CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The High Point Rockers unleashed an 11 hit attack in winning its second straight game over the Charleston Dirty Birds, 9-3 in a matinee at GoMart Park.
Right fielder Ryan McCarthy drove in three runs with an RBI single and a two-run homer, giving him eight RBI in his first four games as a Rocker since being acquired in a trade with the Lexington Legends.
The Rockers, winners of three straight, improve to 15-17 while Charleston dropped its eighth straight game and is now 11-21.
The Rockers sent lefty Ben Wereski to the mound to start the game. It was Wereski’s first outing since suffering an injury on opening day. Under a strict pitch count limit, Wereski threw 28 pitches and retired seven of the eight men he faced with one walk and a pair of strikeouts while not allowing a hit.
Righty Matt Colucci came on in the third with a 2-0 lead and allowed a solo homer to Jaylen Smith.
The Rockers scored their first run in the top of the first when Max Viera walked and eventually scored on a throwing error by Charleston. The lead grew to 2-0 in the second when Anthony Servideo walked and scored on an RBI single from Viera.
High Point tallied five times in the fourth inning and chased starter Keyvius Sampson (L,0-3). Servideo tripled home one run, Patrick Sanchez and McCarthy each contributed an RBI single and Ethan Skender drove home two with a single.
The lead grew to 9-3 in the sixth on McCarthy’s two run homer, his third homer in four games as a Rocker.
Brayden Matthews (W, 1-0) earned the win, hurling three shutout innings and allowing just three hits while striking out one. Colucci allowed seven hits and three runs over his four innings of work with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.
McCarthy finished the day three-for-five while Parks and Skender each collected a pair of hits.
The Rockers will play the series finale on Thursday night at 6:35 p.m. at GoMart Ballpark. The Rockers will send righty Matt Solter (1-5, 9.51) to the mound to face Charleston lefty Marlin Willis, Jr. (0-1, 5.06). Rocker fans can follow the action live on HomeTeamLive.com (DugoutTV) or the audio broadcast on the free app MixLR.
