High Point 11, Southern Maryland 5

(7/29/2022, Waldorf, MD) The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs dropped the series opener against the High Point Rockers on Friday, falling 11-5.  The Rockers’ bats struck early and often, chasing Mitch Lambson (L, 5-7) from the game after just five innings, allowing seven runs. 

 The High Point Rockers started the scoring in the second inning, when Giovanny Alfonzo drove in Quincy Latimore on a base hit to right.  The Rockers tacked on another run in the second to go ahead 2-0.  In the third, High Point scored three times.  Ben Aklinski pulled a home run over the Mini Monster in left before Jay Gonzalez went the other way on a two-run shot, putting High Point ahead 5-0.  

 The homers kept flying for the Rockers.  Tyler Ladendorf smashed his first home run of the game in the fourth, before Zander Wiel crushed a homer in the fifth.  In the sixth, Ben Aklinski ripped a line drive to left, scoring Dakota Mulcay.  By the end of the sixth inning, the Blue Crabs trailed 8-1. 

 Ivan Pineyro (W, 4-1) pitched six outstanding innings, allowing only one run on two hits.  But he struggled in the seventh. With the bases loaded, Michael Baca struck a base hit to right, scoring two runs and cutting the deficit to 8-3.  Two batters later, with runners on second and third, Jack Sundberg sliced a ball to left center, scoring Matt Hibbert and Michael Baca, trimming the Rockers’ advantage to 8-5. That's the closest that the Blue Crabs would get.

 In the ninth inning, Cody Strayer ran into trouble.  After a pair of singles, Tyler Ladendorf crushed his second home run of the night, giving High Point an 11-5 lead.  In the bottom of the ninth, Cole Aker sent down the Blue Crabs in order, giving the Rockers an 11-5 victory. 

 Southern Maryland moves to 61-26 on the year, and 13-8 in the second half.  Southern Maryland is now tied for the North Division lead in the Second Half with the Lancaster Barnstormers.  Southern Maryland will be back in action tomorrow at 6:35 pm at Regency Furniture Stadium.

Gastonia 3, York 2

July 29, 2022 – Gastonia, NC):  Jhon Nunez gave the York Revolution new life with a dramatic game-tying homer on the first pitch in the top of the ninth inning, but the Revs dropped their series opener to the Gastonia Honey Hunters on a run in the bottom of the ninth, 3-2 on Friday night at CaroMont Health Park.

 It was a tightly played contest throughout as Revs starter Austin Nicely turned in a terrific eight innings in a no-decision.

 Gastonia drew first blood as Zach Jarrett connected on a homer to left-center in the bottom of the second for the game’s first run.

 The Revs were shut down by spot starter Randall Delgado in the early going, held without a hit while striking out six times through the first three innings.

Telvin Nash greeted reliever Henry Martinez with an opposite field homer to right-center leading off the top of the fourth, tying the game at 1-1.  It was Nash’s fifth in 11 games since returning and the 99th of his Revolution career.

 Nicely worked around a threat in the bottom of the fourth as a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt by Luis Roman put runners at second and third with one out.  Nicely struck out Luis Castro and retired Jaylen Smith on a grounder to third with Carlos Franco making a slick stab on the backhand and completing the long throw to first just in time, preserving the 1-1 tie.

 York also had runners at second and third with only one out in the next half inning as Nunez led off with a single and Yefri Perez lined a one-out double to left, extending his hitting streak to nine games.  Martinez struck out the next two batters, however, striking out the side in the inning and fanning five total in two innings to keep it deadlocked.

 York threatened in the eighth as Nellie Rodriguez roped a one-out double to left and Melky Mesa reached on an infield single, but Gastonia reliever Euclides Leyer induced a pair of ground outs to escape unscathed as the Revs stranded 10 runners on the night.

 Nicely had faced the minimum on a 12-batter stretch before Stuart Levy led off the home eighth with a base hit to left.  After advancing on a ground out, Levy scored the go-ahead run on Jack Reinheimer’s two-out RBI single to left, giving the Honey Hunters a 2-1 lead.

 The lead was short lived as Nunez (3-for-3) greeted reliever Sam Bordner with a first pitch homer to right in the top of the ninth, tying the game at 2-2 in stunning fashion on his second home run in as many games.

 Gastonia had the last laugh with a run in the bottom of the ninth.  Joseph Rosa drew a leadoff walk from reliever Carlos Ventura and went to third on a throwing error by second baseman Jack Kenley on an attempted force play at second.  Ventura struck out Roman for the first out, but a passed ball during the next at-bat brought home Rosa with the winning run as the Revs were dealt their eighth walk-off defeat of the season.

 Nicely allowed just two runs on six hits in the no-decision, working eight innings for the first time since August 21, 2021 vs. Gastonia.  He picked off a pair of runners and struck out five in a second straight gem that resulted in a no-decision.

 Strikeouts plagued the Revs offense as York’s 17 strikeouts came within one of a franchise record for a nine-inning game, set during the 2019 season.

 The Revs will look to even the series on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. with Eduardo Rivera (5-3, 4.73) facing John Anderson (8-4, 4.11).  Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and the WOYK YouTube channel beginning at 5:55 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.

Lancaster 5, Staten Island 3

Jacob Barfield belted a two-run homer and added a key double later in the game to pace the Lancaster Barnstormers to a 5-3 victory over the Staten Island Ferryhawks Friday evening at Staten Island University Health Community Park.

 With the win, the Barnstormers jumped back into a first place tie with Southern Maryland, which lost, 11-5, to High Point.

 Barfield opened the scoring in the fourth with a towering two-run homer to left following a walk to Trayvon Robinson.  The Barnstormers continued the inning off Anthony Rodriguez (4-5) as Arial Sandoval singled, stole second and rode home on a double into the right field corner by Jake Hoover.  Hoover, in turn, crossed the plate with a fourth run on a sacrifice fly by Shawon Dunston, Jr. 

 Oscar De La Cruz (5-1) retired the first nine batters he faced before Antoine Duplantis singled to open the fourth.  Javier Betancourt walked, and, one out later, a sharp single by Rusney Castillo picked up a run.  Ricardo Cespedes lined to short, helping De La Cruz escape the inning. 

 Duplantis tripled home a run in the bottom of the fifth to narrow the lead to two.  Lancaster was able to respond with two outs in the seventh as Barfield launched a double to the top of the wall in right and rode home when Anderson Feliz smashed a single through the hole on the right side.

 Again, Staten Island put a run on the board.  De La Cruz pitched into the seventh inning for the first time, and, after Andretty Cordero made a solid backhanded stop on a smash by Joseph Monge, Ramon Osuna doubled to left center.  Alfredo Reyes walked to bring the tying run to the plate and Tyler Suellentrop in from the bullpen.  Bryan Gonzalez delivered a run with a sacrifice fly before Duplantis grounded to second to end the threat.

 In the ninth, West Tunnell walked two runners aboard, but, with runners at first and third, Alfredo Reyes took off for second on a swinging third strike to pinch hitter Mariel Bautista.  Reyes was thrown out on the back end of the double play as Tunnell earned his sixth save.

 Melvin Mercedes was 0-for-4 with a walk, losing his club record hitting streak at 23 games.

 Bret Clarke (1-1) will make the start for the Barnstormers on Saturday against right-hander Mike Solter (3-7).  Fans may tune into the YouTube channel, beginning at 5:55.

 NOTES:  Ariel Sandoval had two hits to stretch his streak to seven…He also stole three bases…Barfield is 6-for-13 with four extra base hits…De La Cruz threw his fifth quality start and the club’s first in the last eight games…He finished July 3-0.

Kentucky 11, Long Island 1

Lexington, Ky., July 29, 2022) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes 11-1on Friday evening in the opener of a three-game weekend series from Wild Health Field.

 The Genomes took a 3-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning against Ducks starting pitcher Ryan Meisinger courtesy of a three-run home run to right field off the bat of Jimmy Paredes. Kentucky Wild Health made it 5-0 in their favor in the second as Luke Becker launched a two-run blast to right. The power surge continued in the third frame when Paredes belted his second four-bagger of the ballgame, a solo shot over the Pepsi Party Deck to give the home team a 6-0 advantage. Wild Health put the icing on the cake in the seventh when Austin Rei cracked a two-run home run to left center field to give the Genomes an 11-0 advantage. Long Island scratched across their lone run in the eighth when Sam Travis hustled down the line from third base on a wild pitch after he opened up the frame with a double into the right field corner.

 The run support was more than enough for Genomes starter pitcher Elih Villanueva (7-8), who fired five scoreless innings on just one hit allowed, walking four while striking out three. Meisinger (2-2) was tagged with the loss, surrendering eight runs on five hits (three home runs) across four innings of work, walking three and striking out six. Joe DeCarlo led the way with two hits for the Flock including a double, tallying his 20^th multi-hit game in the process.

 The Ducks and Genomes continue their three-game set on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Wild Health Field. Fans can follow all the action on the Long Island Ducks Broadcast Network. Live streaming HD video and audio will be available via BoxCast on LIDucks.com as well as on the Ducks official Facebook page and YouTube channel. Left-hander Stephen Tarpley (4-4, 3.68) gets the nod for the Ducks against Genomes southpaw Robby Scott (5-7, 4.86).

 Long Island returns home on Friday, August 12, to begin a three-game set against the Charleston Dirty Birds. Game time is slated for 6:35 p.m., with the Fairfield Properties Ballpark gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders).

Lexington 5, Charleston 3