Lancaster 6, Gastonia 2

Andretty Cordero homered for the tying run in the sixth and doubled home the go-ahead tallies in the seventh, and Ariel Sandoval sealed the deal with a two-run homer as the Lancaster Barnstormers toppled the Gastonia Honey Hunters, 6-2, Saturday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

With the win, the Barnstormers once again took sole possession of first place in the tight North race.  Lancaster leads Southern Maryland by a game while Staten Island stands three back, and York trails Lancaster by 3 ½.  The regular season ends September 17.

Gastonia had taken an early 2-0 lead over the Barnstormers with single runs in the first and fourth innings.  Trayvon Robinson doubled home pinch runner Shawon Dunston, Jr. with two outs in the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1.

Gunnar Kines (10-4) held the lead into the sixth when Cordero cleared the left field wall for his 13^th homer of the year, tying the game at 2-2.  In the seventh, Chris Proctor drilled a one-out double into the right field corner, and Melvin Mercedes walked.  The pair executed a double steal, but Kines struck out Yeison Coca for the second out.

The Honey Hunters went to right-hander Bryan Blanton, who had struck out the side the night before, and he quickly worked ahead of Cordero.  The Lancaster third baseman then hit a sinking liner to right that skipped past Pedro Gonzalez’ diving attempt as two runs scored.  Sandoval took Blanton onto the right field deck for the 6-2 lead.

Brandyn Sittinger (5-7) threw two innings of scoreless relief behind starter Jared Lakind to pick up the win.  Nick Duron finished the game with a scoreless ninth.

Lancaster and Gastonia will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon.  Nile Ball (7-6) will make the start for the Barnstormers against left-hander Harry Rutkowski.  Fans may tune into FloBaseball at 2:55.

NOTES:  The Barnstormers crossed 200,000 in attendance for the season with 13 home games remaining…Cordero closed to within four of the franchise single season doubles record with his 37^th of the season…He is within three RBI of becoming the first player in ALPB history to have two separate 100-RBI seasons…Sandoval’s homer was his first since July 13…Proctor had an extra base hit for the fifth straight start.

Long Island 10, Staten Island 4

(Staten Island, N.Y., Aug. 26, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Staten Island FerryHawks 10-4 on Saturday night in the middle game of a three-game weekend series at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park.

Long Island jumped out to an immediate 4-0 advantage against Staten Island starting pitcher Ethan Skuija just four batters into the ballgame as Sam Travis cracked a grand slam home run over the left field wall, the Ducks fifth grand slam this season and third in 2023 off the bat of Travis. Staten Island got to within 4-2 in the bottom half of the first inning as Luis Castro hit a two-run home run off the foul pole in right field off Ducks starter Joe Iorio.  

The visitors regained their second four-run lead of the evening at 6-2 in the third as Alex Dickerson led off the frame with a home run to right center field for his team-leading 22^nd four-bagger of the season, and later in the inning Brantley Bell drove in designated pinch-runner Trent Taylor by way of a run-scoring fielder’s choice. The Flock closed out the scoring in the fifth as they sent eight batters to the dish and plated four more time as Bell tallied an RBI double that scored Travis, Joe DeCarlo belted a two-run triple to straightaway center field that scored Carlos Castro and Bell, and Jonathan Guzman reached on a broken bat run-scoring infield singled that enabled DeCarlo to cross the plate.

Iorio (4-8) picked up the victory after giving up just two runs on two hits (one home run) in five innings pitched, walking two while striking out five. Skuija (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on four hits (two home runs) in just three innings of work, walking two and striking out three.

Travis had his third four-hit game of the campaign after registering two singles, a double, a home run, four runs batted in, and a pair of runs scored.

The Ducks and FerryHawks conclude their three-game series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at SIUH Community Park. Fans can follow the action live on Flo Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Right-hander Robert Stock (8-3, 3.72) toes the rubber for the Flock against FerryHawks righty Christian Capuano (10-3, 3.57).

Long Island returns home on Friday, September 1, to begin a four-game series with the Lancaster Barnstormers. 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). The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive Chef Hat Rubber Duckies, courtesy of The Hidden Gem Cafe.

High Point 7, Spire City 6

FREDERICK, Md. – The High Point Rockers took game two of their three-game series at Spire City by a 7-6 final score at Nymeo Field.

With the game tied at 6-6, High Point’s Daikan Yoh hit a nubber back to the Spire City pitcher with the bases loaded in the ninth as D.J. Burt came across to score the go-ahead run to put the Rockers in the lead for good.

The ninth inning run made a winner of Rockers reliever Cam Bedrosian (W, 3-1) who pitched the eighth inning. Spire City’s Dovydas Neverauskas took the loss in the back-and-forth contest.

The win gives High Point the best full-season record in the Atlantic League at 68-35 and its 27-13 second half mark gives the Rockers a 1.5 game lead over Gastonia at 26-15.

High Point took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Burt walked and moved to second when Ben Aklinski was hit by a pitch from Ghost Hounds starter Zac Rosscup. Zander Wiel then singled to chase home Burt for the first run of the game.

Spire City forged a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third. After High Point starter Craig Stem retired the first two batters, Jose Marmolejos singled and Raudy Read coaxed a walk from Stem. Jimmy Paredes signed off the glove of Shed Long, Jr. to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Marmolejos to score and tie the game before Steven Brault reached on a throwing error by Rocker shortstop Ryan Grotjohn as Read scored on the play to give Spire City the lead.

High Point regained the lead in the fourth when it scored three times as Brian Parreira singled and Emmanuel Tapia drew a walk. Michael Martinez singled to center to bring home Parreira before Long, Jr. sent a single to center that plated Tapia and Martinez as High Point took a 4-2 lead.

The Rockers’ lead grew to 6-2 in the fifth when Rosscup walked Yoh with two outs, allowing Parreira to blast a two-run homer, his 10^th of the year.

In the bottom of the fifth, Stem allowed a double to Read and a two-run homer to Paredes as the ‘Hounds pulled to within two at 6-4.

Stem left after five innings, holding a 6-4 lead. He allowed seven hits and four runs while striking out five and walking two. Taylor Guerrieri put the Ghost Hounds down in order in the sixth but Sam Selman allowed a solo homer to Jose Marmolejos in the seventh as High Point’s lead dwindled to 6-5.

In the eighth, Bedrosian walked Luke Becker who moved to second on an infield groundout. A wild pitch moved Becker to third and he scored on Leobaldo Cabrera’s single to knot the game at 6-6.

The Rockers went ahead 7-6 in the top of the ninth when Neverauskas allowed a lead-off single to Burt and a single by Aklinski to put runners on the corners. Aklinski stole second and after Wiel struck out, the Ghost Hounds walked Ryan Grotjohn intentionally to load the bases. Yoh hit a swinging bunt back to Neverauskas whose only play was at first as Burt scored the go-ahead run.

Ryan Dull tossed a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to secure his league-leading 17^th save of the season.

Game three of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: D.J. Burt reached base three times on a pair of hits and a walk to extend his streak of consecutive games on-base to 58. He singled in his first at-bat to secure the streak continued… at 68-35, the Rockers are now 33 games over .500 on the season, a mark they have never before achieved.

York 2, Charleston 0

(August 26th, 2023 – York, Pa.):  Tom Sutera spun 6.1 masterful innings as the York Revolution shut out the Charleston Dirty Birds, 2-0 on Saturday night in front of 4,912 fans at WellSpan Park. The Revs have won back-to-back games and three of the last four, pushing their way back into the mix in the North Division’s second half race.

After J.T. Hintzen dominated in Friday night’s opener, Sutera got the ball as the Revs looked to win the series against Charleston’s Danny Wirchansky.

York scored a run in the second inning to start the scoring. Jacob Rhinesmith doubled to right to lead off and Nellie Rodriguez hit a sharp ground ball to shortstop that was under the glove of Diego Goris for an error as Rhinesmith advanced to third. Jhon Nunez ripped another RBI double to left, his second in as many nights, to get the Revs on the board with a 1-0 lead.

The Revs doubled the lead an inning later as Tomo Otosaka ripped a double to right center to lead off the bottom of the third and was driven home by Drew Mendoza who smoked one to right field for an RBI single, making it 2-0 Revs.

Sutera and the bullpen did the rest, combining on the Revs’ fifth shutout victory of the year (all at home) and their first since July 5 vs. Charleston. It was their third nine-inning shutout victory of the year and first since opening the home schedule with back-to-back blankings on May 5-6.

Sutera (8-6) benefited from double plays in three consecutive innings from the third through the fifth and was replaced in the seventh after a walk. Reliever Nelvin Correa got a pair of ground outs for his league-leading 15th hold as Sutera’s line finished with 6.1 innings, four hits including just two after the first inning, no runs, three walks and five strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.12 over his last three starts (four runs in 17.0 innings).

Wirchansky (5-5) also turned in a strong effort and was taken out after six innings, as he only gave up two runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

Carlos Espinal threw the eighth for the Revs, allowing just a two-out single before getting three-hole hitter Juan Perez to ground out to first to end the inning.

Emilker Guzman gave up a leadoff single but struck out the next three in the ninth, locking down his first save of the season and 17th of his pro career, while finishing the shutout win for the Revs.

York snaps a six-series losing streak with the win, claiming their first series victory since August 1-3 at Staten Island.

The Revs will go for the sweep on Sunday at 2 p.m. as RHP Pedro Vasquez (7-2, 6.09) faces off with righty Mikey York (0-2, 6.86) for the Dirty Birds. It is Ritmo de York presented by Bilingual Conexion and Sunday Funday presented by Weis Markets featuring a pre-game autograph session and catch on the field, and post-game kids round the bases. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.

Lexington 14, Southern Maryland 3