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Gastonia 6, High Point 4

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The Gastonia Honey Hunters overcame a 4-1 deficit after five innings to pick up a 6-4 come from behind win over the High Point Rockers on Thursday night at Truist Point.

Starter John Anderson toed the slab for Gastonia, seeking win number seven of the season, working opposite High Point starter Craig Stem.

High Point opened the contest in front, scoring three times in the first inning. The Rockers took advantage of three walks, while scratching three hits off Anderson.

Luis Roman got Gastonia on the board in the second, mashing a low-flighted solo homer to right, closing the gap to 2-1. The homer was Roman´s tenth of the year and was part of a multi-hit night for the third baseman.

High Point would recover their three-run lead in the fifth, as Michael Martinez scored on a triple from Mike Gulino. The unearned run in the fifth would close the book for Anderson, as the left hander went five frames, allowing three earned runs on seven hits.

In the sixth, Gastonia would chip away at the lead, as Luis Roman lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Joseph Rosa, who also finished with a multi-hit game.

In the seventh inning, Luis Castro introduced himself to the game´s plot with a solo homer to left center field, trimming the deficit to 4-3.

The inning continued for Gastonia, as Rosa sliced a single to right, scoring Rayder Ascanio, drawing Gastonia even at 4-4.

Onas Farfan, who came in relief of Anderson, pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing no runs on one hit while striking out three Rockers batters.

In the eighth, Gastonia would overtake the Rockers, as Jake Skole singled through the left side of the infield with two outs to set the stage for Castro.

Castro would play hero, launching a shot to the deepest part of Truist Point, landing over the wall for the eventual game-winner. Castro´s sixth blast of the season afforded the vaunted Honey Hunters bullpen the chance to sweep the brief two-game series over High Point.

After Euclides Leyer pitched a scoreless eighth inning, Mauro ¨Goose¨ Gozzo would call on lefty reliever Quintin Torres-Costa to close out the ninth against the Rockers power core.

Torres-Costa coaxed a fly ball from Logan Morrison, before punching out Zander Wiel and Jerry Downs to earn his second save of the season.

The save for Gastonia was the 27th recorded on the season, tops in the Atlantic League.

Farfan claimed the win for Gastonia(3-0,47-21), who now stands 26 games over .500, a franchise high for the second year franchise.

Bryce Hensley was saddled with the loss for High Point, falling to 1-2 on the year.

 The 11-hit attack for Gastonia was led by Roman, Rosa, Castro and Rayder Ascanio, who collected two hits apiece for the Honey Hunters.

Ian McKinney takes the bump for Gastonia, as he takes on High Point´s Jonah Scolaro on Friday in the first game of a three-game weekend series.

Lancaster 3, York 1

LANCASTER, Pa. - Oscar De La Cruz struck out eight over six innings on Thursday evening to pitch the Lancaster Barnstormers to a 3-1 victory over the York Revolution at Clipper Magazine Stadium.  With the win, the Barnstormers took three of five in the home-and-home series with the archrivals.

 De La Cruz was perfect outside of a span of four hitters in the fourth inning.  He struck out four while retiring the first nine batters.  Then, in the fourth, Troy Stokes, Jr. legged out a broken bat infield single.  Elmer Reyes lined a single over third baseman Trace Loehr, and Carlos Franco singled to center to drive home the tying run.

 With the count, 2-0, on cleanup hitter Nellie Rodriguez, plate umpire Marty Hasenfuss was struck by a foul tip in the arm and was forced out of the game.  Following the delay as Jason Smith donned his home plate gear, Rodriguez loaded the bases with a single flared past second baseman Melvin Mercedes.  De La Cruz (4-1) settled down and struck out J.C. Encarnacion and Josue Herrera before retiring Yefri Perez on a fly ball to center for the last out.  He retired everyone in the fifth and sixth innings, striking out two more.

 Lancaster scored in the bottom of the first when Andretty Cordero plated Mercedes from third on a lined single into left center.  The Barnstormers did not threaten Alex Sanabia (3-3) over the next four innings but caught a break to start the sixth.  Jake Hoover’s fly ball to right disappeared in the twilight on Stokes and fell onto the warning track.  Hoover, rounding first, ran into Franco and was awarded second base on the interference.  Both Shawon Dunston, Jr. and Mercedes lined to second, but Kelly Dugan picked up the run on a ground single into right for a 2-1 lead.

 Hoover added the final run with a home run onto the left field hillside off reliever Josh Martin in the eighth.

 Tyler Suellentrop worked two innings of relief, allowing a single and three walks, but the Revolution stranded all four runners.  Chase Johnson survived a leadoff single by Connor Lien in the ninth, retiring the next three hitters for his first save.

 Lancaster will host the Wild Health Genomes in a three-game series starting Friday at 6:30.  Nile Ball (4-3) will take the mound for the Barnstormers.  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, beginning at 6:25.

 NOTES:  All five games in the series were decided by two runs…Lancaster leads the War of the Roses, 12-8, but there are still 12 games to play…The Barnstormers have thrown five quality starts in the last seven games…Lancaster pitchers struck out 12 for a season total of 584 in 594.1 innings, tops in the league…Hoover’s homer was his first at Clipper Magazine Stadium…Johnson became the sixth different Barnstormer with a save this season.

Staten Island 1, Long Island 0

STATEN ISLAND, NY— Three FerryHawks pitchers combined to blank the Ducks across nine innings Thursday afternoon at Fairfield Properties Ballpark, earning Staten Island a 1-0 win against Long Island in the series finale. The FerryHawks third straight win pushes them to (3-0) in the second half of the Atlantic League season and closes the gap in the ‘Battle of the Belt’ rivalry to nine games to seven in favor of Long Island.  

 Hector Guance (2-2) allowed just two hits over his six stellar frames, striking out two and walking just one. A third inning single by Johnni Turbo and fourth inning single by Sam Travis were the only blemishes on the 26-year-old’s card on Thursday in his fifth start of the season.  

 Joe Iorio (6-2) twirled a season-high eight innings for the Ducks in the loss, allowing just one run on seven hits. Despite striking out seven without issuing a walk, Iorio was hit with his second loss of the season for giving up one second-inning run. Ricardo Cespedes and Dilson Herrera began the top of the frame with a single and double, respectively, before Justin O’Connor squeaked a single through the right side to bring in Cespedes. It was the second straight game that O’Connor started the scoring with an RBI single.  

 The Ducks collected three hits against Connor Law in the seventh and eighth innings, but remained off the scoreboard. Victor Capellan allowed a one-out walk to Dustin Woodcock, bringing the winning run to the plate twice in the bottom-of-the-ninth inning. Capellan got Vladimir Frias to fly out to deep left field, before an Austin Rye pop out to centerfield ended the game and gave Capellan his third save in as many days.  

 Staten Island (21-47) begins a three-game series with the Charleston Dirty Birds on Friday evening at SIUH Community Park. Pitching matchups are to be determined with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 PM. The FerryHawks pregame show begins at 6:45 PM on the SI FerryHawks YouTube Stream.   

 Postgame Notes: Staten Island’s bullpen did not allowed a run in the four-game series against the Ducks (12.0 IP)...Ricardo Cespedes (2-for-4) recorded his fourth consecutive multi-hit game...Victor Capellan has not allowed an earned run in 14 consecutive appearances (16.0 innings, 15 K, 7 BB)...FerryHawks starters (A. Rodriguez, M. Solter, H. Guance) combined to throw 19.0 Innings of two-run baseball over the last three games .

Charleston 6, Southern Maryland 3 (Game 1)
Southern Maryland 2, Charleston 0 (Game 2)

Lexington 7, Kentucky 1