Gastonia 12, Staten Island 3

Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco each got three hits and combined for eight RBIs on Saturday night, leading Gastonia to a 12-3 win over Staten Island.

Gastonia’s three and four hitters dominated FerryHawks pitching throughout the middle game of the three-game set.

Jarrett got a base hit in each of his first three plate appearances, while Franco tallied one on each of his last three.

After hitting a single his first time up, Jarrett capped off a four-run second inning with an RBI double, scoring Kevin Santa.

The other runs were plated on a Cole Freeman three-run homer to left.

Jarrett’s next knock came in the fourth, when Gastonia’s right fielder hit a two-run single to give the Honey Hunters a 7-1 lead.

The next batter in the fourth was Franco, who connected on his first hit of the game – a two-run bomb to deep right-center field. 412 feet later, Franco has given Gastonia a commanding 9-1 advantage after another four-run frame.

Franco made it 10-1 in the sixth with a single plating Freeman.

Gastonia’s lefty slugger tacked on a couple more in the eighth, drilling a ball 435 feet to dead center field.

Both Franco’s homers were at least 110 miles-per-hour off the bat, and they were both well over 400 feet.

Franco now has 15 long balls and 51 RBIs. He leads the Atlantic League in runs driven in, as well as OPS (on-base plus slugging) and batting average.

Gunnar Kines had his third great start in a row, throwing five innings of one-run ball. He wasn’t extremely sharp at the beginning of the game, but settled in and gave his team 15 outs while the bats got going.

Kines is now 6-1 with a 4.42 ERA, which is much better than his 7.58 ERA just a few weeks ago. Over his past three starts, he’s allowed two runs in 17.2 innings pitched.

Luis Curbelo hit his fifth home run of the year, but his first one on the road.

He came into the series hitting just .151 with a .376 OPS in away games, but hit a solo shot in the third inning to keep the hit parade going for Gastonia.

The Honey Hunters scored 12 runs on 14 hits and dominated Staten Island pitchers Ofelky Peralta, Blake Loubier and John Esposito.

They improved to 36-15, which is still the best record in the league.

The FerryHawks fell to 15-33, which is still the worst record in the ALPB.

Gastonia tries to sweep Staten Island for the second time in a week on Sunday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.

Long Island 11, Lancaster 5
Lancaster 7, Long Island 3

Spencer Johnston arrived from Washington, PA earlier in the week and took advantage of his fresh start.

The right-hander threw two-hit baseball for five innings, pitching the Lancaster Barnstormers to a 7-3 victory over the Long Island Ducks in the second game of a rain-delayed doubleheader Saturday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Long Island grabbed the opener, 11-5, slugging three homers, one a grand slam by Alejandro de Aza.

Brantley Bell knocked a two-run homer onto the right field deck following a Brian Goodwin single off Johnston (1-0) in the top of the second inning.  The right-hander would go on to retire the next nine batters he faced before hitting Anthony Peroni with a pitch in the fifth.  He walked one and struck out seven in his five-inning performance.

The Barnstormers took advantage of a defensive mistake by the Ducks to tie the game in the bottom of the second.  Yeison Coca reached when his ground ball slipped under Ruben Tejada’s glove for an error.  Coca stole second and remained there when Jake Hoover lined to short.  Trace Loehr ripped a single to right to drive home one.  Loehr also stole second, took third on a grounder by Melvin Mercedes and scored when Bell’s throw after a diving stop at third on an Andretty Cordero smash pulled first baseman Sam Travis off the bag.

Wilson Garcia led off the third with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Marshall Rich as Lancaster took its first lead of the night against Scott Harkin (1-2) in the bottom of the third.  Mercedes and Garcia unloaded two-run homers to right in the fourth for a 7-2 lead.

Things grew tense in the top of the seventh.  Andrew Lee struck out pinch hitter Darian Sandford for the first out.  Brian Goodwin yanked a double into the right field corner, and Bell dropped a pop fly just fair down the right field line to drive home a run.  Anthony Peroni was drilled by a pitch.  A walk to Ruben Tejada loaded the bases, bringing up De Aza.

There would be no second slam as the Long Island outfielder grounded to Garcia to end the game.

An RBI double by Sam Travis and single by Alex Dickerson produced a quick 2-0 lead off Brandyn Sittinger (3-4).  Cordero singled home Mercedes in the bottom of the inning off Robert Stock (2-0), but Lancaster would not strike again until the game was out of control.

Homers by Goodwin and Travis stretched the Long Island lead to 5-1.  Chance Sisco added a two-run single before de Aza belted his grand slam to right for an 11-1 edge.

Loehr doubled home a pair in the bottom of the sixth.  A third run scored on an error.  Loehr, in turn, scored on a double to right center to cut the lead to 11-5.

The series concludes on Sunday afternoon at 1:00.  Brent Teller (3-3) will make the start for Lancaster against right-hander Joe Iorio (3-4).  Fans may view the game on Blue Ridge 11 or FloBaseball at 1:00.

NOTES:  Ariel Sandoval hit safely in both games to extend a streak to eight…Garcia has hit in six straight, going 11-for-23 with three homers and seven RBI…Jesus Liranzo threw his fourth scoreless inning of the homestand…De Aza became the only batter in those innings to put the ball in play, lining to center…Liranzo cleared 100 MPH on five of his pitches in the inning…Loehr reached base his last five plate appearances in the DH.

High Point 19, So. Maryland 4

WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers unleashed an offensive onslaught on Southern Maryland on Saturday, posting a 19-4 win over the Blue Crabs at Regency Furniture Stadium.

The Rockers improved to 35-16 on the year with the win while Gastonia (36-15) remained in first in the Atlantic League South Division following a 12-3 win at Staten Island.

The Rockers’ offense began when D.J. Burt led off the contest by reaching on an error. Burt moved to second on a single by Shed Long, Jr. and then took third on a long flyout to right by Zander Wiel. Beau Taylor grounded to first and the Blue Crabs retired Long, Jr. at second as Burt scored.

In the second, the Rockers put four more runs on the board as Emmanuel Tapia supplied an RBI single, Long, Jr. belted a two-run homer and Michael Martinez brought in a run on a fielder’s choice. The lead grew to 7-0 in the third when Daikan Yoh and Ryan Grotjohn singled and then scored on ground outs by Martinez and Ben Aklinski.

The Blue Crabs got to Nicolino for three runs in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded, Nicolino forced in a run with a walk to Jack Sundberg. Ground outs by Philip Caulfield and Braxton Lee plated two more runs to make it a 7-3 game.

After a scoreless fourth inning, High Point added five runs in the fifth for a 12-3 lead. Pitcher A.J. Cole, who came on in relief of Nicolino, hit a solo homer to lead off the fifth, becoming the first Rockers pitcher to ever hit a homer. Long, Jr. delivered a two-run single and Beau Taylor and Yoh each moved runs across the plate with ground outs.

High Point extended the lead to 15-4 with a three-run seventh inning. Blue Crab reliever Josh Martin walked Yoh and Grotjohn then hit Ben Aklinski with a pitch to load the bases. Rockers reliever Bryce Hensley then bounced a single to left that scored two more runs. John Daly brought home the final run of the inning with a fielder’s choice.

High Point tacked on four more runs in the top of the ninth as Martinez singled home one, Zander Wiel walked with the bases loaded to force home a second run and Taylor delivered a two-run bases loaded double.

Lefty Justin Nicolino made his first start for the Rockers since returning to the club on Friday, throwing three innings and allowing just one hit while walking three and striking out two. Cole went two innings and fanned three while allowing two hits and a run.

Long, Jr. finished with three hits and four RBI while Taylor and Hensley each drove in two runs. Taylor, Yoh and Grotjohn each had a pair of hits and Aklinski scored three runs.

Game three of the series is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. on Sunday at Regency Furniture Stadium. The game can be watched via livestream on FloBaseball and the audio is on the Mixlr app.

Frederick 8, York 7
Frederick 12, York 11

FREDERICK, MD – After Friday night’s rainout, Frederick and York played a doubleheader on Saturday with an interesting twist. Frederick would play game one in their question mark jerseys, and game two would see the debut of the team’s new identity. 

After two straight one out singles in the bottom of the first in game one, Raudy Read hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field to score Starlin Castro. 

It would not take long for York to answer, however. After a one out Trey Martin double, he advanced to third on a balk by Max Povse. The next batter, Alexis Pantoja, knocked him in with a hit.  

Frederick got the run back immediately on a Kole Cottam home run, and finished the inning with three runs thanks to an Osvaldo Abreu groundout and another home run by Leobaldo Cabrera. 

However, things began to unravel for Frederick in the top of the third. Nate Peden walked the first four batters of the inning, with the last of the four resulting in a run and Peden’s removal from the game. Max Tannenbaum entered, hitting the first batter he faced and then allowing another run to score via a wild pitch. Ryan January then delivered York’s only hit of the inning, a two run double to right center field. This completed a five-run frame for the Revolution, who suddenly led 6-4.  

Jeff Singer struck out the side in the fourth, and retired the first two he faced in the fifth. However, Singer rattled off his own string of four straight walks to bring home another run. 

Osvaldo Abreu led off the bottom of the fifth with a broken bat single, and after a Jimmy Paredes walk, Frederick had two on and two out for Raudy Read, who blasted a game tying three run home run to left center field to tie the game at seven. 

Luke Becker knocked a one out single in the sixth inning as rain began to fall. As a downpour commenced, Scott Kelly drove a double into the right centerfield gap to score Becker and give Frederick the 8-7 lead. 

After a 45-minute rain delay, Zac Rosscup struck out the side in the seventh to close down the 8-7 win and officially close the book on the question mark era.  

In between games, the Frederick club took the field as their new identity, the Spire City Ghost Hounds.  

York struck first in game two on back-to-back singles from Jhon Nunez and Alexis Pantoja in the second inning.  

Starlin Castro cut that lead in half in the bottom of the third with an RBI single, but York got two more of their own in the fourth, making it 4-1. 

The first home run in the Ghost Hounds threads belonged to Jimmy Paredes who uncorked a solo home run to right field to cut the lead in half again, to 4-2.  

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Craig Dedelow knocked in two runs on a single that turned into an error on center fielder Tomo Otosaka, allowing Dedelow to make it all the way to third. Dedelow proceeded to score on a wild pitch to give Spire City the lead. 

In the sixth inning with two outs, York’s Drew Mendoza hit a pop fly that could have ended the inning, but instead fell into shallow left field. That set of a chain of events that would result in six York runs scoring with two outs. A Troy Stokes Jr two run double, Nellie Rodriguez double, and Jhon Nunez three run home run contributed to the total. They added one more insurance run in the top of the seventh, sending Frederick to the plate down 11-5. 

With one out, Craig Dedelow and Jimmy Paredes hit back to back home runs to bring it to an 11-7 game. It was Dedelow’s 100^th home run of his pro career.
 

After Moises Sierra doubled and moved up to third base on two consecutive wild pitches, he scored on a Kole Cottam single. After Luke Becker walked, designated pinch runner Scott Kelly scored on a single by Leobaldo Cabrera. Suddenly Cabrera, who represented the tying run was on first base. Almost immediately, he found himself on second base on a Denson Hull wild pitch.  

Because of the wild pitch, Becker was able to score on a Starlin Castro groundout, cutting the game to 11-10. With a full count and two outs, Jose Marmolejos tied the game with a ground rule double to deep center field, just narrowly missing a walk off home run. 

But the walk off would not wait long, as Raudy Read dropped a double down the left field line to win the game for the Ghost Hounds, their second seven run final frame comeback of the season. 

It was a special night in the Spire City that had just about everything, and the new era was kicked off with an incredible comeback. 

Charleston 6, Lexington 5