Gastonia 8, Lexington 0

LEXINGTON, ky.- Zach Mort stepped in for the usual No. 5 starter Bryan Sammons on Saturday night.

He had only come on in relief in 2023, averaging just over two innings per outing.

The right-hander excelled in his first start, pitching six no-hit innings and striking out eight.

He helped Gastonia demolish Lexington for the second straight night, as the Honey Hunters won 8-0.

Since Sammons is inactive for the series, manager Goose Gozzo gave the ball to Mort, who was coming off a good relief outing against High Point.

Before Saturday, Mort had pitched 11 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.

On Saturday, Mort pitched six innings, giving up no hits and no runs.

He mowed through Lexington batters effortlessly, even ending his outing with nine straight batters retired.

Mort only allowed two baserunners – Jake Gitter and Connor Owings, who got hit by the pitch and walked, respectively.

Owings was the only Counter Clocks batter in the game who reached second base, as he stole after his fourth-inning walk.

After the steal, Mort struck out the next three batters to get out of the only jam he got into. He struck out eight and only walked Owings.

Five of Mort’s eight outs by way of the K were on his cutter, which he throws at around 86 miles-per-hour. Three of the five cutters were thrown to lefties, as the ball had a lot of movement and went in on lefty batters, making it tough for them to connect against the righty.

Mort was also aided by an offense that collected 13 hits for the second consecutive game.

Curtis Terry’s RBI single put Gastonia on the board in the fourth. The No. 5 hitter went 2-for-5 with a couple singles.

Terry’s single to give the Honey Hunters a 1-0 lead scored Zach Jarrett, who hit a homer for the second straight night.

Jarrett crushed a ball to deep left in the fifth on a two-run shot to extend the lead to 3-0.

The outfielder leads the team with seven bombs this year.

His homer scored Jack Reinheimer, who crossed home for the 23rd time – which leads the Atlantic League by five runs.

Reinheimer followed up hitting two doubles on Friday night with another couple of two-baggers in Game 2 of the series against Lexington.

Gastonia hit four more home runs in the game – two of them being firsts for Honey Hunter hitters.

Cristian Inoa and Pedro Gonzalez each went deep for the first time – in the sixth and eighth inning, respectively.

Inoa drove a ball over the wall to the opposite field in his Gastonia starting debut. He pinch-hit in the ninth inning the night prior, hitting an RBI single to add another run in the onslaught in Game 1.

In Game 2, he continued to make his new presence known, hitting a solo shot to make it 4-0.

Gonzalez hit a homer to left in his third start as a Honey Hunter.

He hit one of two longballs in the top of the eighth.

The other was one of the longest homers of the season.

And it was hit by slugger Steven Sensley.

The left fielder hit his sixth home run 426 to straight-away left field. He hooked it just inside the foul pole, striking the ball 107 miles-per-hour.

Sensley is now slugging .571, which is third on the team – behind J.C. Escarra (.617) and Jarrett (.602).

The last dinger was hit by Carlos Franco in the ninth frame. He hit a towering shot to dead center for his fourth of the year.

The homer scored Escarra, who was on second after hitting his league-leading ninth double of 2023.

After two straight routs of Lexington, Gastonia looks to sweep on Sunday.

First pitch between the Honey Hunters and Counter Clocks is at 2:05 p.m.

So. Maryland 1, Staten Island 0

(Saturday, May 20^th, Waldorf) After a tough loss on Friday, the Blue Crabs got ready to even the series and look to play the rubber match on Sunday. Southern Maryland handed the ball off to Jared Burch, who had just won his first professional game the previous Sunday when he tossed five scoreless innings. 

Burch was stellar for the Blue Crabs to start the game, retiring the first 12 hitters he had faced, giving him four perfect innings until Roldani Baldwin reached base when he pulled a single into left field.   

The offense was swinging the bats well to start the game; the Blue Crabs got back-to-back knocks from Fox Semones and Michael Baca and then executed the double steal to perfection to get two runners into scoring position. Jack Sundberg would drive in Semones on a two-strike pitch to give the Crabs a 1-0 lead. 

In the fifth, the FerryHawks got something cooking against Jared Burch after a leadoff hit, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch to get the bases loaded with just one out. Catcher Ryan Haug then bailed out Burch by running a successful back pick to get the runner at first base, and then Burch struck out the final hitter to escape the inning.     

In the top of the seventh, with the Crabs still leading 1-0 over Staten Island, a single and a double that was lost in the clouds as it dropped in center field. The rain started to come down as the game was delayed. After an hour, the field was too wet to continue, concluding the game after six innings, giving the Blue Crabs the win to make them 12-8.      

The Blue Crabs and the Hawks will play the rubber match to decide who takes the series; Southern Maryland will hand the ball off to Mitch Lambson, and Staten Island will throw Jordan Simpson. Tickets are available here, and the game will be streaming on FloSports.

Lancaster 12, York 4

(May 20th, 2023 – Lancaster, Pa.):  Nellie Rodriguez belted the 200th home run of his pro career but two big throwing errors cost the York Revolution who fell to the Lancaster Barnstormers, 12-4 on Saturday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The Revs scored right away as Trent Giambrone led off the game by ripping a 394-foot double to left center field, extending his hitting streak to a league-high 14 games, and Jacob Rhinesmith doubled down the left field line to trade places with Giambrone, giving the Revs an immediate 1-0 lead.

Rodriguez led off the second with his 200th professional homer on a drive to right field, giving the Revs a 2-0 advantage. The milestone homer was Rodriguez’ third of the season, all coming in the last five games.

The Barnstormers took advantage of a York mistake in the bottom of the second, scoring six times to take control of the game. With a runner on second and one out, Jack Conley dribbled one back to Revs starter Tom Sutera who tried to gun across his body to get the lead runner at third, but the throw sailed errantly to the tarp as Trayvon Robinson scored, and the wheels seemed to come off. After an infield single, Trace Loehr smacked a potential inning-ending double play ball but it took a bad hop past Giambrone at short and into center for a game-tying single. The Barnstormers would end up batting around, getting a two-run double to deep center by Andretty Cordero, followed by a two-run homer to right by Kelly Dugan to cap the outburst and put Lancaster ahead, 6-2. Dugan’s homer was his fourth of the season and third against York, while it was his 14th career home run against the Revs tying former Somerset and Sugar Land slugger Josh Pressley for fourth-most by a Revs opponent.

York got one back in the third on an RBI ground out by Richard Urena but never recovered from the big inning.

Yeison Coca made his Barnstormers debut by slapping an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth as Lancaster’s lead grew to 7-3.

Ryan January launched a no doubt home run to right field bringing the Revs a little closer at 7-4 in the seventh, but Lancaster poured it on late in the game, scoring the final five runs in their last two turns at-bat.

Coca led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple, and with runners on first and third, York reliever Tasker Strobel fielded a comebacker but threw the ball into center field starting a double play attempt as Coca scored. Jake Hoover followed with a perfectly placed ground ball double that bounded over the third base bag allowing two more to score as Strobel’s scoreless streak ended at four consecutive appearances.

York closer Victor Capellan was brought on in the eighth and surrendered a two-run homer to right by Trayvon Robinson to close the scoring.

Sutera (1-2) suffered the loss, tagged with seven runs on eight hits in five innings of work. He walked two and struck out three.

Lancaster starter Brent Teller (1-1) picked up the win, allowing three runs on four hits over six innings. He did not allow a hit after the third as his final three innings were scoreless.

York lefty Nick Raquet (2-1) will face Lancaster’s Brandyn Sittinger (1-3) in Sunday’s series finale at 1 p.m.  Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and FloBaseball.TV beginning at 12:40 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Keith Noonan on the call.

High Point at Long Island, postponed

(Central Islip, N.Y., May 19, 2023) – Saturday’s (May 20) game between the Long Island Ducks and High Point Rockers has been postponed to due the forecast for inclement weather.

Saturday’s (5/20) game will now be played on Sunday, May 21, at 6:35 p.m. as part of a split day/night doubleheader. Game one will begin at the originally scheduled time of 1:35 p.m., with the Fairfield Properties Ballpark gates opening at 12:35 (12:20 for full season ticket holders). The normally scheduled Bethpage Sunday Family Funday activities will take place surrounding game one, including the pregame Catch on the Field and postgame Kids Run the Bases.

Game two will take place at 6:35 p.m., with the ballpark gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders). Following Sunday night’s game, all fans in attendance will be treated to the Fireworks Spectacular that was originally scheduled for Saturday night. Additionally, the Lucky Seat Saturday promotion, presented by Long Island MacArthur Airport and Breeze Airways, will now take place during Sunday’s 6:35 p.m. game. Both games on Sunday, May 21, are now slated for seven innings.

Tickets for Saturday’s (5/20) game are now good for Sunday’s (5/21) 6:35 p.m. game only. No tickets need to be exchanged. Fans holding tickets to Saturday’s game can simply show their game tickets at the ballpark gates on Sunday for the 6:35 p.m. game.

Charleston 5, Frederick 1