York 9, High Point 6

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers dropped their sixth straight game, falling 9-6 at home to the York Revolution on Sunday afternoon at Truist Point. York outhit the Rockers 12-6 and High Point committed three errors in the contest.

The Rockers are now 69-42 on the season and 28-20 in the second half. High Point trailed Gastonia by 3.5 games prior to Gastonia’s Monday night contest vs. Southern Maryland.

“When it goes south, it goes south quick. We’re just not playing good baseball,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe. “We’ve been the best defensive team in the league and now we’re making defensive mistakes. Our bullpen has been untouchable all year and now we’re getting hammered in the bullpen. Something’s got to change, and we’ll make some changes. Right now, we’ve just got to turn it around.

“These guys have still got fight,” continued Keefe. “We got the tying run to the plate in and eighth and that’s all you can ask for. But right now, we’ve got to turn the page and get it going in the right direction.”

It was a frustrating game for the Rockers who held leads at 2-1 after the first and 5-4 after the fifth. But York responded to every Rockers rally. Trailing 1-0 after the top of the first, High Point took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half. Shed Long, Jr. led off with a walk and stole second before moving to third on a ground out by Ryan Grotjohn and crossing the plate on a ground out by Ben Aklinski. Zander Wiel followed with a solo homer, his 27^th of the year.

York quickly erased the deficit, taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the third. Stokes, Jr. doubled and scored on a triple by Drew Mendoza. Jhon Nunez’s sac fly to center brought Mendoza home. A solo homer by Stokes, Jr. leading off the fifth put York on top 4-2.

Three runs in the bottom of the fifth helped High Point take a 5-4 lead. Long, Jr. blasted a solo homer to make it 4-3. Grotjohn singled and Aklinski drew a walk from York starter Nick Parker. Wiel lined a double into the left field corner to plate two and re-take the lead.

A two-run double from Jacob Rhinesmith in the seventh off reliever Kyle Halbohn (L, 2-2) put the Revs in front 6-5. They added three more runs in the top of the eighth, two scoring on a Drew Mendoza double with Mendoza then scoring on a wild pitch by Cam Bedrosian.

Aklinski led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple and scored on a sac fly from Quincy Latimore to make it a 9-6 final.

Wiel had two of the Rockers six hits on the afternoon. Nelvin Correa (W, 3-3) picked up the win in relief or Parker. Correa pitched the sixth and seventh innings, holding the Rocker hitless and striking out two.

The Rockers continue with their final regular season homestand and open a four-game series with the Gastonia Honey Hunters. Tuesday’s game will be a 5:15 doubleheader which includes a make-up game from last month at Gastonia. Both games will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: Ben Aklinski scored his 100^th and 101^st runs of the season . . . He holds the Rockers record…LHP Brandon Leibrandt shared Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month honors with Gastonia righty Zach Mort… Leibrandt was 3-0 with a 1.93 in August… Mickey Jannis and Mitch Atkins are the scheduled starters for Tuesday’s doubleheader which will feature a pair of seven inning games. Gastonia will serve as the home team in the opener as the game is a rainout from August at Gastonia.

Long Island 12, Lancaster 11

(Central Islip, N.Y., Sept. 4, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Lancaster Barnstormers 12-11 in walk-off fashion on Monday afternoon in the final game of a four-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

Lancaster opened the game with three first inning runs off Ducks starter Justin Alintoff on RBI singles by Wilson Garcia and Trayvon Robinson and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Chris Proctor. Alex Dickerson answered in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run to center field off Barnstormers starter Nile Ball.

Andretty Cordero’s RBI single to right in the second and Melvin Mercedes’ two-run homer to right in the fourth pushed the Barnstormers lead up to four at 6-2. However, Brantley Bell drilled a grand slam over the left field fence in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game at six.

The ‘Stormers took the lead back in the fifth on a sac fly to left off the bat of Jack Conley. However, a five-run fifth put the Ducks in front 11-7, with Bell’s three-run double down the left field line, Joe DeCarlo’s RBI double to left-center and an error that plated DeCarlo doing the damage.

Yeison Coca’s solo homer to center in the sixth and Cordero’s RBI single to center in the eighth closed the gap to two. Then in the ninth, an RBI single to left by Shawon Dunston Jr. and a throwing error that scored Conley tied the game at 11. Long Island responded in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases on two singles and a walk before DeCarlo was hit by a pitch to force home Alejandro De Aza with the winning run.

Neither starter factored into the decision. Alintoff pitched five innings, allowing seven runs on 11 hits and a walk with one strikeout. Ball lasted four and one-third innings, giving up 11 runs (10 earned) on 11 hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Jose Jose (6-2) got the win despite yielding two runs (one earned) on three hits in the ninth while striking out two. Mike Adams (3-5) suffered the loss, conceding the winnings run on two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning.

Every Duck had at least one hit in the game. De Aza led the team with four hits and scored three runs. Bell picked up two hits while driving in seven runs, scoring twice and drawing a walk. Carlos Castro added three hits and two runs.

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. from Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium. Fans can follow the action live on Flo Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Left-hander Kyle Lobstein (4-5, 5.63) gets the start for the Ducks against a Ghost Hounds starter to be determined.

Spire City 5, Lexington 2

Spire City scored three runs in the first inning on a home run by Leobaldo Cabrera and a two-run homer from Craig Dedelow and went on to score a 5-2 win over Lexington at Counter Clocks Field. Cabrera, hitting in the lead-off spot, hit his 34^th homer of the season off J.C. Sulbaran to start the game with a bang.

Southern Maryland 5, Gastonia 4