HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs used an eight run fifth inning to power past the High Point Rockers and claim a 13–9 victory Friday night at Truist Point in front of a crowd of 3,001. The series is now even at two games apiece with two games still remaining this weekend.
The Rockers are now 17-23 while South Division leading Southern Maryland improves to 26-13.
The Blue Crabs collected 15 hits compared to just five for the Rockers, fueling the offensive outburst. There were a total of 17 walks issued in the game, eight by High Point pitchers and nine by Southern Maryland.
Despite the loss, Luke Napleton continued his hot stretch at the plate, driving in four runs and giving him nine RBIs over his last three games. Napleton hit a two-run homer in the seventh and added an RBI double in the ninth.
Daniel Blair (L, 1-1) gets tagged with the loss, surrendering eight runs on eleven hits in his three innings of work.
The Rockers produced in the first inning for the third consecutive night, hanging a three spot to open the contest. It started with a leadoff homer off the bat of Ethan Skender that opened up the scoring. Patrick Sanchez and Ryan McCarthy both worked a walk following the homer and later came around to score due to a throwing error from the Blue Crabs first basemen.
After issuing walks to the first three batters he faced in the third inning, Rockers starter Dalton Hitt found himself in immediate trouble. Jackson Loftin took advantage, punching a two-run double. Sacrifice flies from Alejandro De Aza and Danny Bautista Jr. plated a pair of runs and capped off a four run third inning that gave Southern Maryland the 4-3 lead.
In the fourth inning, the Rockers took a 5-4 lead, scoring a pair of runs on four walks and a hit batter. Max Viera drew a bases loaded walk to bring home one run and Skender’s grounder to third plated another
The Rocker lead was short lived as Blue Crabs scored eight times in the fifth to take a 12-5 lead. Right fielder Philip Sikes clubbed a three-run homer to highlight the inning for Southern Maryland.
Nolan Watson and Napleton both homered in the home half of the seventh, but it was not enough to power a High Point comeback. Napleton has driven in nine runs through his three starts of this series.
Game four of this six game set is slated to start at 6:35 Saturday night at Truist Point. The Rockers will send Yuhi Sako (2-3, 5.25) to the hill opposed by Southern Maryland’s right-hander Kyle Virbitsky (3-1). Rocker fans can follow the action live on HomeTeamLive.com (DugoutTV) or the audio broadcast on the free app MixLR.
