Gastonia 5, Frederick 4

Late inning bullpen woes haunted Frederick again on Friday night as they dropped the series opener to Gastonia, 5-4. The loss drops Frederick to 12-26 overall, and drops them to 0-10 against the first-place Honey Hunters. 

Max Povse got the start on the mound for Frederick, and made quick work of Gastonia with a 1-2-3 first inning that featured back-to-back strikeouts. In the second inning, Gastonia loaded the bases with a pair of walks and hit by pitch, but Povse was able to get Luis Curbelo to fly out to center field to end the inning.  

Still without a hit to that point, Gastonia worked two one-out walks against Povse, when Carlos Franco took an outside pitch the other way and over the left field wall to give Gastonia a 3-0 lead on just one hit. 

As has been a common theme all season, Frederick did not take long to try and chip away at the lead. After Craig Dedelow waked with one out, Raudy Read hit an absolute blast to left field, traveling 447 feet to cut the deficit to 3-2. The home run for Read was his eighth of the season, and extended his hit streak to 14 games. 

Gastonia again threatened against Povse in the fifth, loading the bases with one out. Over the century mark in pitches, Povse locked in and struck out the next two batters to strand three and keep the game at a one-run margin. Povse finished his night with a season high eight strikeouts. 

Frederick chased Zack Godley from the game in the fifth after five consecutive hits, including RBI singles from Dedelow and Jose Marmolejos. However, after Gastonia went to the pen, the next ten hitters were all retired. This included two perfect innings from David Richardson and perfect seventh from Ryan Conroy. Jaime Schultz followed by facing the minimum in the eighth.  

Prior to that point, in the top half of the eighth, Gastonia had tied the game at four on a two out double from Scott Manea.  

The top of the ninth was the disaster point for Frederick on Friday. Jack Reinheimer led off with a single and a steal of second base. After a walk to JC Escarra and a strikeout of Zach Jarrett, Frederick opted to walk Carlos Franco to load the bases, in favor of facing pinch hitter Pedro Gonzalez. With a full count and the runners in motion, Hernandez tried an inside move to second base. Breaking on the throw, Reinheimer was able to swipe home, beating Luke Becker’s throw to put Gastonia on top again, 5-4.  

In the ninth, with two outs, Frederick got runners on the corners with a Dedelow walk and Marmolejos single, but Read was caught looking to end the game. 

Gastonia with the win holds firm to their first-place lead, moving to 26-11, while Frederick drops to 12-26.  

Dustin Beggs will get the ball for Frederick on Saturday with a 6 PM start time. The game will be followed by a Fireworks Super Show.  

High Point 4, Charleston 3

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers used the knuckleball of Mickey Jannis and some timely hitting from Beau Taylor to trip the Charleston Dirty Birds 4-3 Friday night at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston.

Jannis (W, 6-0) went 5.1 innings and struck out six while yielding just three hits. He ran into trouble in the sixth when Telvin Nash homered but the Bullpen pitched the final 3.2 innings and allowed just two hits while striking out seven. Jannis is now tied for the Atlantic League lead with six wins along with So. Maryland’s Mitch Lambson.

The Rockers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Zander Wiel was hit by a pitch with one out. After a Ben Aklinski single moved Wiel to second, both runners advanced on a wild pitch by Dirty Birds starter Kit Scheetz (L, 2-5). Taylor’s sac fly to left scored Wiel and put the Rockers up 1-0.

The Rockers added a pair of runs in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. Brian Parreira singled to lead off the frame and John Daly reached on a bunt single. With Joe Johnson at the plate, both Parreira and Daly moved up a base on a disengagement violation by Scheetz. Shed Long, Jr. then singled to left to score both runners.

Taylor’s solo homer leading off the fifth inning, his sixth homer of the year, put the Rockers up 4-0.

Jannis allowed just one hit through the first four innings before walking Diego Goris to lead off the fifth. Jose Bermudez doubled to left to score Goris from first and cut the deficit to 4-1.  In the sixth, Jannis walked Dwight Smith, Jr. to lead off the inning and Nash then homered to pull Charleston to within a run at 4-3. A.J. Cole retired the final two hitters of the fifth and then turned it over to Cam Bedrosian who struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.

Jameson McGrane threw a scoreless  eighth before Rockers manager Jamie Keefe called on Ryan Dull in the ninth. Dull allowed a single and a walk but struck out Jalen Miller to end the game and earn his ninth save of the year.

The Rockers now stand at 26-12 on the season and are 6-1 this season against Charleston.

High Point and Charleston will play the second game of this three game series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at GoMart Ballpark. The game will be streamed live on FloBaseball.com.

NOTES: Jannis has tied his Atlantic League high for wins in a season. He was 6-2 with Long Island in 2015… Beau Taylor continues to pace the league with a .354 average… Dull’s ninth save ties him for the most in the ALPB this season… 1B John Nogowski was placed on the inactive list prior to the game and P/OF Joe Johnson was activated from the injured list.

Staten Island 12, Lancaster 7

The Staten Island FerryHawks rapped out 10 extra base hits on Friday evening to topple the Lancaster Barnstormers, 12-7, ending the Stormers’ six-game winning streak.

Leading the FerryHawks was Brandon Pugh, a well-traveled player with no affiliated experience, who went 4-for-4 with a homer, triple and five RBI in his Atlantic League debut.  Only a heads up play by second baseman Yeison Coca in the sixth inning kept Pugh from becoming the first opposing player ever to hit for the cycle against the Barnstormers.  Coca retrieved a pop fly that dropped in shallow right and nabbed Pugh trying to stretch the play into a double.

Red hot Luis Castro contributed three hits, including his third homer in two games.

Staten Island reached Brent Teller (2-2) for four runs in the bottom of the second.  Kevin Krause, Roldani Baldwin and Luis Castro unleashed a barrage of doubles and Pugh followed with a two-run homer to right center in his first Atlantic League at bat.

Lancaster countered with a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Trayvon Robinson, his 500^th Atlantic League base hit, but Pugh keyed a three-run bottom of the inning with his triple for a 7-1 lead.

A two-out error in the top of the sixth kept the Barnstormers alive.  Wilson Garcia followed with a double to cut the lead to 7-3.  Joseph Carpenter walked, and Lancaster climbed within a run as Jack Conley slugged his first ALPB home run, a drove over the boards in left.

However, Lancaster would get no closer as Castro and Ricardo Cespedes homered, and Angel Aguilar produced an RBI double in the bottom of the inning.

Jesse Remington (1-0) retired the first nine batters he faced and lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and only one earned run to pick up the win.

The Barnstormers will visit Staten Island again on Saturday at 4:00.  Jared Lakind (2-2) will make the start against fellow lefty Michael Byrne (0-1).  Fans may tune into the game on FloBaseball, beginning at 3:55.

NOTES:  Staten Island set season highs against the Barnstormers in runs and total bases…Joseph Carpenter lost a hitting streak at seven…Mercedes and Garcia had multi-hit games…Mercedes has reached base 21 times (14 hits, 7 walks) in the last 10 games…Lancaster is again playing with only 21 available bodies…Tyler LaPorte pinch ran for Garcia in the sixth and pitched in the seventh, the second time he has pulled the double duty this week.

Long Island 5, York 2

(Central Islip, N.Y., June 9, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the York Revolution 5-2 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

The Ducks struck for two runs in the first inning against Revolution starter Carlos Espinal on Boog Powell’s solo homer to right field and Alejandro De Aza’s RBI single to center. York cut their deficit in half in the second on Jhon Nunez’s RBI double down the left field line off Ducks starter Ian Clarkin, but Long Island got the run back in the bottom of the inning on Tzu-Wei Lin’s RBI triple to left-center.

The Revs closed back to within a run in the fifth on Alejando Rivero’s RBI double to center field. The Ducks restored their lead to two in the sixth on Adeiny Hechavarria’s RBI double down the left field line and stretched the advantage to three in the sxeventh on Brantley Bell’s sac fly to right. 

Clarkin (2-1) earned the win, tossing six innings of two-run ball, allowing seven hits and a walk while striking out 10. Espinal (2-1) took the loss, conceding four runs on seven hits in five and one-third innings with four strikeouts. Kevin Quackenbush picked up his eighth save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two.

Powell led the Flock offensively with two hits, an RBI and a run. Sam Travis added two hits and scored twice. 

The Ducks and Revolution continue their three-game set on Saturday 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). Following the game, all fans in attendance will be treated to a Fireworks Spectacular, presented by UBS Financial Services. It’s also a Lucky Seat Saturday, presented by Long Island MacArthur Airport. During the game, the Ducks will be selecting a lucky fan in the ballpark, who will win two roundtrips on Breeze Airways to any of their six non-stop destinations from Long Island MacArthur Airport. Left-hander McKenzie Mills (0-1, 18.00) toes the rubber for the Ducks against York righty Jorge Martinez (2-2, 7.13).

Lexington 11, So. Maryland 4