Gastonia 14, High Point 10

GASTONIA, N.C. – The High Point Rockers fell behind Gastonia 10-0 on Wednesday night before rallying late but coming up short in a 14-10 loss to the Honey Hunters at CaroMont Health Park. Gastonia managed 17 hits against six High Point pitchers and also took advantage of nine walks.

The Rockers are now 22-8 on the year while Gastonia improved to 20-9. High Point maintains a 1.5 game lead over the Honey Hunters in the Atlantic League’s South Division.

Gastonia scored six runs in the first and four in the second to build a 10-0 lead after three innings. Meanwhile, Gastonia starter Zach Mort (W, 4-0) held the Rockers to a lead-off walk to Michael Russell and a second inning single by Beau Taylor through the first three innings.

Gastonia did most of its damage against High Point starting pitcher Matt Solter (L, 0-1). Signed earlier in the day, the Atlantic League veteran allowed eight hits and nine runs in his 1.1 innings of work before giving way to reliever Bryce Hensley.

In the fourth, Michael Martinez tripled and then scored on a groundout by John Nogowski. Zander Wiel followed with a solo homer, his sixth of the season, to make it a 10-2 contest.

The Rockers scratched back two more runs in the fifth when Ryan Grotjohn singled and scored as Russell hit his second homer in as many nights to cut the deficit to 10-4. But the Honey Hunters were able to push across three more runs in the fifth and sixth to take a 13-4 lead.

High Point pulled to within 13-8 with four runs in the top of the seventh. Martinez hit a run-scoring double and Nogowski added a two-run double before Wiel finished the spurt with an RBI single.

Gastonia finished its scoring with a run in the ninth when J.C. Escarra singled home Jack Reinheimer for a 14-8 edge for the Honey Hunters.

Walks to Martinez and Tyler Blaum in the ninth and a single by Ben Aklinski loaded the bases against Gastonia reliever Jaime Schultz. Ryan Grotjohn singled to left to score two and pull High Point to within four at 14-10 but Schultz struck out John Daly to seal the win.

The Honey Hunters were led by Steven Sensley, Zach Jarrett, Reinheimer and Escarra who each had three hits. The Rockers had nine hits on the night including the two home runs by Russell and Wiel. Martinez scored three times for High Point and collected a double and a triple.

The Rockers and Honey Hunters will conclude the three-game series on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at CaroMont Health Park.  The game will be streamed live on FloSports and MixLR will carry the Rockers’ audio broadcast of the game.

Frederick 12, Staten Island 6

Frederick snapped their three-game losing skid in a big way on Wednesday, knocking off the Staten Island Ferryhawks 12-6. 

Staten Island struck first in the top of the second inning with an RBI single from Jack Elliott and a Roldani Baldwin sacrifice fly, but Frederick did not take long to answer.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, Frederick strung together four runs. A Kole Cottam double, Osvaldo Abreu single, and Leobaldo Cabrera two run home run quickly put Frederick up 4-2. For Cabrera, it was his 12^th home run of the year, and he has now homered in five straight games in which he has played.

In the fourth, two more runs scored on a base hit from Craig Dedelow, and Dedelow himself scored on a single by Starlin Castro. The score jumped to 8-2 in the fifth when Raudy Read sliced an RBI double into left field.

In the top of the sixth, David Kubiak was one strike away from completing six innings of two-run baseball before Luis Castro hit a three-run home run to left field to make it 8-5. 

With one out in the seventh inning, Kole Cottam blasted a two-run home run to left, his sixth of the year to push the lead to 10-5. In the eighth, it was again Raudy Read who drilled a two-run single, making it 12-5. 

Staten Island got one across on a groundout in the ninth inning, but Tai Tiedemann proceeded to shut the door and give Frederick the 12-6 win.

York 8, Long Island 7

(Central Islip, N.Y., May 31, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the York Revolution 8-7 on Wednesday night in the middle game of a three-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

The Revolution took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Alejandro Rivero and Jacob Rhinesmith off Ducks starter Stephen Tarpley. The Ducks plated their first run in the second on Anthony Peroni’s RBI infield single off Revs starter Pedro Vasquez. 

York added a three-spot in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead, highlighted by an RBI double from Jhon Nunez and a two-run homer to right field by Drew Mendoza. Long Island closed to within two on Brian Goodwin’s RBI single to right in the fifth and Boog Powell’s run-scoring groundout in the sixth. 

A three-run seventh for York put the visitor’s ahead 8-3. Rivero’s RBI single and Richard Urena’s two-run single did the damage. The Ducks stormed back with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth to close the gap to one. Tzu-Wei Lin’s RBI single and Goodwin’s three-run homer to right highlighted the scoring, but the Flock were unable to complete the comeback. 

Vasquez (1-0) picked up the win, tossing five innings of two-run ball, allowing nine hits and a walk with one strikeout. Tarpley (1-2) took the loss, conceding eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits and two walks in six and two-thirds innings with six strikeouts. Tasker Strobel collected his first save of the season with a scoreless ninth. 

Lin, Daniel Murphy and Alex Dickerson each had three hits for the Flock. Goodwin added two hits, four RBIs and two runs.

The Ducks and Revolution wrap up their three-game set on Thursday night. Game time is slated for 6:35 p.m., with the Fairfield Properties Ballpark gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders). It’s a Thirsty Thursday, and all fans will be welcome to visit the Duck Club restaurant/bar during the game. There will also be an exclusive buy one, get one half-price special on all Stella Artois beer in the ballpark. Right-hander Joe Iorio (2-3, 3.86) toes the rubber for the Ducks against Revolution southpaw Nick Raquet (3-2, 1.66).

Charleston 13, Lexington 7 (Game 1)
Lexington 3, Charleston 2 (Game 2)