Long Island 14, Lancaster 3

An extra-long Fourth of July fireworks show entertained a crowd of 6,410 at Clipper Magazine Stadium on Tuesday.

Before thousands of shells exploded beyond the left field wall, the game itself was a dud for the home crowd.

Alex Dickerson launched a pair of home runs, and the Long Island Ducks took advantage of ten walks and two errors, routing the Barnstormers, 14-3, in the opener of a three-game series.

It was the most one-sided loss of the season for the Barnstormers, topping a 9-1 Memorial Day defeat in the first game of a doubleheader at Gastonia.  With the win, Long Island remained within one-half game of York in a two-way North Division chase.

Dickerson followed a pair of walks with a three-run homer to right off Brandyn Sittinger (3-6) to stake the Ducks to an early 3-0 lead.

An RBI infield single by Ariel Sandoval in the first and Melvin Mercedes’ leadoff homer in the third off Robert Stock (4-0) brought the Barnstormers to within one.  However, Dickerson swung the momentum back to the Long Island side with a leadoff liner onto the right field deck in the fourth.

It was still a contest, though, until the top of the fifth when the roof caved in for a seven-run inning.  Sittinger walked two and yielded two singles before leaving a 5-2 game with the bases loaded and nobody out.  A passed ball during a third strike to Wilson Ramos let a sixth run in, and Joe DeCarlo’s sacrifice fly gave the Ducks a 7-2 edge.

The inning appeared over when Tzu-Wei Lin grounded a Bret Clarke pitch to second, but Mercedes’ throw, with the setting sun directly behind, handcuffed a blinded Andretty Cordero as another run scored.  Brian Goodwin added a two-run single, and Alejandro de Aza knocked home another as the game was out of control at 11-2.

Mercedes had three hits, and Trace Loehr collected two in the loss.

Lancaster will send right-hander Spencer Johnston (1-0) to the hill on Wednesday evening at 6:30.  Fans may tune in on FloBaseball, beginning at 6:25.

NOTES:  The game marked Shawon Dunston, Jr.’s return to the lineup…He was 0-for-4 with a walk, flying out to the warning track to end the game…Loehr is 9-for-12 against the Ducks on the year…All four of Mercedes’ homers have been hit in Lancaster…Dickerson became the fifth opposing player with a multi-HR game this season.

Spire City 4, Gastonia 3

FREDERICK, MD – After a seven-game road spell, the Spire City Ghost Hounds returned home for a fourth of July clash with the Gastonia Honey Hunters.

John Witkowski got the start in his Spire City debut on Tuesday, but ran into some early trouble in the first. After Johnni Turbo led off the game with an infield single, Carlos Franco, June’s player of the month, scored him with an RBI double. The next batter, Scott Manea, drove one over the right field wall. After the top of the first, Gastonia led 3-0, but that would be all they could muster.

In the third inning, Spire City got their first hit, which also led to their first run. After Scott Kelly had led the inning off being hit by a pitch, he scored on a single by Starlin Castro.

Witkowski settled in after the tough first inning, going five innings and striking out two, issuing just one walk.

Max Tannenbaum, who relieved Witkowski, struck out Pedro Gonzalez to strand a pair in the top half of the sixth.

After Sam Gaviglio was replaced by David Richardson to start the sixth, Leobaldo Cabrera greeted him with a solo blast to left field, cutting the Gastonia lead to 3-2. It was Cabrera’s 20^th home run, bringing him back into a tie for the league lead.

Brendan Medoro, making his debut in relief, worked around a leadoff single in the seventh to pitch a scoreless frame.

In the bottom half of the seventh, Osvaldo Abreu hit blasted a two-run home run to left field that put Spire City back on top with a 4-3 lead. Abreu has now homered in four straight games.

Donald Goodson closed down the game with a six out save, including a double play to end the game, locking down a 4-3 Ghost Hound win.

As they continue to try and play spoiler in the first half South Division race, the Ghost Hounds will be back in action on Wednesday with a 7 PM first pitch. 

Southern Maryland 4, High Point 1

WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers dropped a 4-1 decision to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Tuesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

The loss leaves the Rockers with a 39-21 record on the year. Gastonia, which was defeated by Spire City on Tuesday, is 41-19. The Rockers remain two games back with three games remaining in the first half of the Atlantic League season.

The Blue Crabs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Braxton Lee singled with two outs off High Point starter Ryan Weiss and then scored on a double to right by K.C. Hobson.

In the fourth Alex Crosby hit a solo homer to increase So. Maryland’s lead to 2-0. The Rockers cracked the scoreboard in the fifth when Emmanuel Tapia and Trent Taylor each singled ahead of Shed Long, Jr. whose single to center plated Tapia to make it a 2-1 game.

The Blue Crabs expanded their lead to 3-1 in the sixth when Hobson walked and scored on a double by Ryan Haug. It became a 4-1 contest in the seventh when Blue Crab shortstop Michael Baca walked, stole second, and scored on a fielding error by Rocker first baseman Zander Wiel.

Neil Uskali (W, 3-3), the former Rocker starter, went 7.2 innings for So. Maryland and held the Rockers to five hits while walking one and striking out five. Ryan Weiss (L, 3-2) hurled six innings for High Point and allowed eight hits and three runs while issuing a single walk and striking out three.

Game two of the three-game series is slated for Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: Rockers manager Jamie Keefe and centerfielder Ben Aklinski were both ejected in the fourth inning when they disagreed with the umpire that Aklinski had been thrown out at first on a ground ball to third.

York 14, Charleston 4

(July 4th, 2023 – York, Pa.):  The York Revolution pounded the Charleston Dirty Birds, 14-4 on Tuesday afternoon in front of 5,766 fans on Independence Day at WellSpan Park. The win keeps the Revs half a game in front of Long Island for first place with four to play in the first half race as their magic number to clinch a division title shrinks to four. Nellie Rodriguez and Trent Giambrone homered to spark the offense while Drew Mendoza collected four hits for the second straight game as part of another big attack. 

Revs righty Tom Sutera got the start against Charleston lefty Kit Scheetz in Tuesday afternoon’s opener which kicked off a season-long 10-game homestand.

The scoring started in the second on a Jalen Miller home run to right center field that Trey Martin nearly leapt up and grabbed as it was 1-0 Charleston early.

The Revs immediately answered, scoring three runs off Scheetz in their half of the second. Alejandro Rivero singled with one out and Ryan January walked to set the table. That set up a Giambrone RBI single that caromed off the third base bag and a two-run double down the left field line by Tomo Otosaka as the Revs grabbed a 3-1 lead.

Charleston got to Sutera for a run in the fourth on Zachary Bridges’ RBI triple to deep center.

Giambrone cracked a solo home run over the Arch Nemesis in the bottom of the fourth, padding the Revs’ lead to 4-2.

Sutera was an out away from finishing the fifth with the lead but Charleston hit back-to-back homers as Telvin Nash went deep to left center, and on the next pitch Bobby Bradley connected onto the clubhouse roof in right field to tie the game at 4-4.

Sutera (4-3) finished five, allowing four runs, three on solo home runs, with no walks while tying his career-high strikeout total of seven for the second time this season.

The Revs erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fifth, taking control of the contest. Rodriguez blasted a towering three-run home run down the right field line, giving the Revs the lead for good at 7-4 and chasing Scheetz (4-6) after 4.1 innings. Giambrone knocked in two runs on a double to left with the bases loaded as he collected four RBI on the day. Otosaka added a sac fly to center field bringing home a run as the Revs landed a commanding 10-4 lead.

York scored two more runs in the sixth as Mendoza crossed the plate on a wild pitch after stealing third for the second time in the game, and Martin came home on a Richard Urena grounder to second, making it 12-4.

York added two more in the eighth as Rivero drove in a run with a sac fly to center field and Troy Stokes Jr. walked with the bases loaded to provide the final 14-4 margin.

The Revs bullpen was dominant as four pitchers combined to fire four scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. Denson Hull handled the sixth with the first assignment. Will Carter struck out the side to strand two in the seventh. Victor Capellan took care of the eighth, and Will McAffer set the Birds down in order in the ninth to close it out.

Notes: The crowd of 5,766 is the Revs’ fifth crowd of 5,000-plus at WellSpan Park this season; they had drawn four combined crowds of 5,000-plus over the previous two years as they’ve already notched their most such draws since the 2019 season (six). York ripped off 14 runs on 15 hits, one day after scoring 11 runs on 16 hits in a big victory at High Point. York erased an early deficit making the victory the Revs’ 19th comeback win of the year. The Revs pitching staff tied a season-high with 13 strikeouts, a mark they’ve reached three times, all against Charleston over the course of seven head-to-head contests. Giambrone tied his season-high with four RBI; he homered and doubled for the third consecutive game and extended his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the league. He also has back-to-back three-hit games. The Revs tied a team record getting hit by a pitch five times, matching a mark set in September, 2021 vs. Lancaster. January became the first batter in Revs history to be hit by a pitch three times in one game. Jacob Rhinesmith was hit by a pitch in his lone plate appearance as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, extending his on-base streak to 20 consecutive games. Mendoza now has three of the Revs’ 10 four-hit performances this season; he raised his average to a season-high .349, second-highest in the league. Rodriguez’ homer was the 62nd of his Revs career, four shy of matching Andres Perez for third on the franchise’s all-time list. The Revs improve to 19-9 at home, having won 14 of their last 18 at WellSpan Park. York released RHP Jorge Martinez prior to the game. The Revs will continue their push toward a postseason berth with a twi-night doubleheader featuring two seven-inning games on Wednesday beginning at 5 p.m. The Revs will play as the road team in the opener as it serves as a makeup from a rainout at Charleston on June 22. RHP J.T. Hintzen (5-3, 5.91) faces Troy Bacon (4-2, 2.78) in the opener, with Pedro Vasquez (3-1, 5.51) getting the nod for the Revs in the nightcap against a Dirty Birds starter yet to be announced. It is Winning Wednesday presented by PA Lottery and Bark in the Park presented by Cover Six Canines. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.

Lexington 6, Staten Island 1