Lancaster 5, Southern Maryland 2

Brooks Hall and the Lancaster Barnstormers bullpen did exactly what will be needed when things are for keeps next week.

 Hall (6-1) and four relievers combined on a four-hitter on Friday evening as the Barnstormers defeated the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the opener of a three-game series at Clipper Magazine Stadium a precursor of the North Division series that will begin on Tuesday.

 Southern Maryland opened the scoring as Jack Sundberg reached Hall for a two-out solo homer in the third.  It would be the only hit allowed by Hall over the first five innings.

 The Barnstormers finally reached Mitch Lambson (8-9) in the bottom of the fifth.  With one out, Joseph Carpenter banged a line drive to right that went as a double when Jared Walker lost his footing on the play.  Jake Hoover singled home the run to tie the game at 1-1 then went to third on a single by Chris Proctor that deflected off Lambson.  Melvin Mercedes crept a two-strike single through the right side to score Hoover.  The runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Proctor scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Andretty Cordero.

 Southern Maryland was given an opening in the seventh when Jacob Barfield misplayed a Joe DeLuca grounder for an error.  Zach Collier hit a shallow pop fly to left that was dropped by Carpenter in the midst of a sliding try, and Santiago Chirino drew a walk to load the bases.  Brandyn Sittinger struck out the next two before walking Sundberg on a full count pitch to force home a run.  Michael Wielansky grounded into a force to close the inning.

 Cordero slammed a homer to left with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and the Barnstormers scored another insurance run as Trayvon Robinson singled through the hole at shortstop, Anderson Feliz walked and Barfield pulled an RBI single into left.

 Cam Booser worked through a tough top of the eighth.  The lone Lancaster lefty yielded a one-out single to David Harris then walked DeLuca on five pitches.  Collier struck out on three, bringing up Chirino as the possible tying run.  The recent arrival hit a grounder on the right side which was chased down in the hole by Mercedes.  No one covered first, but the Barnstormers got Harris in a rundown.

 Dominic DiSabatino, the scheduled starter for Sunday, pitched the ninth for his first save.

 Cameron Gann (8-8) will take the mound for the Barnstormers on Saturday against right-hander Eddie Butler (12-5).  Fireworks will follow the game.  Fans may also tune into the Barnstormers YouTube channel at 6:25.

 NOTES:  Cordero tied for second in Atlantic League history with 180 hits in a season…He now has 116 RBI…DiSabatino became the fourth Barnstormer with a save in the last 11 days…Lancaster has won Hall’s last eight starts…The Barnstormers still have a chance, with two more wins, to post the best half-season record in franchise history.

Long Island 4, Staten Island 1

(Staten Island, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2022) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Staten Island FerryHawks 6-4 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at SIUH Community Park.

 Deibinson Romero opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to left field off FerryHawks starter Dylan Castaneda. A four-run second inning for the FerryHawks off Ducks starter Chris Pike gave the hosts a 4-1 lead. Mariel Bautista’s RBI double, Ramon Osuna’s RBI single and a two-run single by Javier Betancourt did the damage.

 Trevor Achenbach closed the gap to two in the third with a long solo homer to center field. Long Island tied the game at four in the fourth on a wild pitch that scored Deibinson Romero and a two-out RBI single up the middle by Joe DeCarlo. The Ducks took their second lead of the night at 5-4 in the fifth on Romero's two-out RBI double to left, and Matt Chamberlain stretched the advantage to two in the sixth with a solo homer to right.

 Pike (1-0) earned the win, tossing six innings of four-run ball, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out four. Castaneda (2-1) took the loss, surrendering five runs on five hits and three walks over five innings with seven strikeouts. Tyler Webb recorded his 15th save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.

 Achenbach led the Flock offensively with two hits, an RBI and three runs scored. Romero added two hits, two RBIs, a run and a walk.

 The Ducks and FerryHawks continue their three-game set on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 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 James Varela (1-2, 6.04) takes the mound for the Ducks against FerryHawks righty Christian Capuano (1-0, 4.50).

York 4, High Point 3

(September 16, 2022 – York, Pa.):  Connor Lien raced home with the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth as the York Revolution kicked off the final weekend of the 2022 season with a 4-3 walk-off win over the High Point Rockers on Friday night in front of 4,234 fans at PeoplesBank Park.

 The game was scoreless into the fifth as York starter Sam Burton was excellent in his second outing.

 Burton retired three straight batters after a leadoff double by Michael Russell on the game’s first pitch and followed a similar blueprint in the second when the Rockers greeted him with back-to-back singles to create a threat, as Burton went on to strike out the next three.

 High Point starter Craig Stem was also in a good groove early, needing just six pitches in the first inning and matching Burton with zeroes until the fifth.

 Troy Stokes Jr. led off the home fifth with a single to left and Yefri Perez followed with an infield single. Stokes Jr. scored the game’s first run when Josue Herrera nailed a line drive to left field that sailed past Giovanny Alfonzo who appeared to lose sight of the ball in the lights. Herrera was denied what would have been his 50th RBI of the season as the sharply hit ball was ruled an error despite Alfonzo dropping to the ground in attempt to make the catch, but the Revs led 1-0. After Lien reached on an infield hit, JC Encarnacion made it 2-0 on a sac fly to right for his 60th RBI of the year.

 Burton retired 13 of 15 before a pair of one-out singles prompted his departure in the sixth. Reliever Kyle Zurak was greeted by Tyler Ladendorf who drove a ground-rule double to left center to get High Point on the board at 2-1, but Zurak struck out J.R. DiSarcina and retired Mike Gulino on a soft grounder with shortstop Elmer Reyes making a slick charging play to strand two in scoring position and keep the Revs in front.

 Franklin Van Gurp retired Jerry Downs on a 4-6-3 double play ball in a scoreless top of the seventh.

 York added an insurance run in the home half of the seventh as Lien doubled to left with one out, moved to third on an Encarnacion single to left, and scored on a sac fly by Lenin Rodriguez on a liner to left, increasing the lead to 3-1.

 Roniel Raudes handled a scoreless eighth, but the Rockers drew even in the ninth as Michael Martinez celebrated his 40th birthday with a game-tying two-run double to right center, denying Revs closer Jim Fuller of his 20th save.

 With the game tied 3-3, York responded as Lien worked a leadoff walk from High Point righty Junior Rincon and stole second to reach scoring position with no outs. After a ground out for the first out, Rincon walked Rodriguez on which Lien advanced to third on a passed ball that eluded Gulino. With Melky Mesa, holding a share of a Revs franchise record with four career walk-off hits at the plate, it was a wild pitch spiked by Rincon (2-2) that brought Lien home with the winning run and the Revs’ sixth walk-off victory of the season.

 York will go for the series win on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. as Eduardo Rivera squares off against Neil Uskali on the mound.  The night includes Fireworks presented by AAA Southern Pennsylvania, Halfway to Saint Paddy’s Day, and the Stronger Than Cancer Series by WellSpan (Breast Cancer). Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.

Kentucky 7, Lexington 5

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wild Health Genomes hit four home runs in posting a 7-5 win over Lexington on Friday night.

Luke Becker hit a two-run homer in the first, Felix Pie hit a three-run homer in the fourth, the same inning Samir Duenez added a solo shot, and Austin Rei hit a solo homer in the sixth to account for all seven Genomes runs.

Lexington used a three-run homer from James Nelson, a solo homer by Phillip Ervin and an RBI triple from Nelson to score all of its runs.

Courtney Hawkins of Lexington was hitless in two at-bats with a pair of intentional walks.

Kentucky’s Zack Dodson (W, 1-1) struck out eight in his five innings of work to collect the win. Akeem Bostick (S, 2) pitched a pair of scoreless innings for the save. Lexington’s Keegan Wright (L, 1-1) allowed seven runs over six innings.

Gastonia 10, Charleston 5

The Gastonia Honey Hunters banged out 17 hits on Friday night to win the series opener against Charleston by a 10-5 score at Appalachian Power Park.

Gastonia faced off against Alec Kisena, who was looking for his first win in a Dirty Birds uniform. Dakota Chalmers went opposite Kisena for the Honey Hunters.

The game would be a series of body blows between the two clubs, as runs were scored in frames two through five.

A Cole Freeman double would plate a pair of runs in the third, giving Gastonia an early 3-1 advantage. Gastonia had several opportunities to run and hide from Charleston, but were unable to land the knockout punch.

Charleston had opportunities to get on top of the Honey Hunters, but Zack Godley and Kaleb Bowman would hold off the prospective rallies, maintaining the slim one run lead. Charleston´s inability to produce a crooked number would force the Dirty Birds bullpen to resist the Gastonia offensive.

Gastonia (87-43, 42-22) would finally create some distance in the eighth, as Jake Skole drove in a pair of runs with a two-out single, taking the lead up to 7-4.

A three-run ninth would put the Honey Hunters out of reach, as Luis Roman, Herlis Rodriguez and Zach Jarrett would drive home runs against Charleston reliever Bruce Bell. The three run ninth increased the lead to 10-4, as Jesus Balaguer would be called on in the non-save situation.

Zack Godley picked up the win for Gastonia, moving to 4-1 on the season. Kisena took the loss for Charleston(52-78,26-38), falling to 0-4 on the year 

In the 17-hit attack, Jarrett, Roman and Freeman would collect three hits each in the win, as Jake Skole drove home three runs for Gastonia.

Gastonia will continue the three game set against Charleston, as Matt Solter will face off against Stephen Chamblee. Saturday's game will be on www.gohoneyhunters.com as an audio stream, beginning at 6:20pm with the pregame show.