York 9, Lancaster 6

Nellie Rodriguez slugged a three-run homer in the first inning, and York took advantage of a leadoff error in the third as the Revolution avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Lancaster Barnstormers with a 9-6 win Tuesday evening at WellSpan Park.

York moved back into a first place tie with Southern Maryland in the North while the Barnstormers dropped into third, just one-half game behind the frontrunners.  The Revolution also moved to within one game of clinching the 2023 War of the Roses with a 10-5 lead in the 21-game series.

In the bottom of the first inning, York reached Nile Ball (6-5) for four hits on the first five batters.  Trent Giambrone opened the inning with a single to center and was forced at second by Tomo Otosaka.  Troy Stokes, Jr. placed a hit-and-run single through the right side, chasing Otosaka to third.  Drew Mendoza plated the first run with a ground single into right before Rodriguez slugged his 18^th homer of the year, a drive into the yellow tents above the right field wall.

The Barnstormers were able to battle back into a tie in the third inning.  Trace Loehr singled to left with one out, and Pedro Vasquez (6-1) walked the next two.  Andretty Cordero pounded a three-run double to dead center to reduce the lead to one.  Ariel Sandoval tied the game with a single to center.

However, a defensive mistake enabled York to take the lead for good.  Otosaka hit a grounder to first baseman Wilson Garcia, but Ball dropped the toss to first.  Stokes hit a soft liner to second for the first out.  Mendoza ripped a double into the right field corner to get Otosaka to third.  Lancaster opted to walk Rodriguez, but Jacob Rhinesmith drilled the next pitch into right for an RBI single.  Richard Urena lined out to first for the second out, but Jhon Nunez ripped a two-run single into right.

York would score again in the fourth on a bases loaded force play grounder by Stokes.  Urena homered to open the fifth as the Revs built the lead to 9-4.

Lancaster was able to pick up single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but both frames could have produced more. 

Joseph Carpenter opened the sixth with the second of his three singles on the night and went to third when Shawon Dunston, Jr. singled into right.  However, Dunston was picked off first by right-hander Nick Parker, and Lancaster was limited to one run on an RBI bloop single by Trace Loehr.  In the seventh, Cordero singled and Sandoval doubled to place runners at second and third.  Wilson Garcia cut the York lead to 9-6 with a sacrifice fly to left.  Carpenter added another single to get Dunston to the plate as the potential tying run.

Nelvin Correa got Dunston to line into a double play to end the inning.  Correa would pitch the eighth before J.P. Woodward pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save.

Lancaster will entertain the Spire City (Frederick, MD) Ghost Hounds in the opener of a three-game series on Friday evening.  Jeff Bain (2-2) will take the hill against Dustin Beggs (3-8).  Fans may tune into FloBaseball, beginning at 6:25.

NOTES:  Cordero reached 200 RBI in 221 Atlantic League games…Sandoval boosted his average back to .364…Carpenter extended his hitting streak to nine…Lancaster’s bullpen threw three more scoreless innings…The bullpen ERA is 1.45 over the last 13 games…There were seven double plays in the game – three ground ball DP’s on both sides and the Dunston liner…Sandoval, Carpenter and Loehr had three hits apiece out of Lancaster’s 13.

Staten Island 13, High Point 3
HIGH POINT, N.C. – Staten Island hit four home runs including two from Luis Castro and tripped the High Point Rockers 13-3 on Thursday night in front of a crowd of 2,622 at Truist Point.

The High Point Rockers pitchers struck out the side in the first inning and also in the ninth inning. But in between, the Ferry Hawks put up 13 runs on 14 hits and handed High Point its second consecutive double figure loss coming on the heels of Wednesday’s 14-4 Ferry Hawk win.

High Point starter Neil Ramirez struck out the side in the top of the first but ran into trouble in the second. After a lead-off walk to Chris Brito, Luis Castro blasted a homer to left to give Staten Island a 2-0 lead. After Roldani Baldwin singled, Ramirez hit Bobby Sparling with a pitch to put two aboard. Noah Fisher singled to bring home Baldwin just before Angel Aguilar hit a three-run homer for a 5-0 Staten Island advantage.

Ramirez allowed an RBI single to Sparling in the third as the ‘Hawks built a 7-0 lead. Jeremy Rhoades relieved Ramirez in the fourth and gave up five more runs on five hits, the big shots being a two-run homer from Yoshi Tsutsuo and another two-shot from Castro.

High Point got on the board in the sixth when Ben Aklinski started the inning with a double and scored on a single by Ryan Grotjohn. But High Point left the bases loaded after just the one run.

The Ferry Hawks completed their scoring with a single run in the seventh off Cam Bedrosian when Brito singled home Mike Wilson who had walked to start the inning.

High Point tallied twice more in the eighth when Daikan Yoh was hit by a pitch and Brian Parreira drew a walk from reliever Anthony Quattrocchi. Beau Taylor brought home Yoh with a double and Michael Martinez delivered a sac fly to plate Parreira.

And High Point’s Ryan Dull finished off the game by striking out the side in the ninth.

Parreira was the only Rocker to collect two hits. Staten Island was led by Aguilar who had three hits and three RBI and Castro who drove in four runs with his two homers.

The Rockers are now 57-33 and 16-11 in the second half of the Atlantic League season. They are tied for first in the South Division with Gastonia as they share identical records for both the second half and overall.

The Rockers will start a six-game road trip on Friday with a three-day visit to Charleston, W.Va. Friday’s game will start at 6:35 p.m. from GoMart Park. The game will be live streamed on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

Charleston 8, Lexington 6

Charleston used a four-run first inning and a three-run fourth to take an 8-6 win from Lexington and win the series 2-1. J.C. Perez hit a three-run homer in the first and a three-run double in the fourth to lead the Dirty Birds offense.

Lexington’s Thomas Dillard slammed his 31^st homer of the year in the fifth with one on. Charleston’s Bobby Bradley hit his 23^rd homer in the sixth.

Gastonia 9, Spire City 6

Gastonia overcame a 6-3 deficit in the seventh inning by scoring six runs and taking a 9-6 win from Spire City in Gastonia. The Honey Hunters took two of three from the Ghost Hounds in the series.

Braxton Davidson hit a grand slam, his 19^th homer of the year, to highlight the seventh inning explosion. Steven Moya and Zach Jarrett hit solo homers in the sixth for the Honey Hunters. For Jarrett, it was his 22^nd homer of the year.

Southern Maryland at Long Island, rained out.

The game will be made up on Friday, August 11 as a seven inning game with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.