Lancaster 15, Long Island 10

An amazingly efficient offense on Wednesday evening has the Lancaster Barnstormers on the brink of repeating as second half North champions.

The Barnstormers scored 15 runs while leaving only three runners on base to defeat the Long Island Ducks, 15-10, in the middle game of a three-game set with the Long Island Ducks.

Combined with losses by Southern Maryland in York, the Barnstormers have dropped their magic numbers to two with respect to both clubs.  Lancaster leads the Blue Crabs by 2 ½ and York by 3 ½ with five games remaining on Lancaster’s schedule.  The other two play four each.

For the second straight night, Long Island scored four runs in the top of the first.  And for the second straight night, Lancaster led by four at the end of the fourth.

Nile Ball started for Lancaster and walked four of the first five batters he faced.  Following a two-run single by Joe DeCarlo, the right-hander hit two straight batters as the Ducks sprinted ahead, 4-0.

The Barnstormers responded immediately, scoring two runs on a Wilson Garcia double down the right field line in the bottom of the inning off Robert Stock (9-4).

Jonathan Guzman’s RBI single in the top of the third gave the Ducks a 5-2 edge before Lancaster charged ahead to stay in the bottom of the inning.  Melvin Mercedes, who had a four-hit night, lined a leadoff single into center and stole second.  Yeison Coca followed with a soft line drive hit into left to send Mercedes home with Lancaster’s third run.  Coca went to second on the throw home and took third on a grounder by Andretty Cordero.  Long Island tried for a play at the plate on Ariel Sandoval’s grounder to second, but Scott Kelly’s throw was late in the attempt to nab Coca, and the relay to first failed to get Sandoval.

Sandoval was put into motion to stay out of a double play on a ground out by Garcia.  Chad Sedio tied the game with a double to left, and Chris Proctor unloaded the game’s only homer, a drive to the tents in right, for a 7-5 lead.

A double by Mercedes an infield single by Coca keyed a two-run Lancaster fourth, but the Ducks trimmed the lead to 9-8 in the top of the fifth off winner Dominic DiSabatino (5-8).  Alejandro de Aza led off with a walk and went to second on DeCarlo’s single to left.  Jonathan Guzman doubled to left center for one run.  Two batters later, Boog Powell scooted a two-run single down the third base line as the Ducks pulled to within one.

The Barnstormers got three runs back in the bottom of the inning, two on a single by Trace Loehr.  Doubles by Ariel Sandoval and Wilson Garcia ripped consecutive doubles in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away.

Lancaster will have the opportunity to clinch the second half title on Thursday with a win over Long Island and losses by Southern Maryland and York.  Brady Tedesco (0-1) will make his Clipper Magazine Stadium debut against fellow lefty Ian Clarkin (3-4).  Fans not at the stadium may tune into FloBaseball at 6:25.

NOTES:  Mercedes had the first four-hit game by a Barnstormer in a month…He scored three times and has reached 100 on the year…It is the second straight season he has scored 100 times…Lancaster stole six bases in the game…Chandler Brierley, Ofreidy Gomez and Nick Duron combined to strike out seven batters in the final 2 1/3 innings.

High Point 4, York 1

YORK, Pa. – Brandon Leibrandt held the York Revolution to just two hits through six innings and the High Point Rockers won the middle game of a three-game series at WellSpan Park on Wednesday by a 4-1 score.

High Point (35-22) maintains a one-game lead over Gastonia (35-24). The Rockers are 35-22 in the second half of the Atlantic League season and lead the South Division. 

The Rockers used the long-ball for the second night in a row to take an early lead. Wednesday, it was Quincy Latimore who hit a solo homer leading off the second against York starter Pedro Vasquez (L, 8-4). It was Latimore’s seventh homer of the year and gave the Rockers a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Rockers added a second run when Ben Aklinski started the frame by being hit by a pitch from Vasquez. Zander Wiel grounded out to first allowing Aklinski to move to second. From there, Beau Taylor singled to right, scoring Aklinski and putting High Point up 2-0.

High Point added a pair of runs in the sixth. Diego Goris led off with a single off the glove of third baseman Drew Mendoza before Wiel was hit by a pitch from Vasquez. Taylor shot a liner to right scoring Goris and moving Wiel to third. Michael Martinez then doubled to right, scoring Wiel but Taylor was out at home on the throw from the outfield.

Leibrandt (W, 4-3) came out after six, having allowed two hits and one walk while striking out four while earning his fourth win since August 1. Cam Bedrosian worked around a walk and a single by Alexis Pantoja in the eighth to keep the Revs scoreless. A Drew Mendoza solo homer off Jameson McGrane in the ninth kept the Revs from being shutout.

Goris led the Rockers with three hits while Taylor drove in two runs on the night.

The third and final game of the series is slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Thursday at York’s WellSpan Park. The game will be streamed live on FLO baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: Diego Goris had three hits, his third three-hit game since joining the Rockers on Sept. 1… He is currently on a six-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .481 (13-27).

Staten Island 5, Spire City 2

Staten Island scored four times in the fifth inning to overcome a 2-0 deficit and post a 5-2 win over visiting Spire City. The Ferry Hawks took advantage of three walks, two hits, a hit batter and a two-run throwing error during the inning. Chris Brito and Brandon Pugh each had two hits for Staten Island in the game. Eddy Diaz had two hits to lead the Ghost Hounds.

Gastonia 5, So. Maryland 1

Charleston 10, Lexington 4

Four Charleston players each drove in a pair of runs to lead the Dirty Birds to a 10-4 win over Lexington at Counter Clocks field on Wednesday night. Clayton Mehlbauer, Juan Carlo Perez, Yefri Perez and Zachary Bridges each had multiple RBI.

Thomas Dillard hit a solo homer for the Counter Clocks, his 37^th homer of the year.

Mikey York (W, 4-2) earned the win with Pat Ledet (L, 4-7) taking the loss.