Lancaster 6, Staten Island 3

Matt Swarmer struck out 11 Staten Island FerryHawks over six innings to pitch the Lancaster Barnstormers back to the post-season with a 6-3 victory Friday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Lancaster’s win officially locked out the York Revolution and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and sets up a first round meeting between the Barnstormers and Long Island Ducks.  The best-of-five series will open at Clipper Magazine Stadium on Tuesday.

Swarmer (4-1) allowed just five hits while walking one and striking out 11.  He became only the second pitcher in franchise history to strike out at least 10 in back-to-back starts.

Lancaster struck for a pair of runs off Ethan Skuija (0-3) in the bottom of the second.  Chad Sedio lined a two-out single into left and galloped to third on a double by Jack Conley into the corner.  Trace Loehr produced both runs with a line drive single into right.

Staten Island answered in the top of the third as Jack Elliott doubled home Kolby Johnson from third with two outs.

The Barnstormers broke the game open in the fourth.  Chris Proctor singled into center, stole second and third and scored on catcher Chris Suleski’s bad throw into left.  Conley walked and attempted to match Proctor but was thrown out at third.  Loehr doubled to right and scored on a single to the hole at short by Melvin Mercedes.  Yeison Coca brought home Mercedes with a double, stole third and scored on Andretty Cordero’s single to the gap in right center.

Angel Aguilar and Elliott brought Staten Island within striking distance on consecutive homers in the top of the sixth, but Swarmer and Brian Marconi retired the next nine batters.

Mike Adams allowed a double and a walk in the ninth before shutting the door for his 12^th save, locking up the playoff bid.

Lancaster will host the FerryHawks on Saturday with a doubleheader tentatively scheduled to begin at 3:00.  All the action may be caught on FloBaseball.

NOTES:  Mercedes scored for the 101^st time this season…He leads the league in on-base percentage…Cordero broke his own record of driving in other people (RBI – HR) with 101…Lancaster had four stolen bases in the fourth inning and none otherwise…The only other Lancaster starter to fan 10 in back-to-back starts was lefty Kelvin De La Cruz in 2016…Eric Junge and Dwayne Pollok each had double-digit strikeout performances 10 days apart…This will be Lancaster’s eighth trip to the playoffs and second matchup against Long Island.

High Point 7, Long Island 3
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – The High Point Rockers scored runs in each of the first four innings, building a 7-2 lead, and posted a 7-3 win over Long Island on Friday night at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

The Rockers enter the final two games of the regular season holding a one-game lead over Gastonia in the South Division race though, with both teams having already clinched playoff spots, both teams are playing for more than just a division title. The Rockers are 36-23 while Gastonia is 36-25. The two teams will meet in the Atlantic League’s South Division Championship series which begins Tuesday at Gastonia.

High Point starter Jheyson Manzueta (W, 7-2) went six innings and while he allowed nine hits, he yielded just two runs while walking one and striking out four. Long Island’s Joe Iorio (L, 5-9) tossed five innings, allowing seven hits and five runs.

The Rockers plated a pair of runs in the first as Michael Martinez singled and Ben Aklinski drew a walk. Daikan Yoh singled to right to score Martinez with Aklinski moving to second. Beau Taylor sent a single to center that scored Aklinski and the Rockers had a 2-0 lead.

Long Island’s Sam Travis had an RBI single in the bottom of the first as the Ducks made it a 2-1 game.

The Rockers then scored five unanswered runs over the next five innings. In the second, Brian Parreira singled, moved to second on a single by Shed Long, Jr. and scored on a ground out by Martinez. Daikan Yoh hit a solo homer in the third, his 10^th of the year, to put the Rockers in front 4-1. Zander Wiel drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-1 before the Rockers added two more runs in the sixth. Martinez reached on a fielding error and Aklinski walked. Wiel singled home Martinez and Yoh’s single brought Aklinski home.

Long Island loaded the bases off Manzueta in the sixth and scored on a Jonathan Guzman ground out to close the deficit to 7-2.

Sam Selman and Taylor Guerrieri each threw a scoreless inning in relief while Kyle Halbohn allowed a run in the ninth to account for the 7-3 final.

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for a 6:35 first pitch on Saturday. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: High Point’s 77 wins this season are a franchise record as is its 36 road wins… With Lancaster’s win over Long Island on Friday, the Barnstormers clinched the North Division second half title and finalized the 2023 playoff pairings. Long Island will open the North Division Championship series at Lancaster on Tuesday while High Point will visit Gastonia for Game 1 of the South Division Championship series.

York 5, Spire City 4

(September 15th, 2023 – York, Pa.):  Nick Raquet struck out 10 and Ryan January launched a three-run homer to lead the York Revolution to a 5-4 victory over the Spire City Ghost Hounds to kick off the final series of the 2023 season on Friday evening at WellSpan Park.

York started the scoring in the bottom of the second as Jacob Rhinesmith singled to right to lead off the inning and Richard Urena doubled to right putting runners at second and third with no outs. January launched a three-run home run over the batter's eye in center field, a shot that left the bat at 116 mph and traveled 439 feet before landing, spotting the Revs a 3-0 lead.

Spire City scored its only run against Raquet in the top of the third as Luke Becker led off the inning with a walk and Gavin Johns drove an RBI double down the right field line, cutting York’s lead to 3-1.

The Revs manufactured a run in the fifth inning as Trey Martin walked to lead off and stole his league-leading 46th bag, Tomo Otosaka sacrificed him to third, and Drew Mendoza drove one to the left center field wall for a sacrifice fly increasing the lead to 4-1.

Raquet (13-7) was dominant, allowing just a run on two hits in five innings for the second straight start. He walked one and struck out 10, joining Jorge Martinez (2022) as the only pitchers in Revs history to strike out 10 batters in a game four times in a season (or in a Revs career).

Tom Sutera sped through a six-pitch sixth inning and worked around two hits for a scoreless seventh in his first relief outing since May 9.

York got to reliever Christian Lopez for a run in the seventh as Nellie Rodriguez ripped a two-out RBI base hit to left, scoring Otosaka who singled earlier with two outs to keep the inning alive.

Spire City rallied against reliever Jhon Vargas in the top of the eighth as Eddy Diaz reached on an error, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored on a wild pitch cutting York’s lead to 5-2. Leobaldo Cabrera reached via walk and Jose Marmolejos cracked a two-run homer to right center, slashing the Revs’ lead to one run at 5-4.

Zach Neff nailed things down in the ninth, striking out two batters for his third save of the season.

The Revs improve to 70-54 overall, clinching the league’s third-best record and the North Division’s best record by four games despite being eliminated from contention for a second half title and a playoff berth on Friday night. The Revs have assured themselves of a top-four record in franchise history, as their winning percentage is the franchise’s best since 2014.

Raquet ties for the league lead with his 13th victory while moving into second in innings (145.2) and remaining third in strikeouts (133).

Raquet’s 13 wins are tied for fourth most in a season in Revs franchise history (most since Frank Gailey’s 14 victories in 2017). His 133 strikeouts rank third all-time.

York righty J.T. Hintzen (9-7, 5.30) faces Matt Reitz (3-0, 5.43) on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. It is High School Spirit Night with postgame Inside-the-Park Fireworks. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.

Lexington 7, Gastonia 1

Four Lexington pitchers held Gastonia to just four hits in a 7-1 win at Caromont Health Park on Friday night. Counter Clocks starter Mike Kickham allowed four hits over four innings while striking out six. Raymells Rosa and Lincoln Henzman each threw two hitless innings in relief while Garrett Schilling didn’t allow a hit in the ninth. J.C. Encarnacion and Osmy Gregorio each had three hits while Connor Owings drove in two runs.

Charleston 5, So. Maryland 4