Lancaster 5, Southern Maryland 3

David Harris clubbed a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but the Lancaster Barnstormers were able to piece together two runs off Southern Maryland defensive mistakes in the top of the tenth to pull out a 5-3 win at Regency Furniture Stadium.

 The win, Lancaster’s first in 12 tries against the Blue Crabs this season, gives the ‘Stormers a five-game lead over Southern Maryland in the North Division with 15 games left to play.  A tie sends Lancaster to the playoffs.

 West Tunnell (6-1) took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.  Jack Sundberg whistled a line drive into Jack Sundberg’s glove for the first out.  Michael Baca walked, but Tunnell was able to retire Braxton Lee on a grounder to first for the second out.  Harris forced the count to 3-2, barely remained alive as two foul pop ups made it off the field, then belted his second homer of the night for a 3-3 tie, sending the game to extra innings.

 For the first nine innings, the Blue Crabs played airtight defense.  That did not hold in the extra frame.

 With Trace Loehr at second, Melvin Mercedes struck out.  Catcher Joe DeLuca dropped the pitch, then missed getting Mercedes at first.  Trayvon Robinson bunted toward the mound.  James Dykstra (0-2) dropped the bunt, then made a wild throw to first.  Ian Yestko backed up the play.  Loehr attempted to score, drawing a wild throw from Yetsko that allowed Mercedes to score as well for the 5-3 lead.  Dykstra retired the Barnstormers in order afterward.

 Cam Booser slammed the door on the Blue Crabs in the bottom of the tenth, striking out two, for his first save.

 Lancaster had taken a 3-0 lead in the fifth against starter Mitch Lambson.  With one out, Loehr and Mercedes drew consecutive walks.  Robinson banged a single, the second of his three hits into left center to score Loehr.  Andretty Cordero was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Colton Shaver yanked a line drive to deep left.  Sundberg made a diving catch, but Mercedes tagged and scored.  Anderson Feliz added an RBI single for a 3-0 edge.

 Erik Manoah was working on a one-hit shutout into the bottom of the seventh when Harris connected for the first time on the night with two outs.  Manoah finished the seventh with no walks and five strikeouts before turning the ball over to Josh Graham in the eighth.

 Nile Ball (9-4) will make the start for the Barnstormers on Saturday against Daryl Thompson (13-3), who will be pitching on three days rest.  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube channel, starting at 6:30.

 NOTES:  Lancaster’s magic number fell to 10…The wild card leads remained at one-half over High Point and two over Kentucky…Long Island dropped to six back…Robinson has eight hits in the last three games…Cordero doubled in the first for his 164th hit, 10 from the team record…Booser has fanned five of seven batters over his last two appearances.

High Point 11, York 3

(September 2, 2022 – High Point, NC):  The York Revolution were thumped, 11-3 in the opening game of their weekend visit against the High Point Rockers on Friday night at Truist Point.

 High Point’s offense got started right away as Michael Russell and Ben Aklinski hooked doubles to left in the bottom of the first, spotting the Rockers a 1-0 lead two batters in.

 Zander Wiel launched a leadoff homer to left center in the second, extending the lead to 2-0 on his 28th of the year, establishing a new Rockers single-season record.

 York’s offense awoke in the third as Connor Lien sparked things with a leadoff walk.  Magglio Ordonez Jr. served a one-out single to center, and JC Encarnacion got the Revs on the board, rapping an RBI single that ricocheted off High Point starter Mitch Atkins’ foot and into right field. Elmer Reyes rapped a two-run double to right center, his league-leading 35th, thrusting the Revs ahead, 3-2. Reyes’ 35 doubles are tied for fifth most in a season in Revs history, five off the franchise record.

 Atkins (1-0) recovered from that burst, retiring his final eight batters as four of his five innings were perfect in earning the win.

 High Point forged right back ahead in their half of the third as Jerry Downs pulled a line drive homer to right and Michael Martinez looped an RBI single to right for a 4-3 advantage.

 Russell drove a two-run homer to left-center in the fourth, and Giovanny Alfonzo added a two-run double to left center in the fifth as the Rockers scored in each of the first five innings, building an 8-3 lead.

 Revs starter Ben Herrick (0-3) rebounded for a scoreless sixth, giving the team six innings of work on 116 pitches despite being tagged with eight runs on 12 hits.

 High Point did not spare the bullpen, scoring three more runs in the seventh against Doug Olcese who had previously not allowed a hit or a run in six innings. Aklinski ripped a two-out RBI single to left and Downs capped the big offensive performance with a two-run double off the glove of a diving Troy Stokes Jr. in left.

 Carlos Ventura handled a perfect eighth out of the Revs bullpen for only the second scoreless frame against the Rockers offense all night.

 High Point totaled 14 hits, eight of which went for extra bases (five doubles, three home runs).

 Seth Frankoff handled two no-hit innings in his High Point debut out of the bullpen. Gabriel Castellanos permitted only an infield hit by Encarnacion in the eighth, and Joe Johnson yielded just a leadoff single by Nellie Rodriguez in the ninth as the Revs were limited to five hits on the evening.

 High Point pitchers combined to retire 13 consecutive batters at one point into the seventh, and until the eighth, the Revs’ only three hits had all occurred in the third inning as they were retired in order five times in the first six innings of the game.

 York has dropped three straight and six of its last seven and will look to get even in the series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. as lefty Josh Norwood makes his first start, opposite High Point’s Liam O’Sullivan. 

Kentucky 3, Gastonia 2

The Wild Health Genomes (61-56,26-25) rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth to defeat the Gastonia Honey Hunters 3-2 at Caromont Health Park on Friday night.

Elih Villanueva and Ian McKinney took the mound for their clubs, both teams at the top of the South division race in early September. For Villanueva, he was searching for his 12th win of the season. For McKinney, he was seeking win number seven and a chance to offer the Honey Hunters some coveted breathing room in the chase for the second half title.

Both clubs were stymied by the early work of both starters. Hits were hard to come by and runs were at a premium.

In the fifth inning, Emmanuel Tapia got Gastonia on the board with the second of his three hits, a double that scored Luis Roman. The three hits for Tapia served as the majority of the offense for Gastonia, as the Honey Hunters collected five hits in the game.

In the seventh, Wild Health drew even against McKinney, who had put together six dominant frames for Gastonia. Chris Shaw scored on a sinking line drive to center off the bat of Jimmy Parades, knotting the contest up at 1-1.

Kaleb Bowman made his Gastonia debut in the seventh, replacing McKinney, and was equally electric in the contest. In Bowman´s two frames, he allowed nothing, while striking out three Genomes´ hitters.

In the eighth, Tapia would be heard from again, going opposite field for his 15th homer of the season. The solo shot gave the Honey Hunters a 2-1 lead as they headed to the ninth.

In the ninth, Jesus Balaguer came on to close out the contest for his 24th save.

With two down in the ninth, Shaw singled to right to keep the game alive for Wild Health.

That set the scene for Jimmy Paredes.

Paredes drove a ball beyond the right field wall, giving the Genomes a 3-2 lead and offering Villanueva a chance to come out. The blast energized the first base dugout and spoiled the bid of Gastonia´s closer for save number twenty-four.

Luis Guzman would get through the ninth to earn his first save for the Genomes, allowing only a single to Joseph Rosa.

The win for Villanueva was his 11th against eight losses and trimmed the Gastonia lead to 6.5 games for the South Division´s second half.

Balaguer took the loss, falling to 0-4 on the year for Gastonia(78-40,33-19) 

Gastonia plays game two of the three game set against Wild Health on Saturday at 6:15pm, as Derek Smith brings the call.

Lexington 16, Charleston 7

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Lexington’s hit three homers and drove in 10 runs to lead the Legends to a 16-7 win over visiting Charleston on Friday night at Wild Health Field.

Tejeda hit a three-run homer in the third inning, a grand slam in the fifth and a three-run homer in the seventh.

Lexington’s Courtney Hawkins, who has 44 homers on the year, had his streak of five straight games with a home run ended. Hawkins was one-for-two on Friday with three walks and three runs scored.

Edwin Espinal and Cosimo Cannella each had two hits for Charleston. Teodoro Martinez added four hits and a homer for the Legends.

Lexington scored seven runs in the fifth highlighted by a two-run homer from Isaias Tejeda.

Edison Suriel (W, 2-0) earned the win in relief. Max Tannenbaum (L, 2-6) took the loss.

Staten Island 2, Long Island 1

(Staten Island, N.Y., Sept. 2, 2022) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the Staten Island FerryHawks 2-1 in walk-off fashion in ten innings on Friday evening in the opening game of a three-game Labor Day Weekend series at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park.

 Long Island took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning against Staten Island starting pitcher Hector Guance thanks to an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Alejandro De Aza that scored Anfernee Seymour after he drew a walk with one man down. The FerryHawks tied the game at one versus Ducks starter Scott Harkin in the home half of the frame when Joseph Monge was erased at second base for out number two on a double steal attempt with runners at the corners on a strong throw down to Phil Caulfield by catcher Joe DeCarlo, but in the process Antoine Duplantis crossed the plate by hustling down the line from third base which enabled the home team to get even.

 The contest then became a battle of the bullpens, and after Long Island did not drive home their extra runner at second base in the top of the tenth in pinch-runner Matt Chamberlain, Staten Island took advantage in the home half of the inning against Matt Carasiti. With the bases loaded and one away, Monge sent the FerryHawks fans home with smiles on their faces as he tallied a seeing-eye RBI infield single to the right side that plated pinch-runner Alfredo Reyes with the winning run which gave Staten Island the victory

 Both starting pitchers tallied no-decisions in the ballgame, with Harkin allowing one run on four hits in five innings pitched, walking one and striking out five, while Guance surrendered one run on one hit in six innings on the mound, walking and striking out six. Vin Aiello (2-3) notched the win out of the bullpen with a scoreless inning on one hit allowed and two strikeouts. Carasiti (1-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up an unearned run on one hit in an inning and a third on the bump, walking one.

 Seymour led the way for the Flock with a pair of hits, including a double, along with a walk and a run scored, and Deibinson Romero’s base knock in the sixth extended his on-base streak to a team-high 24 consecutive games overall.

 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.