HIGH POINT, N.C. – Ben Aklinski hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Quincy Latimore beat the throw home to give the High Point Rockers a 5-4 win in 10 innings over the Lexington Legends on Wednesday night at Truist Point.
With the game tied at four, High Point closer Ryan Dull struck out the side in the top of the 10th. With Latimore starting the bottom of the 10th on second, he moved to third on a fly ball to right by Roldani Baldwin. Aklinski then worked Lexington reliever Aneuris Rosario to a 3-1 count before hitting a fly ball to shallow center. The Legends centerfielder Darian Sandford made the catch as Latimore tagged but the throw was up the third base line, allowing Latimore to score the winning run.
The sac fly marked Aklinski’s fourth walk-off hit of the season. He singled home the winning run vs. Staten Island on May 20 and beat the FerryHawks with a home run on May 22. The Rockers beat Gastonia on August 21 on an Aklinski grand slam.
Dull earned the win to improve to 4-1 while Rosario absorbed the loss, his first decision of the year.
The win keeps the Rockers a half-game in front of the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes who shutout Staten Island 4-0 on Wednesday.
High Point starter Neil Uskali went six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits including a solo homer from Manuel Geraldo. The Rockers had trailed 3-0 before tying the game in the fourth on a double by Michael Martinez, an infield single by Jay Gonzalez, and RBI singles from Michael Russell and Logan Morrison.
Trailing 4-3 in the eighth, Aklinski opened the inning with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a ground out by Martinez and scored on a base hit by Gonzalez.
The Rockers are now 58-52 overall and 19-25 in the second half of the season.
The third and deciding game of the series between the Rockers and Legends will be played on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point.
