Staten Island 2, Lancaster 1

Jeff Bain only allowed four baserunners in eight innings on Sunday afternoon.  However, two of those runners circled quickly.

Luis Castro and Chris Brito hit solo home runs as the Staten Island FerryHawks tripped the Lancaster Barnstormers, 2-1, in the finale of a three-game series at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Castro homered down the left field line to start the afternoon off Bain (2-1).  Brito lofted a fly ball onto the deck with one out in the seventh.

Otherwise, the Lancaster right-hander yielded only two singles.  He walked none and struck out eight on the afternoon.

Lancaster’s offense, meanwhile, spun its wheels in the entire game.  Fourteen different Barnstormers reached base, but the club grounded into three double plays and had two runners thrown out stealing.

Ivan Pineyro (4-3) tossed six shutout innings without allowing a runner beyond second base.  The right-hander yielded six hits and two walks while striking out four.  In the seventh, Vincenzo Aiello surrendered a two-out double to Joseph Carpenter and a walk to Shawon Dunston, Jr. before striking out Jack Conley to end the threat.

The Barnstormers finally broke through against Cristofer Ogando in the eighth.  After Trace Loehr led off with a walk and was thrown out stealing, Lancaster rebuilt.  Yeison Coca also drew a walk, and Andretty Cordero was hit by a pitch.  Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Ariel Sandoval drove a sacrifice fly to left to produce the run.

Wilson Garcia picked up Lancaster’s leadoff walk in the ninth, but Williams Ramirez slammed the door for the remainder of the inning for his fourth save.

Lancaster will entertain a three-game series against the Charleston Dirty Birds on Tuesday at 6:30.  Dominic DiSabatino (3-6) will make the start for the Barnstormers.  Fans may tune in on FloBaseball or Blue Ridge 11.

NOTES:  Bain threw Lancaster’s third quality start in the last four games…It was the longest effort in one day for the Barnstormers this year…Coca extended his hitting streak to eight with a single in the third inning…Jack Conley stole his club-leading 21^st base…Andretty Cordero has hit safely in 17 out of the last eight games and had his 30^th multi-hit game of the season.

High Point 6, Spire City 5
 

FREDERICK, Md. – Shed Long, Jr. hit a grand slam to dead center field in the eighth inning to erase a 5-1 deficit and lead the High Point Rockers to a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Spire City Ghost Hounds on Sunday afternoon at Nymeo Field.

Long, Jr.’s grand slam, on an 0-2 pitch, followed a walk to Brian Parreira, a single by Michael Martinez and a walk to D.J. Burt, all off Ghost Hounds reliever Donald Goodson (L, 0-2). The slam knotted the game at 5-5. Goodson then gave up a double to center by Ben Aklinski before Spire City manager Mark Minicozzi brought in Jeff Johnson from the bullpen. Johnson was greeted by Quincy Latimore who singled to center to bring Aklinski home with the go-ahead run.

Latimore has collected at least two RBI in each of the last three games, driving in nine runs over that span. He has eight hits in his last nine at-bats dating back to Thursday night, July 26.

Tying the game got High Point starter Mickey Jannis off the hook as he left after six innings, trailing 5-1. Jannis allowed nine hits and five runs while striking out eight and not yielding a walk. He did allow three home runs that accounted for all five of Spire City’s runs. Taylor Guerrieri (W, 2-1), pitched a scoreless seventh and was followed by Cam Bedrosian who struck out all three hitters he faced in the eighth. Ryan Dull worked around a base hit in the ninth to earn his league-leading 15^th save of the season.

High Point took a 1-0 lead in the first when Latimore continued his hot streak, singling to left to bring home Aklinski who had singled and stolen second base.

Spire City tied the game in the third when Jannis surrendered a solo homer to Osvaldo Abreu. The Ghost Hounds added two more in the fourth on a single by Craig Dedelow which was followed by a homer from Steven Brault to put the ‘Hounds up 3-1. Another two-run homer in the fifth by Jimmy Paredes off Jannis gave Spire City a 5-1 advantage.

The Rockers managed at least one hit in each frame from the second through seventh innings but could not crack Spire City’s lead until putting together all the pieces in the eighth.

Latimore went four-for-five with two RBI. Aklinski was three-for-five with a pair of runs scored as he continues to lead the Atlantic League in runs scored.

The Rockers improve to 53-29 overall and 12-7 in the second half. The win will leave the Rockers in no worse than a tie for first in the Atlantic League’s South Division. Gastonia plays at Long Island later on Sunday and the Honey Hunters enter that contest 11-7 in the second half.

The final game of the three-game series is scheduled for Monday at 7:00 p.m. at Nymeo Field. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: Latimore returned to action on July 18 after missing the first 71 games of the year while recovering from knee surgery. After starting 5-for-24, he has gone eight-for-nine over the last three games… He has three home runs, nine RBI, four runs scored and a pair of walks over that span… Dull is now 15-for-15 in save opportunities… Bedrosian has thrown four consecutive three-up, three-down innings and struck out 10 of the 12 batters he has faced while not allowing a walk… Long, Jr.’s grand slam was the fifth of the season for the Rockers.

York 6, Lexington 5 (11 innings)

(July 30, 2023 – Lexington, KY):  The York Revolution closed out their weeklong western jaunt with back-to-back wins, taking Sunday afternoon’s finale 6-5 in 11 innings over the Lexington Counter Clocks at Counter Clocks Field. The Revs finish the six-day, seven-game trip with a 4-3 mark and take three of four in Lexington, improving to 13-6 in the second half, sitting in first place in the North Division.

The Revs struck first on Sunday afternoon when Ryan January belted a two-run homer to right in the top of the third inning, his sixth of the year and the Revs’ 100th as a team on the season.

Lexington answered in its half of the inning, tying the game at 2-2 on a two-run double to left center by Connor Owings.

Revs starter Andrew Cabezas turned in another fine performance, allowing only those two runs (one earned) over six innings. It marked his third consecutive start in which he went at least five innings and allowed only one earned run while exiting with the lead but taking a no-decision.

York took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh as Nellie Rodriguez slugged an opposite field homer to right, his 15th of the season and 66th of his Revs career, tying Andres Perez for third on the franchise’s all-time list.

Lexington answered again, scoring on three hits in the bottom of the seventh as Logan Brown cracked a game-tying RBI double to right, squaring things at 3-3.

It remained that way into extra innings when the Revs loaded the bases in the tenth and scored as Tomo Otosaka was hit by a pitch, forcing in a run for a 4-3 lead.

The Clocks tied it again as Andrew Moritz slapped a two-out RBI single to center, extending the game by another inning with a 4-4 deadlock.

Rodriguez quickly put the Revs ahead for the fourth time with an RBI single to left center in the top of the 11th. Alejandro Rivero drove in a crucial second run with an RBI single to center for a 6-4 lead.

JC Encarnacion ripped a liner off reliever J.P. Woodward that caromed into shallow right center for an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th, putting runners at second and third with one out. Woodward buckled down to strike out Brown for the second out, and after hitting Jesus Tavarez with a pitch to load the bases, secured the win by retiring Zach Davis on a fly out to center for his fourth save of the year.

Revs pitchers forced the Clocks to strand 17 runners, two shy of a single-game record by a Revs opponent. Lexington went 4-for-23 with runners in scoring position.

Notes: The Revs improve to 2-2 in extra-inning games while earning their eighth final at-bat victory of the year. The 11-inning contest was the Revs’ longest since September 1, 2022 (loss vs. Staten Island) and their longest win / road game since an 11-inning win at Lexington on June 14, 2022. Trey Martin went 2-for-4 with a walk, finishing a 6-for-9 series and a 9-for-17 road trip; he extended his on-base streak to 25 consecutive games, the league’s seventh-longest this season and second-longest active. It is also his second streak of 22-plus. Tomo Otosaka stole his 32nd base, tying Martin again for the league lead in steals. Trent Giambrone was held hitless for just the second time in his last 17 games but finished the month of July with 43 hits, tying Chris Ashby (2008) for the Revs’ July record. Rodriguez drove in seven runs in four games on the weekend. The Revs finish the month with an 18-9 record which follows a 16-11 May and a 15-10 June. The Revs are a season-high 18 games over .500 at 50-32 overall, their highest mark since August 10, 2016 (60-42) and four shy of a club record 22 games over .500 to conclude the 2011 season. It is their best record through 82 games in franchise history, three games better than the 2011 and 2014 squads. The 13-6 start to the half is tied with the 2007 second half for their second best 19-game start to a half, one game behind the 2019 club’s second half mark of 14-5 through 19 games. The Revs are off on Monday and return to action Tuesday night at Staten Island. Revs lefty Nick Raquet (9-6, 3.93) starts the opener at 6:30 p.m. against FerryHawks righty Nick Beardsley (2-2, 9.70). 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 6:10 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.

Long Island 4, Gastonia 2

(Central Islip, N.Y., July 30, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Gastonia Honey Hunters 4-2 on Sunday evening in the rubber game of a three-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. 

The Honey Hunters struck first in the opening inning on an RBI double to right field by Zach Jarrett off Ducks starter Justin Alintoff. The Ducks countered in the second to go in front on Joe DeCarlo’s two-run single to left off Gastonia starter Gunnar Kines. It stayed that way until the seventh when Eric De La Rosa tied the game at two on a solo homer to left. 

Long Island went back in front in the bottom of the eighth. Carlos Castro’s RBI double to right field and Brantley Bell’s triple down the left field line gave the Flock the lead for good at 4-2. 

Neither starter factored into the decision. Alintoff pitched five innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out three. Kines tossed five innings, yielding two runs (one earned) on two hits and four walks with three strikeouts. Kevin Quackenbush (4-2) picked up the win after pitching two scoreless innings in relief, striking out three. Sam Freeman (1-2) took the loss, conceding two runs on three hits in the eighth. 

Bell led the Flock offensively with two hits, an RBI and two walks. Castro added two hits, an RBI, two runs and a walk. 

The Ducks hit the road on Tuesday night to open a three-game series against the Spire City Ghost Hounds. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium. Fans can follow all the action live on Flo Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Right-hander Merandy Gonzalez (3-2, 4.31) gets the start for the Ducks against Ghost Hounds southpaw Jake Fisher (1-5, 6.36). 

Long Island returns home on Tuesday, August 8, to begin a three-game set against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. 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). 1969 World Series champion New York Mets first baseman Ed Kranepool will be making an appearance at the ballpark. Kranepool will throw out a ceremonial first pitch and then sign autographs for fans outside the Waddle In Shop to promote his new book, which will be available for purchase in the store. He will be signing autographs for the first three innings of the game. It’s also a Triple Play Tuesday at the ballpark, and if the Ducks turn a triple play during the game, one lucky fan will win $25,000. Tickets to the game, and all home games, are available by visiting the Fairfield Properties Ballpark box office, calling (631) 940-TIXX or CLICKING HERE.

Southern Maryland 2, Charleston 1