Southern Maryland 3, High Point 0
 

WALDORF, Md. – The Atlantic League’s South Division first half championship will be decided on Friday night at Truist Point. The de facto “championship game” will determine the South’s first half winner after both the High Point Rockers and Gastonia Honey Hunters each suffered road losses on Thursday night.

The Rockers were shutout 3-0 at Southern Maryland while Gastonia fell 6-4 at Frederick.

The Rockers will enter Friday’s contest with a 40-22 first half record. They are currently one game behind Gastonia at 41-21. A High Point win on Friday would create a tie for the first half title but the Rockers would own the tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition which, with a High Point win on Friday, would be tied at 5-5. The second tiebreaker is how each team fared within the South Division. High Point has gone 24-10 vs. South Division opponents and a win Friday would make the Rockers 25-10 (.714). Gastonia, with a loss on Friday, would be 25-12 (.676). If Gastonia wins on Friday, they will take the division title with a 42-21 record and the Rockers would finish the first half at 40-23.

On Thursday, the Rockers sent Mickey Jannis (L, 8-2) to the mound, seeking his league-leading ninth win of the year. Southern Maryland countered with former Rocker starter Liam O’Sullivan (W, 4-2).

The game was scoreless through three innings as Jannis and O’Sullivan matched zeroes. The Rockers left the bases loaded in the third when Daikan Yoh grounded out to short.

The Blue Crabs put the first run on the board in the fourth when Braxton Lee reached on an infield single and moved all the way to third on a throwing error by Shed Long, Jr.  Alex Crosby singled to right to bring home Lee. A wild pitch and a passed ball moved Crosby to third and he scored on a sac fly off the bat of Ryan Haug for a 2-0 Blue Crab lead.

So. Maryland made it a 3-0 game in the sixth when Khalil Lee doubled and scored on a single by Braxton Lee.

O’Sullivan allowed four hits and nary a run through his first seven innings of work. After allowing a lead-off single to Long, Jr. in the top of the eighth, O’Sullivan exited for reliever Endrys Briceno (S, 2). Ryan Grotjohn clubbed Briceno’s first pitch off the wall in right as Long, Jr. went all the way to third. But Briceno kept the Rockers off the scoreboard by striking out Wiel, retiring Yoh on a liner to third and getting Ben Aklinski to fly out to left.

The Rockers finished the game with six hits as Long, Jr. collected two of them. So. Maryland was led by Braxton Lee who also had a pair of hits.

Friday night, the Rockers will send right hander Jheyson Manzueta (1-0, 4.82 ERA) to face Gastonia righty Ryan Conroy (1-0, 5.00). Tickets for the game are available online at HighPointRockers.com and also at the Truist Point Box Office. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app. Game time is set for 6:35 p.m. and a fireworks show will follow.

Long Island 15, Lancaster 1

(Lancaster, Pa., July 6, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Lancaster Barnstormers 15-1 on Thursday night in the finale of a three-game midweek series at Clipper Magazine Stadium. 

The Ducks jumped out to an immediate 3-0 lead in the top half of the first inning against Barnstormers starting pitcher Brent Teller as Brian Goodwin led off the contest with a home run to right field, and four batters later with two-men down Chance Sisco launched an absolute bomb of a two-run home run that went completely out of Clipper Magazine Stadium.                                                                                                                        

Long Island made it 5-0 in their favor in the third frame thanks to an RBI triple to straightaway center field off the bat of Alejandro De Aza and a sacrifice fly produced by Brantley Bell. The Flock broke the game wide open in the fourth as they scored five more times for a 10-0 advantage, highlighted by a run-scoring single from De Aza and a grand slam home run to left center field tallied by Sam Travis. Ahead 11-1 in the ninth, the visitors plated four more runs thanks to an RBI base knock from Ruben Tejada, a Travis run-scoring double, and a two-run single by Sisco. 

In his Ducks debut, starter Matt Solter (4-2) tallied the win, allowing just one run on six hits in six innings pitched, walking two and striking out three, Teller (4-4) was handed the loss, surrendering ten runs on eight hits (three home runs) across three innings on the mound, walking four and striking out one. 

Travis collected two extra-base hits, including a double and his second grand slam of the campaign while driving in five, scoring twice and registering a walk as Long Island hit ten roundtrippers in the sweep while outscoring the Barnstormers 41-8 in the process. 

The Ducks continue their road trip on Friday night when they open a three-game weekend series against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium. Fans can follow all the action live on Flo Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Left-hander Stephen Tarpley (3-3, 4.56) gets the start for the Ducks against Blue Crabs righty Tony Dibrell (0-0, 7.20).

Spire City 6, Gastonia 4

The Gastonia Honey Hunters went into the series against Spire City up by two games on High Point with four games to go in the first half.

They just needed to take two out of three to officially clinch a playoff berth, but could have clinched on Thursday night by just salvaging the three-game set.

Gastonia was unable to do so, as the Honey Hunters lost 6-4 and got swept by the Ghost Hounds, setting up a first half championship game on Friday.

The Honey Hunters got off to an early lead on a Curtis Terry RBI single in the first, and had Gunnar Kines on the bump.

Kines had allowed just two runs in his last four starts (23.2 innings).

The southpaw allowed four in the first inning on Thursday.

Kines loaded the bases after three batters, and Jimmy Paredes capped off the scoring with a three-run blast to left that traveled 382 feet.

Gastonia and Spire City then went back-and-forth for the next few innings, with the Honey Hunters inching closer before the Ghost Hounds answered each time.

The best opportunity for the Honey Hunters came in the seventh inning, when they loaded the bases against reliever Jack Weinberger in a 6-3 game.

Kevin Santa was up with one out. He hit a grounder right back to the mound. Weinberger threw to the plate, but it went off Kole Cottam’s glove. Cottam then recovered, grabbing the ball and touching the plate before Braxton Davidson got there.

The force out kept it a 6-3 Spire City lead, now with two down for Carlos Franco.

Gastonia’s lefty slugger worked the count full before drawing a walk, bringing Alexis Olmeda home to make it 6-4.

Weinberger was taken out of the game, and lefty Jeff Singer was brought in.

Singer’s first pitch was a routine fly ball off the bat of Scott Manea into center field, which ended the threat.

Gastonia threatened once again in the ninth, bringing the go-ahead run to the dish after Pedro Gonzalez walked and Johnni Turbo singled with one out.

Santa hit a grounder to short, which resulted in a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

The Honey Hunters fell to 41-21, and are now just one game ahead of High Point with one game to play – against the Rockers on Friday night.

The Rockers have the tie-breaker because if they win the teams would be 5-5 against each other and High Point has a better interdivision record.

The South Division first half championship game is in High Point and starts at 6:35 p.m.

The winner between the two rivals clinches a playoff berth.

Staten Island 4, Lexington 0

The Staten Island FerryHawks defeated the Lexington Counter Clocks by a score of 4-0 on Thursday night in Staten Island. The FerryHawks were firing on all cylinders in this one as they look to gain momentum heading into the second half of the season!

Brandon Pugh started the scoring in the 6^th when he drove home Drew Jemison on a liner to left to make it 1-0, FerryHawks.  In the 8^th, the FerryHawks tacked on some insurance runs which started with Roldani Baldwin scrambling home on a wild pitch. This was followed by Angel Aguilar and Garrett Kueber RBI’s that brought the lead to 4-0, the final in this one.

Recent acquisition, Nick Beardsley made his home debut for the FerryHawks on the mound and he did not disappoint. The 25-year-old righty flaunted a wicked mustache along with a fastball that had a ton of life. Beardsley held the Counter Clocks in check and left the game to a standing ovation with a final line of 6.2 innings, 6 hits, 0 runs, and 3 strikeouts!

The FerryHawks open up a new series at home against the Charleston Dirty Birds tomorrow. The weekend slate is loaded at SIUH Community Park with a t-shirt giveaway on Friday, Star Wars Night on Saturday, and American Dream Night on Sunday with an appearance by Chase from Paw Patrol!

York 5, Charleston 4

July 6th, 2023 – York, Pa.):  The York Revolution broke out the brooms, beating the Charleston Dirty Birds 5-4 in Thursday’s series finale at WellSpan Park for a four-game sweep and a fifth consecutive victory. Now with the magic number at one, the Revs will aim to break out the champagne on Friday evening as they are one win away from clinching their first First Half division title since 2016.

The Revs turned to ace Nick Raquet who faced opposing tough lefty Danny Wirchansky for the Birds.

York fell behind early in the third inning as former Rev Yefri Perez launched a two-run homer to the lawn in right center, starting the scoring and spotting the Dirty Birds a 2-0 lead.

The Revs countered and then some in the bottom of the third on the strength of a pair of two-run homers. Jhon Nunez launched the first one over the Arch Nemesis in left, tying the game at 2-2. With two outs, Drew Mendoza banged an RBI double to deep center field for a 3-2 lead. Trey Martin followed by slamming a long two-run homer to left center for a sudden 5-2 advantage.

Both starters calmed down, firing scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Wirchansky (1-3) was pulled after completing six innings, allowing eight hits and five runs with four walks and just one strikeout.

Raquet (7-5) was lights out after the second inning, throwing 112 pitches in seven innings of two-run ball while striking out 10 hitters and walking just one. He allowed five hits including just two after the third inning.

J.P. Woodward took over in the eighth. An error and a Perez single started the inning, but Woodward got a huge ground ball double play to shortstop off the bat of Jalen Miller. Charleston extended the inning as walks to Dwight Smith Jr. and Telvin Nash loaded the bases for Bobby Bradley who was hit on the first pitch to bring home a run, cutting York’s lead to 5-3. Victor Capellan put out the fire by getting a ground out to shortstop off the bat of Juan Perez, stranding the bases loaded.

Denson Hull came in for the save in the ninth and struck out Luis Roman to begin the frame. After giving up a solo home run to Yovan Gonzalez, Hull retired the final two, striking out Clayton Mehlbauer and retiring Yefri Perez on a ground out to second as the Revs completed their fifth series sweep of the year.

Notes: York improves to 37-25, tied with the 2010 championship team for best record in franchise history through 62 games. Their mark of 12 games over .500 is a new season-high. The Revs have won 10 of their last 13 overall. York has enjoyed innings of five runs or more in four of the last five games; the Revs offense now has 18 such innings on the season compared to just nine by their opponents. York is now 18-8 in games decided by two runs or fewer (11-5 in one-run decisions). The Revs have won 17 of their last 21 at WellSpan Park. Mendoza’s double was his league-leading 22nd while picking up his 70th and 71st hits of the season, tied for the league’s second-most. Trent Giambrone notched his 70th hit (fifth-most) and his 50th run scored (tied for second). Martin’s homer was his ninth of the year and fifth in the last nine games. Raquet’s seven wins come within one of a Revs first half record shared by Corey Thurman (2012) and Chris Cody (2013) and are one off the league-lead. Raquet’s 10-strikeout performance was his third of the year, joining Jorge Martinez (4) and Mitch Atkins (3) as the third pitcher in Revs history with more than two double-digit strikeout performances. He now has three of the league’s 15 double-digit strikeout games this year as he is one of two pitchers with more than one and the only hurler with three. His 74 total strikeouts rank second in the league, four off the top mark. He extends his league-lead in innings to 87.0, having gone at least seven innings for the fourth time in his last five starts. Woodward’s run was unearned as he extends his streak to 13 outings (13.0 innings) without allowing an earned run, dating to June 1. Capellan notched a fourth straight scoreless outing. Hull’s save was the third of his career and first since 2021 at Double-A Amarillo in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. Troy Stokes Jr. stole his 15th bag in the seventh inning; it was the 46th steal of his Revs career, moving past Alonzo Harris for ninth in team history. The Revs can win the first half with a win in the first half finale on Friday evening when they host the Lexington Counter Clocks at 6:30 p.m. York RHP Carlos Espinal (4-2, 3.07) faces Lexington righty Aaron Ochsenbein (5-1, 2.70). Promotions include Health Fair with Healthcare Heroes presented by Highmark Blue Shield, Marvel Super Hero Night with Marvel Iron Man Game-Worn Jersey Auction presented by Give Local York, and Marvel Super Hero Poster Giveaway (first 1,000 fans). Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.