High Point 8, Gastonia 3
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers clinched a spot in the four-team Atlantic League playoffs with an 8-3 win over Gastonia in front of 3,352 fans at Truist Point on Thursday night. The win provided the Rockers with a Wild Card entry into the playoffs which begin next week.

The Rockers and Honey Hunters were scoreless through three as both starting pitchers, Mitch Atkins (W, 3-0) for High Point and lefty Ian McKinney (L, 7-4) for Gastonia, limited the opponent’s baserunners.

Gastonia broke the ice first with a pair of runs in the third inning. Emmanuel Tapia led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a single by Stuart Levy and scored on a single by Reece Hampton. Cole Freeman used a sacrifice bunt to move Levy to third and he scored on a groundout by Joseph Rosa.

The Rockers answered in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run outburst. McKinney walked Jerry Downs and Quincy Latimore to start the inning and then Zander Wiel blasted a three-run homer, his 31st of the year.

The Honey Hunters knotted the game in the fifth on a double by Levy who then moved to third on a ground out by Hampton, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Freeman.

The Rockers took the lead for good with three runs in fifth. Logan Moore looped a single to center and McKinney walked Michael Martinez to put two aboard. Quincy Latimore then hit the first pitch from McKinney for a towering homer to left, his 21st of the season, putting High Point in front 6-3.

The Rockers added single runs in the sixth and ninth with Giovanny Alfonzo collecting run scoring singles in both innings.

The Rockers improved to 70-59 overall and 31-32 in the second half of the South Division. The win clinched the Wild Card over the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes who are 64-63 with five games remaining and cannot reach the 70-win mark.

The Rockers will face Gastonia again next week in the Atlantic League’s South Division Championship Series. Games one and two are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, September 20 and 21 at Gastonia’s Caromont Health Park. The Rockers will host the Honey Hunters in game three at Truist Point on Friday, September 23. Games four and five, if necessary, will be played at Truist Point on Saturday and Sunday.

The Rockers finish the regular season this weekend with a three-game series at York on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Lancaster 8, York 2

Shawon Dunston, Jr. led off the game with a homer for his second straight contest, and Anderson Feliz added a three-run homer later in the first inning as the Lancaster Barnstormers defeated the York Revolution, 8-2, in the final game of the War of the Roses in 2022.

 It was Lancaster’s 18th win in the season series and the 70th overall win for the team on the season.

Dunston connected for the leadoff homer, his third of the season, off Deyvis Julian to give Lancaster a quick 1-0 lead.  Andretty Cordero lined a single to center and Jacob Barfield walked before Feliz homered off the picnic tent inside the right field foul pole.

 Melvin Mercedes homered in the third for a 5-0 lead.

 Chris Proctor drove in two of the final three Lancaster runs on a sacrifice fly and a force play grounder.  Joseph Carpenter slammed a long double in the eighth to produce Anthony Peroni.

 Nile Ball (11-5) threw six innings for Lancaster, yielding six hits and two runs.  Elmer Reyes and Josue Herrera reached him for consecutive doubles in the top of the second for the first run.  Nellie Rodriguez connected for a leadoff homer in the fourth before Ball retired nine of the last 10 he faced.

 Chase Johnson worked the final three innings for his second save.  The right-hander allowed one hit, a double by Yefri Perez, while walking two and striking out three.

 Lancaster opens its final series of the regular season on Friday, taking on the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in a precursor to the upcoming North Division series which will start on Tuesday.  Cameron Gann (8-8) will make the start for Lancaster against lefty Mitch Lambson (8-8).  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube broadcast beginning at 6:25.

 NOTES:  All three of Dunston’s homers have come against York…He was 6-for-9 with the two homers in the series after five weeks on the injured list…Cordero’s hit was his 178th of the season, leaving him within one of third place on the Atlantic League’s all-time single season list…Everyone in the lineup contributed a hit, except for catcher Anthony Peroni, who walked twice and scored two runs…Ball threw his 11th quality start, tying him with Oscar De La Cruz for the team lead.

Southern Maryland 8, Long Island 2

(Central Islip, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2022) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 8-2 on Thursday night in the rubber game of a three-game series and final home game of the 2022 season at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

 The Blue Crabs opened the scoring in the first inning on a sacrifice fly from David Harris and a throwing error by Ducks starter Chris Cepeda that scored Michael Wielansky. Deibinson Romero’s RBI single to left field in the bottom of the first off Blue Crabs starter Daryl Thompson closed the gap to 2-1. However, Michael Baca’s sac fly to center in the second and Zach Collier’s RBI triple to center in the third pushed Southern Maryland’s advantage to 4-1.

 It stayed that way until the seventh when the Blue Crabs added two runs on Harris’ RBI single to left and Joe DeLuca’ sac fly to left. Back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Jack Sundberg and Wielansky in the eighth made it an 8-1 game. Jose Sermo rounded out the scoring with a long solo homer to right in the bottom of the ninth.

 Thompson (15-4) earned the win with six innings of one-run ball, allowing eight hits and a walk while striking out two. Cepeda (5-2) took the loss, giving up six runs (four earned) on eight hits and four walks over six and one-third innings with one strikeout.

The Ducks finished the 2022 season by welcoming 285,888 fans through the gates of Fairfield Ballpark, an average of 4,538. Both totals led all MLB Partner Leagues this year, marking the second consecutive season in which the Ducks led in both categories. Long Island also increased their total attendance figure by 61,768 fans and their average attendance figure by 536 fans from 2021.

 The Ducks hit the road on Friday night to begin their final series of the regular season against the Staten Island FerryHawks. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park. 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. Right-hander Chris Pike (0-0, 5.14) gets the start for the Ducks against a FerryHawks starter to be determined.

Kentucky 12, Staten Island 4

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Gavin Johns, Luke Becker and Samir Duenez combined to drive in eight runs in Kentucky’s 12-4 win at Staten Island on Thursday night.

Max Povse (W, 6-10) earned the win with 10 strikeouts over six innings. Augie Sylk (L, 5-11) took the loss for the FerryHawks.

Johns delivered a two-run double and a bases loaded walk in collecting his three RBI. Becker had a pair of RBI singles and a sac fly while Duenez added a pair of run-scoring singles.

Charleston 7, Lexington 3

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Courtney Hawkins hit his Atlantic League-leading 47^th homer of the season but it wasn’t enough to hold off the 13-hit attack of Charleston in a 7-3 Dirty Birds win at Wild Health Field.

Miles Williams and Edwin Espinal each had a pair of RBI for Charleston as Derrick Adams (W, 7-9) went six innings and held the Legends to five hits and two runs while striking out six.

The game was tied 2-2 through seven before the Dirty Birds scored five times in the eighth. Espinal lined a run-scoring single to right, Scott Kelly’s bunt single was thrown away, Miles Williams delivered a two-run double and Yovan Gonzalez added an RBI single in the frame.

Hawkins homered in the ninth to bring him within one of the Atlantic League record of 48 homers in a season set by Newark’s Ozzie Canseco in 2000.  The RBI was Hawkins’ 120^th of the season, the third-most ever in a season by an ALPB hitter. He is one shy of second place currently held by Jose Viera (Lehigh Valley/Somerset) who had 121 in 2000. Canseco holds the RBI record of 129, also set in 2000.