York 3, Lexington 2

 (April 30, 2023 – Lexington, KY):  Pitching and defense led the way as the York Revolution earned their first victory of the season with a 3-2 win over the Lexington Counter Clocks on Sunday afternoon at Counter Clocks Field. The victory was the 888th in the managerial career of Rick Forney and his first as manager of the Revs. York salvages the opening series finale and will travel to Lancaster to kick off a series Tuesday night before returning home to WellSpan Park for Friday’s home opener.

Nick Raquet (1-0) turned in a spectacular effort in his Revs debut, holding the Clocks to just one run on three hits (two bloops) over six strong innings. The lefty walked just one and struck out seven.

York grabbed a first inning lead as Alejandro Rivero lined an RBI single to left, spotting the Revs their first lead since the second inning in Friday’s opener.

Lexington answered in the second as J.D. Osborne reached on a bloop double to right and scored on JC Encarnacion’s base hit through the right side, tying things at 1-1.

It remained that way into the sixth when Troy Stokes Jr., looking for his first hit of the season, lofted a fly ball to right that carried out over the short porch for a solo homer. It was Stokes Jr.’s 20th home run in a Revs uniform, and it gave the Revs a 2-1 lead.

York plated a big insurance run in the seventh when Rivero was hit by a pitch for the second time in three games, this time with the bases loaded, bringing home Trent Giambrone for a 3-1 lead. The Revs had loaded the bases on walks against reliever Cooper Brune and managed to score the run without needing a hit.

Andrew Gross caught a line drive comebacker to strand two in a scoreless seventh out of the Revs bullpen, and Blake Rogers made his Revs debut with a three-up, three-down eighth which included a brief rain delay, the second of the game.

Victor Capellan surrendered a run on a wild pitch in the ninth, but retired Logan Brown on a ground out to first base to end it with the tying run at third, logging his first save in a Revs uniform since 2021. Capellan also got a big play from Rivero who had made a terrific barehand play on a slow bounder to third off the bat of Encarnacion for the second out.

Each team managed just five hits as the Revs scraped out the low-scoring victory.

York righty Noah Zavolas makes his Revs debut on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Lancaster, opposite Barnstormers righty Jacob Lemoine. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and via FloBaseball.TV beginning at 6:10 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Keith Noonan on the call.

Long Island 5, High Point 2

(High Point, N.C., April 30, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the High Point Rockers 5-2 on Sunday afternoon in the final game of a three-game series at Truist Point.

Daniel Murphy gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a mammoth two-run home run to right field off Rockers starter James Marvel. Luis Guerrero extended the lead to three in the fifth with an opposite-field leadoff solo homer to right.

High Point closed to within 3-1 in the sixth on an RBI single up the middle from Zander Wiel. However, back-to-back doubles by Adeiny Hechavarria and Murphy along with a passed ball that scored Murphy gave the Ducks a 5-1 advantage in the eighth. The Rockers plated a run in the ninth on Shed Long Jr.’s RBI triple to center, but they would get no closer.

Ducks starter Stephen Woods Jr. (1-0) earned the win, tossing five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out six. Marvel (0-1) suffered the loss, surrendering three runs on four hits and a walk over five innings with three strikeouts.

Murphy led the Flock offensively with a double, a home run, three RBIs and two runs. Guerrero added a double and a homer, while Hechavarria finished with two doubles and two runs.

Long Island returns home on Tuesday for Opening Night at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. The Ducks will host the Staten Island FerryHawks at 6:35 p.m., with gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders). The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive Ducks Reversible Bucket Hats, courtesy of P.C. Richard and Son. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:15 to enjoy pregame team introductions. Right-hander Brett Kennedy (0-0, 9.00) gets the start for the Ducks against a FerryHawks starter to be determined.

So. Maryland 6, Lancaster 5

The weekend simply mirrored Southern Maryland’s first half sweep of the Lancaster Barnstormers last season.  En route to a series sweep, the Blue Crabs got all the clutch hits, made all the plays in the field and came out with a pair of one-run wins.

On Sunday afternoon, the Blue Crabs strung together a walk and three hits, all with one out in the seventh, to overturn a ‘Stormers lead en route to a 6-5 win completing a sweep of the rain-shortened series.

Bret Clarke (0-1) retired eight of his first 10 batters, including Jack Sundberg to open the seventh.  Then, things began to unravel on the right-hander on a four-pitch walk to Michael Wielansky.  Braxton Lee lofted a fly ball which carried to the left field wall for a double, putting the tying run into scoring position.  David Harris knotted the game with a double to the gap in left center.  Manager Ross Peeples went to his bullpen for lefty Brian Marconi.  Alex Crosby was able to punch a 2-2 pitch into left field for the game winning hit.

Isaac Mattson and Andre Scrubb sealed the game, retiring six of seven over the final two innings.

A homer by Wielansky and RBI single by Crosby produced a 2-0 lead for Southern Maryland in the bottom of the first.  Lancaster answered immediately as Jake Hoover drove a two-run single off the left field wall in the top of the second to tie the game.

Following an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth, the Barnstormers took their first lead of the afternoon in the top of the fifth.  Shawon Dunston, Jr. drew a walk to get the inning underway.  Melvin Mercedes followed with a double into the left field corner, bringing up Andretty Cordero.  The first baseman pounded a fly ball to deep center which was caught by Sundberg on a leaping catch at the fence.  Dunston scored easily, and the Barnstormers also waved home Mercedes, who was able to come in standing when the relay throw was muffed in shallow center.

The Barnstormers were similarly set up in the seventh.  Mercedes drove in Trace Loehr with a double to left center that also chased Dunston to third.  Cordero worked ahead in the count to 3-1 against fresh reliever Jacob Gilliland (1-0), but the 23-year old was able to retire Cordero on a harmless pop up to second.  Southern Maryland intentionally walked Kelly Dugan, and Gilliland coaxed a double play grounder out of Ariel Sandoval to escape the inning with the deficit at two.

Lancaster will host York on Tuesday with former Oakland right-hander Jacob Lemoine on the hill.  Gates will open at 5:30 with the 2022 Championship Ring Ceremony beginning at 6:00.  Fans may tune in at 6:00 on FloSports with the game to start at 6:30.

NOTES:  The Barnstormers outhit Southern Maryland, 18-17, in the series and drew 13 walks to 11…Southern Maryland took the lead in each game on an unearned run…Marconi is the only Lancaster pitcher to appear twice on the weekend.

Gastonia 7, Frederick 4

Zack Godley’s dominant start paired with Steven Sensley, Steven Moya and Jack Reinheimer’s solo home runs helped the Gastonia Honey Hunters finish off an opening series sweep of the Frederick Question Marks, winning 7-4 on Sunday afternoon. 

Godley, who started 11 games for Gastonia last year, got the nod in the third game of the 2023 season.  

And he pitched wonderfully. 

Godley went five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven batters. All seven punchouts were swung at, and five of the seven were knuckle curves thrown by the former Arizona Diamondback.  

This outing was much different than Godley’s performance in the home exhibition game against the High Point Rockers last weekend. The right hander came on in relief and gave up seven runs on seven hits. Although he struck out six batters, the outing was a rough one to say the least. 

However, Gastonia manager Mauro “Goose” Gozzo wasn’t worried in the slightest after Godley’s exhibition outing. 

“We’ve seen enough sample size of Godley last year… know what [he’s] capable of doing,” Gozzo said. “Spring training, having been a pitcher myself… you do work on things, you do work on certain zones that you’re having a hard time getting. You work on certain pitches in certain counts that you normally wouldn’t do in a game. So I take that [outing] with a grain of salt.” 

Gozzo also said that Godley’s “intensity level” was higher on Sunday than it was on the day of the game against High Point. 

As the exhibition game was just played to get ready for the season, it makes sense that Godley’s competitiveness and intensity was brought to a new level as soon as the season got underway. 

Frederick starting pitcher (and pitching coach) Elih Villanueva and Godley were in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through three innings until Jack Reinheimer led off the fourth inning. 

The Honey Hunters shortstop hit a solo homer to left center field to break the scoreless tie, and Curtis Terry added an RBI single later in the inning to give Gastonia a 2-0 lead. 

That lead held up until the sixth inning, when Godley was taken out of the game for reliever Zach Mort. 

Mort gave up a two-run 418-foot dinger to Craig Dedelow out of the three hole to tie the game at 2 in the top of the inning.

Gastonia then broke that tie in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of red-hot J.C. Escarra. 

Escarra, who got the start in right field the first two games despite never playing outfielfd in his pro career, was behind the plate on Sunday afternoon, which is the position he’s most used to. 

Well whether he’s in right field, left field (which he played on Saturday for a few innings), or catching, Escarra has been absolutely raking. 

Escarra, who turned 28 years old on Monday, went 3-4 with a couple RBIs in Game 3 of the series. 

Both the RBIs – singles off the wall. That’s right.  

The first RBI single was inches away of a home run off the left center field wall.  

The next run-scoring knock was off the right field wall.  

Both balls were hit so hard that Escarra had to stay put at first. 

So let’s recap Escarra’s start to his Honey Hunters career: 

Friday: 2-4, 3 RBIs, BB, run 

Saturday: 1-5, HR, three balls hit over 98 MPH off the bat (two over 104 MPH) 

Sunday: 3-4, 2 RBIs 

Escarra’s second RBI single followed solo homers by Steven Moya and Steven Sensley in the seventh. 

Moya’s was his fourth of the year through three games, an incredibly impressive feat. And he hit it 426 feet to dead center field. 

As for Sensley, he came into the afternoon hitless in the first couple games of the season. He solved that by going 3-4 with a home run he pulled to right field. 

Sensley has been working on some adjustments, and they certainly worked on Sunday. 

“I quieted my swing down,” Sensley said. “I felt myself lunging at the ball… in baseball less is more, so I applied it to my ABs. I stopped trying to press and do too much, and then just let the game come to me.” 

The game came to him, just like the ball he hit came to a lucky fan sitting in the right field seats.  

The Honey Hunters scored four in that bottom of the seventh inning, taking a 7-2 lead. 

They held onto the lead, winning 7-4 and sweeping Frederick in the three-game set to start the season 3-0. 

Another team that has started the year 3-0 is the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, which is where Gastonia will travel to for its next series. 

Gozzo stressed how important it is to prepare to face any new players for Southern Maryland, especially when it comes to their pitchers. 

“What do their new guys do? Why are they there? What is it that they hurt us with? Gozzo said. “But with Southern Maryland, it’s about their pitching. In the last couple years, they’ve had really, really good pitching. They shorten games with their awesome bullpen, so I’m kind of anxious to see how we handle their bullpen and their starting rotation with kind of a new re-built bullpen.” 

The two 3-0 teams will battle it out Tuesday through Thursday, and Gozzo claimed there’s more on the line than just wins and losses. 

“It’s early in the year, but still it’ll have some bragging rights to it,” Gozzo said before laughing.

First pitch between the Honey Hunters and Blue Crabs is on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. 

Charleston at Staten Island, PPD