York 3, High Point 2

(June 30, 2023 – High Point, NC):  The York Revolution seized the lead with a three-run seventh inning and held on for a crucial 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the High Point Rockers on Friday night at Truist Point. The Revs bounced back after a tough loss at home the night before and remain in first place with eight games remaining in the first half, having now won five of their last six.

York was silenced offensively through the first six innings by High Point starter Justin Nicolino, who allowed just three hits over six scoreless innings. The Revs’ best chance to score against the lefty came in the sixth when Trent Giambrone led off with a double to left, but Nicolino escaped with a 1-0 lead still intact.

The Revs jumped on Rockers reliever Cam Bedrosian in the top of the seventh. Nellie Rodriguez and Richard Urena set the table with singles and Alejandro Rivero executed a perfect sac bunt. That set the stage for Ryan January who came through with a clutch go-ahead two-run single through the right side of the infield, propelling the Revs in front with a 2-1 lead. Giambrone added an RBI double to deep left center for a critical insurance run.

Revs starter Pedro Vasquez (3-1) was terrific in six innings to earn the win. He was tested early as the Rockers had runners at second and third with no outs in the first inning but danced out of trouble to leave the bases loaded in a 31-pitch frame. His only run allowed came on a two-out RBI single by Shed Long Jr. in the bottom of the second, as he followed that base hit by retiring his next eight consecutive hitters and 11 of his next 12 batters faced.

Armed with the lead, the Revs went to the bullpen in the seventh. Michael Martinez led off with a double down the left field line and scored on a pair of ground outs to cut York’s lead to 3-2, but Will Carter yielded no further damage.

J.P. Woodward was given a high leverage assignment against the middle of the order in the eighth and responded by tossing his 11th consecutive inning without allowing an earned run.

Woodward was brought back out for the ninth. After a leadoff walk, the lefty retired Martinez on a popped bunt attempt and recorded the second out when pinch runner John Daly was hit with a batted ball by Long Jr.

York manager Rick Forney called on side-arming righty Andrew Gross for the final out, and after Long Jr. stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, Gross struck out Michael Russell for the final out, notching his 13th career save and first with York.

Notes: The win is the 17th comeback victory of the year for the Revs and seventh when trailing after six innings. It is the third time in the last five games the Revs have allowed two runs or fewer on the mound. Vasquez struck out a season-high five. Revs starters are 4-0 with a 2.53 ERA over the last five games. York improves to 16-8 in games decided by two runs or fewer and 9-5 in one-run games. The Revs have scored 56 runs in the seventh inning this season which leads the league and is their highest single-inning total. Giambrone doubled twice and now has a seven-game hitting streak. Drew Mendoza singled and walked, extending his on-base streak to 28 consecutive games. It was only the eighth home loss for High Point, now a league-best 24-8. The Revs remain half a game in front of Long Island for first place, while High Point falls to two games behind Gastonia in the South Division. York lefty Nick Raquet (6-4, 3.28) faces High Point knuckleballer Mickey Jannis (7-1, 3.32) on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and FloBaseball.TV beginning at 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.

Gastonia 15, Southern Maryland 0

Gastonia’s offense was lifeless on Thursday night against High Point.

The Honey Hunters scored just one run in an embarrassing 11-1 loss to their rival.

The bats flipped the script on Friday, putting up 14 hits and destroying Southern Maryland 15-0.

Everyone in Gastonia’s batting order either produced or scored a run against the Blue Crabs pitching staff, who had several control issues throughout the game.

Daryl Thompson took the mound for Southern Maryland. It was the first time Thompson pitched at CaroMont Health Park since he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout on June 14.

He started his outing by giving up a double and a home run to the first two batters – Cole Freeman and Kevin Santa.

Santa’s homer was his first with Gastonia, and it gave the Honey Hunters an early 2-0 lead.

The score remained that way heading into the third inning, when Santa came up for the second time.

The lefty rolled it over to first, where K.C. Hobson fielded and tossed onto Thompson, who was covering the bag. Right after Thompson made the catch for the out, he fell down awkwardly and was in a ton of pain.

Thompson had to be helped off the field and was replaced just 2.2 innings into his start, which made things difficult for manager Stan Cliburn and the Southern Maryland pitching staff.

Cole Aker was called upon in relief of Thompson, and he struggled a lot with finding the strike zone.

Aker issued two walks and a hit-by-pitch, as well as a single, in the fourth. He had given up a sacrifice fly to Luis Curbelo.

Aker then walked Alexis Olmeda and Freeman with the bases loaded to bring home a couple more runs Santa’s RBI groundout made it 6-0 Gastonia after four.

Josh Martin came in for the fifth inning.

He was greeted rudely by Carlos Franco, who hit a no-doubt opposite-field homer to left-center. The solo shot was Franco’s 16th long ball of the year. It was one of three hits that Franco recorded on Friday, and the lefty slugger also hit a pair of sac flies.

Martin then hit Freeman with a pitch and gave up a hit to Santa, which loaded the bases for Zach Jarrett.

Jarrett walked in a run in the sixth off Martin, and then had an RBI walk once again in the seventh.

The third and final home run hit by Gastonia was off the bat of Braxton Davidson, who has been red-hot recently.

Davidson hit his sixth homer of the year, three of which have come in the past four games.

Coming off his 3-for-5 series against High Point, Davidson went 2-for-3 with a homer, 2 RBIs, two walks and four runs scored on Friday night. The lefty has now gotten on base and scored in six straight games.

Although Davidson got off to a slow start with Gastonia, he’s picked it up as of late. And it’s all because of a simple change he’s made.

“Me and Chuckie (hitting coach Chuck Stewart) have been working in the cage on the field the last few days,” Davidson said. “I choked up on my bat, and really just trying to stay smooth and slow instead of trying to be herky jerky… It’s starting to click.”

Gastonia may have exploded offensively, but the pitching was spectacular as well.

Gunnar Kines threw six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out six batters. Over his last four starts, Kines has allowed two runs and has struck out 25 hitters in 23.2 innings pitched. He’s also gotten the win in all four outings.

Jake Miednik threw two perfect frames, striking out three. Jaime Schultz then closed out the game by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Gastonia improved to 39-17 with the win and are now two games ahead of High Point for first place in the South. There are seven games left for each team until the first half of the season comes to an end.

Southern Maryland fell to 27-27 after losing its sixth straight game.

The Honey Hunters and Blue Crabs will play two games on Saturday. The first game of the doubleheader is at 2:35 p.m.

Lancaster 4, Charleston 3

The Lancaster Barnstormers had the right man at the plate in a crucial situation.

Red hot Ariel Sandoval singled home the tying and lead runs with two outs in the top of the ninth as the Lancaster Barnstormers upended the Charleston Dirty Birds, 4-3, in the opener of a four-game weekend series at GoMart Ballpark in West Virginia.

Lancaster, which had just lost a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, was one out from defeat when Ricardo Gomez (0-3) hit Yeison Coca in the foot.  Melvin Mercedes took over as a pinch runner at first and moved to second on a single to left by Andretty Cordero.  A wild pitch by Gomez sent runners to second and third before Sandoval collected his third hit of the night on a liner to left.  Wilson Garcia tacked on a single to left before Ryan Clark got Trayvon Robinson to ground out, ending the inning.

Garrett Granitz (1-0) walked Yefri Perez with one out in the ninth and left after a Jalen Miller comebacker send Perez to second with the tying run.  After a nine-pitch battle, Brian Marconi set down Dwight Smith, Jr. swinging for the final out.

Sandoval homered in the first, and Coca singled home a run in the second to stake the Barnstormers to a 2-0 lead.  A sacrifice fly by Miller in the third produced the only run off Lancaster starter Spencer Johnston in seven innings.

After Lancaster left the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, Charleston went to work on Granitz in the bottom of the inning.  The submarine-style righty walked Smith, Jr. on four pitches.  Telvin Nash punched a single into center, and Granitz walked Bobby Bradley to fill the bags with nobody out.  Granitz bounced back to strike out Justin O’Connor for the first out.  Luis Roman hit a bounder past the mound.  Coca fielded the ball and stepped on second for the force.  His relay throw to first was a hair late.  Not only did Smith score the tying run, but designated runner Jose Bermudez raced home with the lead marker.  Granitz retired Yovan Gonzalez on a pop up to second to end the inning.

Lancaster will send Brent Teller (4-3) to the mound against right-hander Colt Webb (1-2) on Saturday at 4:05.  The game is scheduled early to clear the way for holiday weekend celebrations in downtown Charleston.  Fans may view the game on FloBaseball, beginning at 4:00.

NOTES:  The game was the first win for Lancaster this season when the club has trailed entering the final inning…Garcia has batted safely in 12 straight, tying the longest streak by a Barnstormer this season…Cordero, Sandoval and Garcia produced eight of Lancaster’s 10 hits…Johnston has allowed eight hits and three runs in 13 innings in his two starts…Sandoval is 9-for-20 with three homers and eight RBI on the road trip.

Long Island 9, Staten Island 7

(Central Islip, N.Y., June 30, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Staten Island FerryHawks 9-7 in waddle-off fashion on Friday night in the opener of a four-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. 

Staten Island took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Brandon Pugh’s solo home run to right field off Ducks starter Joe Iorio. A three-run second inning, including sacrifice flies from Matt Winaker and Angel Aguilar along with an RBI single by Kevin Krause, made it a 4-0 game. Chance Sisco cut the Ducks deficit in half in the bottom of the second on a two-run homer to left-center off FerryHawks starter Ivan Pineyro. 

A sac fly to center by Kueber in the third and an RBI double by Winaker in the fifth pushed the FerryHawks lead back up to four at 6-2. Joe DeCarlo’s RBI single in the sixth closed the gap to three, but Kueber’s RBI single in the seventh made it a 7-3 ballgame. 

Long Island tied the game at seven in the seventh on a three-run home run to right field by Alex Dickerson and a solo homer to left by Brantley Bell. The Ducks then won it with two outs in the ninth when Sisco crushed a walk-off two-run home run over the right field fence. 

Neither starter factored into the decision. Iorio lasted one and two-thirds innings, giving up four runs on six hits and two walks with one strikeout. Pineyro pitched six innings, yielding three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Al Alburquerque (2-0) collected the win after pitching a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two. Williams Ramirez (0-1) took the loss, conceding two runs on a hit and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. 

Dickerson led the Flock with three hits, three RBIs and two runs. Sisco added two homers, four RBIs, two runs and a walk, while Brian Goodwin and Ruben Tejada each had two hits and a walk.

The Ducks and FerryHawks continue their four-game series 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. 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, 9.64) takes the mound for the Ducks against a FerryHawks starter to be determined. 

Tickets for the game, and all Ducks games, are available by visiting the Fairfield Properties Ballpark box office, calling (631) 940-TIXX or CLICKING HERE. Those unable to make the game can follow all the action live on Flo Baseball by CLICKING HERE.

Lexington 8, Spire City 6