Wild Card Update:

High Point’s magic number remains at one as the Rockers lost at home to Gastonia 15-1 on Wednesday night while the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes took a 16-10 decision at Staten Island. The Rockers are 69-59 for the season while the Genomes are 64-63. Each club finishes its mid-week series on Thursday.

Gastonia 15, High Point 1
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers remain on the verge of clinching an Atlantic League playoff spot but will have to hold off for another day. The Rockers dropped a 15-1 decision to Gastonia on Wednesday night at Truist Point. The Rockers maintain a 4.5 game lead over Kentucky which defeated Staten Island 16-10 on Tuesday.

The Rockers are 69-59 on the year with four games remaining and the Genomes stand at 64-63 with five games to play. One win by the Rockers or one loss by the Genomes will send High Point to the postseason.

Gastonia scored four times in the first inning on five hits, a walk and a hit batter off Rockers’ starter Liam O’Sullivan (L, 4-6). The Honey Hunters scored two in the third and tallied five times in the fourth in building an 11-0 lead.

Gastonia starter Alex Sanabia (W, 7-5) allowed just three hits through his five innings or work, two of them singles by Michael Russell.

The Rockers’ lone run scored in the seventh on Russell’s third hit of the night, a walk to Ben Aklinski, a single by Logan Morrison and a fielder’s choice RBI by Quincy Latimore. Russell was the only Rocker with more than one hit.

High Point and Gastonia will have their final regular season meeting of the year on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The game will feature the One Last Blast postgame fireworks show presented by Lumos. Fans can watch the fireworks show from the field.

Kentucky 16, Staten Island 10

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.- Luke Becker had a pair of doubles and five RBI and Samir Duenez knocked in three runs to power Kentucky to a 16-10 win at Staten Island as the Wild Health Genomes seek to stay alive in the Atlantic League Wild Card race. The Genomes have zero margin for error. Their next loss or a win by High Point would put the Rockers into the playoffs.

The Genomes scored eight times in the fourth to take a 9-3 lead over Staten Island. Becker drilled a two-run double, Chris Shaw knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice and Olmo Rosario, Felix Pie and Duenez all delivered RBI singles in the frame. But the FerryHawks answered with six runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth with Joseph Monge and Dilson Herrera collecting RBI singles while Angel Aguilar drilled a two-run double and Mariel Bautista added an RBI double.

The Genomes iced the game with a four-run eighth on another Becker two-run double, an RBI single from Shaw and a Moises Sierra sacrifice fly.

Eric Marinez (L, 1-5) took the loss in relief for Staten Island, yielding seven hits and five runs in his two innings. Elivallanueva (W, 12-9) earned the win with seven strikeouts in five innings despite allowing 12 hits and 10 runs.

York 9, Lancaster 0

The night after the Lancaster Barnstormers celebrated the second half title in the Atlantic League’s North Division, the club had an off night at the plate and on the mound, falling, 9-0, to the York Revolution at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

 Four York right-handers combined on a three-hit shutout as the Revs toppled the host Barnstormers, 9-0, in the middle game of a three-game set at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

 Austin Mora (1-1) tossed the first 5 1/3 innings, yielding two singles.  The Californian walked four and struck out five.  Kyle Zurak easily picked up the final two outs in the sixth.  Franklin Van Gurp yielded a leadoff double to Joseph Carpenter in the seventh before retiring the side in order.  Roniel Raudes pitched the last two innings, allowing only one baserunner as he hit Jacob Barfield with a pitch to open the ninth.

 York scored the only runs it needed with a five-run surge off Bret Clarke (2-2) in the second.  Melky Mesa stroked a single into left and took second on a wild pitch.  With one out, Elmer Reyes banged a double off the fence in the right field corner for a 1-0 lead.  Josue Herrera singled into center, chasing Reyes to third.  Clarke appeared to be on his way out of the inning with a strikeout of Connor Lien, but he walked Troy Stokes, Jr. to load the bases.  Jhon Nunez singled to left to drive home a pair, and J.C. Encarnacion, batting for the injured Telvin Nash, tripled to left center for the 5-0 lead.

 The Revs did not score again until the seventh when Encarnacion doubled to deep left off Dominic DiSabatino and a pair of outs.  Nellie Rodriguez crushed a two-run homer in the ninth for an 8-0 lead, and another run scored on a grounder by Reyes.

 Lancaster will host the rubber game of the three-game series on Thursday.  Nile Ball (10-5) is ticketed to take the mound for Lancaster against right-hander Deyvis Julian (1-0).  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube channel at 6:25.

 NOTES:  Andretty Cordero had one of the two hits off Mora, his 177th hit of the year…Cordero came out after the fourth inning when the Barnstormers lost their DH, and manager Ross Peeples made a quadruple switch…DiSabatino had the other Lancaster single, the third hit by a pitcher this season…Melvin Mercedes was out of the starting lineup for the first time since June 6…Barfield has been hit by a pitch 12 times on the season.

Southern Maryland 7, Long Island 4

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs were on fire to start tonight’s ballgame, scoring six runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 7-4 victory over the Long Island Ducks.  The Blue Crabs bats collected 14 hits in the first four innings in the victory. 

 In the top of the first inning, with two outs and nobody on, Jared Walker hit a solo home run off of Scott Harkin (L, 10-8).  That would be the first of nine consecutive hits that the Blue Crabs mustered.  From there, David Harris and Joe DeLuca singled, before Zach Collier doubled down the right field line, scoring Harris to give the Blue Crabs a 2-0 lead.   

 The Blue Crabs added four consecutive RBI singles from there, as Santiago Chirino, Ryan Haug, Michael Baca, and Jack Sundberg each picked up a hit and an RBI, giving the Blue Crabs a 6-0 lead.  The inning ended when Michael Wielansky singled to left, but Michael Baca was thrown out at the plate, as that would have been the fifth consecutive RBI single. 

 In the fourth inning, with the Blue Crabs on top 6-1, David Harris added an RBI single into center field, scoring Michael Wielansky and giving the Blue Crabs a 7-1 lead. Harris’s hit was the team’s 14th of the night, but the bats did not muster another hit the rest of the way.  

 Alex Merithew (W, 8-3) got the start for Southern Maryland tonight.  Merithew allowed only one run across the first four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth and sixth innings.  He ultimately pitched five and two-thirds innings, allowing eight hits and four runs in the victory.  

 With the Blue Crabs ahead 7-4, Connor Law entered the ballgame in the sixth inning with two outs.  Law retired the only batter he faced before Patrick Baker pitched a scoreless seventh inning.  James Dykstra struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth inning, while Endrys Briceno (SV, 10) picked up the save in a 1-2-3 ninth inning, securing the 7-4 victory.  

Santiago Chirino played in his first game with the Blue Crabs, notching two hits while playing strong defense at third base.  Meanwhile, at the plate, Michael Wielansky reached base four times, while David Harris had three hits in the ballgame. 

 The Blue Crabs return to Fairfield Properties Ballpark at 6:35 for game three tomorrow night. 

Charleston 6, Lexington 5

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Charleston Dirty Birds usedc a three-run homer from Miles Williams and an RBI double from Devon Torrence to score four times in the eighth inning and lead Charleston to a 6-5 win over Lexington on Wednesday afternoon at Wild Health Field.

Trailing 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Legends scored three times with Phillip Ervin delivering a two-run homer and Tillman Pugh slugging a solo shot. But Charleston Reliever Ricardo Gomez was able to escape the jam and close out the win for the Dirty Birds.

Torrence led Charleston with three hits while Ervin had four hits for Lexington. Angelo Baez (W, 1-1) worked seven innings for Charleston in the victory. Edison Suriel (L, 2-2) allowed four runs in his 1.1 innings of relief.