner, he would get to second on a controversial hit-by-pitch to Ricardo Cespedes.

Cespedes squared to bunt, but was hit by the Torres-Costa offering in the left hand. Cespedes, a left-handed batter, was awarded first, as the umpires determined he was recoiling from the pitch and not attempting to lay down the sacrifice.

After a Mariel Bautista punch out, Brandon Wagner walked to bring up Sussini with the bags packed.

With Gastonia pinching the infield to cut down the runner from third, Sussini hit a soft roller to Jack Reinheimer, who opted to go to second. With the drawn-in infield, no one was able to occupy the bag, allowing Monge to score the game winner.

Capellan would take the win to go to 1-0. Torres-Costa would be the tough-luck loser to fall to 0-1.

Game 2- With Gastonia suffering through its first losing skid of the year, the pain was magnified, as Julio Teheran would be the game two starter. Teheran was splendid last week and would  prove equally tough this time around.

The good news for Gastonia was Deck McGuire, who has been making his case for the Atlantic League´s best pitcher in 2022.

The hype was huge and so were the results.

Teheran was locked in again, setting down the first nine batters faced through three perfect innings.

Likewise, McGuire was lights out, allowing one hit and one walk through three, while striking out three straight in the third to avoid trouble after a leadoff double to Brandon Wagner.

Gastonia would finally break through with a run in the fourth, as Jack Reinheimer tucked his sixth homer of the season just inside the left field foul pole to give Gastonia a 1-0 lead.

McGuire would take care of the rest, going six scoreless, allowing the one hit while striking out seven and suffocating the Ferry Hawks offense.

Ronald Pena closed out the seventh inning for Gastonia, earning his sixth save on the campaign.

Gastonia finishes the road trip tomorrow morning with a 10am first pitch, as Randall Delgado makes his Gastonia debut against the Ferry Hawks. Airtime on WGNC am1450 and 101.1fm is set for 9:45am, with the game being streamed on www.gohoneyhunters.com.

Lexington 10, Kentucky 1

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Lexington Legends took a 2-1 lead into the fifth inning of Sunday’s game with Kentucky then put up eight runs over the next three innings to post a 10-1 win over the Wild Health Genomes.

Elih Villanueva (2-2) took the loss while Daniel Corcino (2-3) earned the win by scattering five hits over six innings. Three Legends relievers limited Kentucky to just one hit over the final three innings.

The Legends put up three runs in the fifth coming on RBI singles by Phillip Ervin and Manuel Geraldo while Pete Yorgen knocked in a run on a ground out. In the sixth, Ryan Jackson drilled a two-run single to center and in the seventh, the Legends tallied three times with Boog Powell collecting an RBI single and Dominic Bethancourt driving in a run with a double. Powell, Gealdo and Courtney Hawkins each finished with two hits.