HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs hit a pair of two-run homers and that was all they needed in posting a 4-3 win over the High Point Rockers Tuesday night at Truist Point.

The homers, from Sam Dexter in the second and Brett Barrera in the sixth, spoiled an otherwise outstanding pitching performance from Rockers starter Ben Wereski (L, 2-4). The first-year lefty went six innings, allowed five hits, walked two and struck out eight.

Dexter’s homer in the third was preceded by a walk to Giovanni Digiacomo while Barrera’s blast came after a double by Dondrei Hubbard.

The Rockers are 67-45 on the season and 26-23 in the second half, trailing Gastonia (29-20) by three games.

The Rockers tallied a run in the fourth to close the margin to 2-1 when Alex Dickerson doubled home Drew Mendoza who had drawn a walk from Blue Crabs starter Kyle Virbitsky (W, 1-0).

Down 4-1 in the seventh, the Rockers scored a pair of runs. After Virbitsky allowed a single by Ben Aklinski and walked Dickerson, Jordan Carr came on in relief. Carr walked Evan Edwards to load the bases. Max Viera’s grounder to third was misplayed, allowing Aklinski to score. Braxton Davidson hit into a triple play. His grounder to second was shuttled to the shortstop for the first out, the relay to first retired Davidson for the second out and Edwards, coming from second base, rounded third too wide and was cut down on a throw from first baseman Jamari Baylor to Barrera at third.

High Point had a shot to tie the game in the ninth when Viera doubled into the left field corner. But Davidson’s line drive single to right was played perfectly by right fielder Pearce Howard who threw home. Baylor cut the ball and threw to the plate in time to beat Viera’s head-first slide.

Endrys Briceno (S, 4) pitched the final inning and two-thirds, striking out two while allowing two hits.

High Point finished the night with eight hits to SMD’s seven.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The Rockers will send RHP Jake Gilbert (1-1, 4.11) to the mound to face Southern Maryland’s Jason Blanchard (0-0, 0.52). Rocker fans can catch all the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app.

NOTES: The Rockers released three players prior to the game, all left-handed pitchers in Alex Barker, Win Scott and Sam Clay . . . High Point acquired OF Bryson Parks in a trade from the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League . . . Parks played his college baseball at Western Carolina University . . . The Rockers also signed RHP Andre Scrubb, a former High Point University pitcher who spent time in the Major Leagues with the Houston Astros.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers shutout the Charleston Dirty Birds for eight innings on Thursday night. Unfortunately, it was the final eight innings of the game after the Birds had put up an eight spot in the first inning and went on to beat the Rockers 8-5 at Truist Point.

It was a valiant effort by the Rockers to chip back all night long given the deficit they put themselves in at the start of the game.

The highlight for the Rockers came in the eighth inning when Ben Aklinski became just the second player in Atlantic League history to record 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in the same season.

The Rockers continue to hold the best overall record in the Atlantic League at 65-43 and are now 24-21 in the second half. Gastonia defeated Lexington to move two games ahead of High Point in the South Division second half standings and 2.5 games in front of third place Lexington.

It was a tough night for lefty Alex Barker (L, 0-1), making his second start for the Rockers after being acquired from the New Jersey Jackals. Barker allowed a lead-off single to James Nelson, followed by a single from Alsander Woman, a three-run homer from Keon Barnum and a solo homer from Zach Daniels. That was followed by two more doubles, a walk and another three-run homer from Demetrius Moorer. When the dust cleared, Charleston had scored eight runs on eight hits.

High Point began its comeback in the bottom of the first with solo homers from Aklinski and Evan Edwards to make it an 8-2 contest.

Jake Gilbert came on in the second and posted his best outing of the year. He went four innings, allowed just one hit and one walk and struck out seven while keeping Charleston scoreless. David Hess followed with three shutout innings and Jameson McGrane struck out two in the ninth as Charleston failed to score after the first inning.

The Rockers offense showed sporadic signs of life. Aklinski added his second homer of the night and his 30^th of the season, a solo shot leading off the fifth, to cut the deficit to 8-3. The Rockers added two more in the seventh on a two-run triple from Aidan Brewer to make it 8-5.

But High Point left two men on in the eighth and Luke Napleton led off the ninth with a single to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle. But Charleston turned a 4-6-3 double play and was able to escape with the 8-5 win.

The Birds were led by Barnum and Moorer who each drove in three runs. In fact, after the first inning, the Rockers pitchers allowed just four hits and had only two runners advance to second base.

Charleston reliever Samuel Reyes (W, 4-4) was credited with the win as starter Eddy Demurias went just four innings, allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Aklinski walked with two outs in the eighth and stole second to record his 30^th stolen base of the season. He joins Charleston James Nelson who earned 30-30 status on Tuesday night as the only ALPB players in the 30-30 club.

Aklinski and Napleton, with two hits each, accounted for four of High Point’s seven hits in the game.

The Rockers now hit the road for a three-game series at Hagerstown, High Point’s only visit to Meritus Park this season. The Rockers will open with Erich Uelmen (4-3, 3.50) on the mound to face Flying Boxcars lefty Quinton Martinez (1-6, 5.65).

Rocker fans can catch all the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app.

The Rockers return home to start a six-game homestand with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers used outstanding pitching from Ben Wereski and Gabe Klobosits to hold the Charleston Dirty Birds to four hits in a 5-0 win on Wednesday night at Truist Point.

The win marked the eighth shutout of the season for the Rockers pitching staff.

The win gives the Rockers a 65-42 overall record and a 24-20 mark in the second half. Charleston fell to 48-59 and 18-26.

The game started as a pitcher’s duel between High Point’s Wereski (W, 2-3) and Charleston’s Jamison Hill (L, 2-14). Wereski did not yield a hit until the fourth while Hill held the Rockers to two hits until the bottom of the fourth.

Alex Dickerson started the fourth for the Rockers with a walk and came around to score when Aidan Brewer hammered his 13^th homer of the season to stake the Rockers to a 2-0 advantage.

Evan Edwards hit a solo homer with two outs in the sixth to give the Rockers a 3-0 lead.

Wereski came out after six innings, having allowed just two hits with just one walk and eight strikeouts. Hill also exited after six frames, having held the Rockers to five hits and three runs while striking out 11.

High Point added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh when Ben Aklinski and Nolan Watson each hit sacrifice flies to give the Rockers a 5-0 advantage.

Klobosits (S, 1) pitched the final three innings and allowed just one hit while walking two and striking out three.

The final game of this three-game series is set for Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The Rockers will send lefty Alex Barker (0—0, 1.80) to the mound to face Charleston righty Eddy Demurias (5-4, 4.24). Rocker fans can catch all the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app.