Long Island 8, Spire City 5

(Frederick, Md., Sept. 6, 2023) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Spire City Ghost Hounds 8-5 on Wednesday evening in the middle game of a three-game series at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium.

The Ducks took a 2-0 lead versus Ghost Hounds starting pitcher Zac Rosscup in the top half of the third inning courtesy of a two-run double off the bat of Alejandro De Aza. The visitors made it 4-0 in their favor in the fourth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Ernie Geraci and a run-scoring base knock produced by Ruben Tejada.

Spire City got to within 4-1 in the home half of the fourth frame against Long Island starter Rober Stock by way of a home run from Craig Dedelow, his 24^th of the year. The Flock made it 6-1 in the fifth thanks to back-to-back four-baggers from Sam Travis and Alex Dickerson. A Geraci RBI single made it 7-2 Ducks in the seventh, and Brantley Bell’s run-scoring two-base hit in the eighth extended the advantage to 8-4 as the Ducks pounded out 18 more hits to notch their third consecutive victory overall.

Spire City’s Osvaldo Abreu kept the power surge going when he hit a solo homer in the fifth. Chris Shaw added another home run in the seventh, a two-run blast to bring the score to 7-4.

Stock (9-3) picked up the win, allowing four runs on seven hits in seven innings pitched, walking two and striking out seven. Rosscup (4-3) suffered the loss, giving up four runs on eight hits in four innings of work, walking a pair of batters while striking out three.

The Ghost Hounds tried to rally in the ninth inning, even getting a run across on a groundout to make it 8-5. The rally fell short when Luke Becker was tagged out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch that took a hard ricochet off of the backstop, as the Hounds fell by the 8-5 final.

De Aza led the way at the plate with three more hits, including a double, along with two RBIs, a run scored and a walk as every batter in the starting lineup had at least one hit for the third straight ballgame.

The Ducks and Ghost Hounds wrap up their three-game series on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium. Fans can follow the action live on Flo Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Right-hander Augie Stock (Atlantic League Debut) gets the nod for the Flock against Ghost Hounds righty Matt Reitz (3-0, 5.55).

Lancaster 6, Staten Island 5

For the first time in 59 home games this season, the Lancaster Barnstormers celebrated a walkoff win.

Chris Proctor singled home Chad Sedio with one out in the ninth inning to carry the Barnstormers to a 6-5 victory over the Staten Island FerryHawks at Clipper Magazine Stadium.  With the win, the Barnstormers remained one game ahead of Southern Maryland and three ahead of York in the North Division chase with 10 games remaining on the schedule.

Wilson Garcia grounded a single up the middle to start the home ninth, and the Barnstormers replaced him with Sedio.  Joseph Carpenter blistered a ground ball that eluded second baseman Noah Fisher to his right, sending Sedio to third.  Pedro Payano (2-5) struck out Shawon Dunston, Jr., but Proctor drilled a 1-1 pitch past the diving attempt of shortstop Angel Aguilar to bring Sedio across and earn himself a sports drink bath in shallow right field.

The Barnstormers had their big inning in the second, following a Ricardo Cespedes solo homer in the top of the inning.  Garcia singled to the base of the wall in right and left for Dunston, the designated runner.  Carpenter singled off Aguilar’s glove, chasing Dunston to third, and Trayvon Robinson tied the game with a double to right.  Proctor and Jack Conley each drove home a run with an out for a 3-1 advantage.  Lefty starter Ryan Hartman plunked Trace Loehr with a pitch.  Melvin Mercedes dropped a bunt toward third, and Garrett Kueber made a wild throw, enabling Loehr to score the inning’s fourth run.

Staten Island quickly drew back into a tie against Brent Teller.  Justin Williams and Angel Aguilar produced consecutive one-out singles.  Chris Brito produced the third straight hit, a single toward the right field corner, scored Williams.  Aguilar crossed home on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 4-3, and Brito came home with the tying run on Luis Castro’s base hit to left.  The inning ended when the Barnstormers allowed Cespedes’ infield pop up to land off to the first base side of the mound, but Castro was nabbed rounding second.

Lancaster went ahead, 5-4, in the bottom of the fourth when Loehr led off with a double down the right field line and scored on Andretty Cordero’s  two-out single up the middle.

Garrett Granitz tossed two perfect innings of relief to maintain the lead, but Aguilar hit a long homer to left center off Ofreidy Gomez leading off the top of the eighth.  Gomez retired the side in order after that.  Nick Duron (2-0) survived Cespedes’ leadoff double in the ninth, striking out two and getting a po up from Fisher.

Jared Lakind (8-4) will make the start on Thursday against Staten Island ace Chris Capuano (10-4).  Fans may tune into FloBaseball at 6:25.

NOTES:  Lancaster has won five straight at home…Cordero has hit safely in 17 in a row…Garcia has hit safely in seven straight…His last 15 hits are singles…The Barnstormers took over the #1 spot in the league in team batting…Robinson has 12 RBI in his last 10 games…Duron has allowed only one earned run in his last 17 innings while striking out 27.

High Point Rockers 4, Gastonia 3

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers shaved a game off of Gastonia’s lead in the Atlantic League’s South Division with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night at Truist Point. High Point starter Craig Stem struck out seven over his six innings of work, Ryan Dull earned his 18^th save of the year, and Ryan Grotjohn hit a two-run homer to lead the Rockers to the win.

The Rockers are now 30-21 in the South Division race while the Honey Hunters fell to 33-19.

“We’re back. We needed that,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe.  “They got to Stem early but he was able to keep the ball down in the zone after that and we were able to put some runs on the board. The seventh, eighth and ninth innings, (our bullpen) did exactly what they’re supposed to do.”

Gastonia’s Zach Jarrett homered with one aboard in the top of the first to give the Honey Hunters an early 2-0 lead off Stem (W, 3-2). The Rockers tied it in the third when D.J. Burt lined a single and scored on Grotjohn’s homer.

Gastonia forged a brief 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth on a solo homer by David Washington. But the Rockers battled back, tying the game in the bottom of the fourth off Gastonia starter Zac Westcott (L, 0-1). Beau Taylor led off the frame with a single, moved to second on a single by Quincy Latimore and scored on Burt’s single.

High Point tallied again in the bottom of the fourth against Westcott to take a 4-3 lead as Ben Aklinski walked, stole second, and scored when Zander Wiel hit a line shot off the wall in left.

Stem left with a quality start: six innings of work, allowing just four hits and three runs while walking one and striking out seven. Cam Bedrosian retired the Honey Hunters on eight pitches in the seventh, picking up a pair of strikeouts.

Gastonia’s greatest scoring threat came in the eighth when Jack Reinheimer led off with a double and was sacrificed to third by Kevin Santa. But Rockers reliever Jameson McGrane retired Jarrett on a foul tip third strike and induced a fly out to center by Scott Manea. Jarrett’s foul tip was disputed by Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo who was ejected on the play.

“We took care of business in that situation,” said Keefe.  “We haven’t necessarily been throwing the right pitches in the right count but Beau (Taylor) was back there and he know this line-up really well.  If we throw the ball like we’re capable of with Beau and Brian (Parreira) back there, we’ll be fine.”

Ryan Dull set the Honey Hunters down in order in the ninth to earn his league-leading 18^th save of the season.

Grotjohn is riding a six-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .409.

“It’s amazing what having your parents in town can do for you,” laughed Keefe following the game. “We’re trying to get his parents an Airbnb through the playoffs.”

The series finale between the Rockers and Honey Hunters will be on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. It will be the final home game of the regular season. The Rockers will host a South Division Championship Series at home on Friday, September 22.

NOTES: The Rockers activated catcher Beau Taylor from the injured list prior to the game. He had not played since taking a foul tip off his knee on August 22. The Rockers put catcher Jake Marshall on the inactive list.

Lexington 5, Charleston 3

Lexington’s Aaron Ochsenbein won his 10^th game of the year, striking out seven across six innings, in leading the Counter Clocks to a 5-3 win at Charleston. Lexington tallied four runs in the first on an RBI single by Connor Owings and three consecutive run-scoring doubles by Thomas Dillard, J.C. Encarnacion and Logan Brown.

So. Maryland 5, York 4

(September 6, 2023 – Waldorf, Md.):  The York Revolution clawed back late but dropped their second straight to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 5-4 on Wednesday evening at Regency Furniture Stadium. The Revs fall two games behind the Crabs for second place as Southern Maryland now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker having won the season series, and York slips to three games behind Lancaster for first place with 11 to play.

After being shut out the night before, the Revs jumped to a quick lead in the top of the first as Tomo Otosaka and Troy Stokes Jr. led off with singles. With runners at the corners, Stokes Jr. stole second base on a strikeout. That set up a pair of run-scoring plays as Jhon Nunez ripped an RBI grounder to first and reached on an error, driving in the Revs’ first run of the game in the first inning, doing so for his third consecutive start. Down two strikes, Trey Martin hammered an RBI single to left to make it a 2-0 lead.

Southern Maryland responded with three in the bottom half. Jack Sundberg led off his second straight game with a double and scored on Braxton Lee’s single to center. Two batters later, Jimmy Kerrigan lined a two-run homer to left for a 3-2 Blue Crabs lead on his seventh home run in his last seven games played.

York forced Southern Maryland starter Liam O’Sullivan to throw 32 pitches in the first inning, but O’Sullivan (10-7) only allowed one hit the rest of the night, a two-out single to Drew Mendoza in the fifth, going six strong innings for the win.

The Blue Crabs added runs, scoring in the third on three consecutive two-out seeing eye singles with Alex Crosby driving in a run to make it 4-2.

Crosby added an RBI double to deep right in the bottom of the fifth on a play that was nearly caught by Martin crashing into the right field fence as the Blue Crabs led 5-2.

York chipped away in the late innings, scoring runs in the seventh and eighth.

Jacob Rhinesmith led off the seventh with a base hit to right center and scored from first on Alexis Pantoja’s double down the right field line, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

Nunez greeted setup man Andre Scrubb with a first pitch homer to left in the top of the eighth, bringing the Revs within a run on his 10th long ball of the year. Martin reached on a strikeout wild pitch, took second on his 39th steal of the year, and advanced to third on a ground out by Richard Urena. Scrubb struck out the next two batters, however, keeping Southern Maryland in front as the Revs failed to get a runner home from third with less than two outs for the second consecutive inning.

Pantoja led off the ninth with a single to center against closer Bruce Rondon, but the game ended on back-to-back bullets as Tomo Otosaka lined into a double play at first base, and Stokes Jr. ripped a 109 mile per hour liner that was snared at third base for the final out.

York’s bullpen was strong in keeping the game close as Emilker Guzman retired the side in order in the sixth, Jhon Vargas posted five outs in his debut with three strikeouts, and Will Carter netted a strikeout to end the eighth.

The Revs play the final road game of the regular season on Thursday, looking to avoid a sweep against the Blue Crabs. Pedro Vasquez (8-3, 6.05) faces lefty McKenzie Mills (4-3, 7.03) at 6:35 p.m. 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 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.

Roster Moves: York acquired RHP Jhon Vargas from Tri-City (Frontier League) for a player to be named later. The 26-year-old righty pitched for Revs manager Rick Forney in Winnipeg as a rookie in 2022 and went 8-5 with a 3.73 ERA as a starter for Tri-City this season. York placed backup catcher Al Reda on the inactive list to open a roster spot.