HAGERSTOWN, Md. – The High Point Rockers used the long ball to derail the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at Meritus Park. The Rockers blasted five home runs with Clayton Mehlbauer hitting two, each to dead center field, in winning their seventh straight game.

The Rockers improved to 7-1 in the second half and continue to hold a two-game lead over Gastonia (5-3) in the Atlantic League’s South Division second half pennant race.

The Rockers scored three times in the third when Ben Aklinski singled and Connor Owings followed with a homer, his third consecutive game with a round-tripper. After a Quincy Latimore groundout, Evan Edwards followed with a solo homer to give High Point a 3-0 lead.

Mehlbauer added a solo homer leading off the fourth inning to put the Rockers in front 4-0.

The Boxcars tallied a pair of runs off Rockers’ starter Cam Bedrosian (W, 5-1) in the fourth. Welington Dotel coaxed a two-out walk in front of back-to-back doubles by Dariel Gomez and Blake Berry.

High Point extended the lead to 5-2 when Gilberto Jimenez led off the top of the seventh with a solo homer, his first as a Rocker.

Bedrosian went five innings, yielding four hits and two runs while striking out six. Garrett Schilling, Will Carter and Zach Vennaro each threw a shutout inning in relief.

Hagerstown starter Anthony Rodriguez (L, 0-3) allowed eight hits,  three walks and four runs in his 4.2 innings of work.

Mehlbauer added his second homer of the game in the eighth to extend High Point’s lead to 7-2, driving in Brian Parreira who had drawn a two-out talk. High Point added a run in the ninth when Aklinski walked, stole second, went to third when a pick-off throw from the catcher rolled into center, and scored on a check-swing single by Edwards that rolled slowly up the third baseline and never crossed the foul line.

Nate Espelin, a lefty who signed with the Rockers earlier this week, retired Hagerstown in order in the ninth to highlight his first professional outing.

Edwards finished with three hits and a pair of RBI while Mehlbauer had three runs driven in on his two homers. Owings added two hits and two RBI.

The Rockers will enjoy an off-day on Monday and then begin a three-game series at York on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

NOTES: The Rockers have now won seven straight games, their second-longest of the year… The longest was an eight-game streak from June 8-16… In a statistical oddity, the Rockers had 11 base hits in 36 at-bats in each of the three games at Hagerstown… The Rockers had 15 extra base hits in the series including seven doubles and eight home runs.

HAGERSTOWN, Md. – High Point’s Connor Owings banged out four hits and drove in three runs to lead the Rockers to a 6-3 win over Hagerstown on Saturday night at Meritus Park.

Owings contributed a two-run homer in the first, doubled and scored in the fourth, doubled in the seventh and knocked an RBI double in the ninth. His three doubles tied the club record for doubles in a game, sharing the mark with Michael Russell and Tyler Ladendorf.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Owings hit his 12^th homer of the year with Ben Aklinski aboard following a single, to give the Rockers a 2-0 lead.

High Point added three runs in the fourth. Owings led off with a double and Quincy Latimore sent a grounder up the middle. Hagerstown second baseman Cito Culver fielded the ball and threw wildly to third in an attempt to cut down Owings with both runners reaching safely. Evan Edwards singled to score Owings and send Latimore to third. Brian Parreira then delivered an RBI single and Mason Maxwell hit a sac fly to right to give High Point a 5-0 lead.

Dariel  Gomez hit a solo homer to start the bottom of the fourth to make it a 5-1 game. The Boxcars closed the gap in the fifth when Culver doubled home a run and Welington Dotel followed with an RBI single to pull Hagerstown to within 5-3.

High Point starter Stephen Ridings went 4.2 innings and allowed three runs while yielding eight hits and striking out six.

Lefty Jacob Edwards (W, 5-0) kept the Boxcars scoreless through the seventh. Kyle Halbohn pitched around a single and a double in the eighth while striking out two to maintain the Rockers 5-3 lead.

The Rockers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Maxwell and Gilberto Jimenez drew walks before Owings doubled to right to make it a 6-3 game.

Hagerstown starter Yeudy Garcia (L, 1-1) was saddled with the loss after allowing seven runs and five hits over five innings of work.

Dakota Chalmers (S, 2) put the Boxcars down in order in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.

The Rockers improved to 6-1 in the second half of the Atlantic League season and 41-28 on the season.

The series finale is slated for a 5 o’clock start on Sunday at Meritus Park.

NOTES: Gastonia was losing at Lexington 7-1 in the seventh inning. A Gastonia loss would leave the Rockers with a two-game lead in the South Division in the race for the Atlantic League second half pennant… Gilberto Jimenez had his hitting streak snapped at six, marking his first hitless game as a Rocker… Jacob Edward is now 5-0 on the year with each of his wins coming in relief efforts.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point’s Gilberto Jimenez singled home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning to break-up a pitcher’s duel and give the Rockers a 2-1 win over Lexington on Thursday night at Truist Point. The win gives the Rockers a three-game sweep of the Legends.

High Point starter Cooper Casad (W, 2-1) and Lexington’s Dustin Beggs hooked up in a quick game that resulted in just seven total hits and was completed in a High Point franchise record 1:52.

Beggs held the Rockers to just one hit over his six innings of work, a double in the second inning. Beggs allowed two walks and struck out three.

Casad was also brilliant, going a career-high eight innings and holding the Legends to two hits and a single run. That run came in the second inning when Brady Whalen laced a lead-off single and Pedro Gonzalez followed with another single. A sac fly from Gavin Johns scored Whalen with Lexington’s lone run.

High Point forced a tie in the seventh inning against Lexington reliever Jett Lodes as Jake Washer was hit by a pitch with two outs. After moving to second on a wild pitch, pinch-hitter Brian Parreira stroked an RBI single to tie the game.  

In the eighth, facing Lexington reliever Victor Capellan (L, 0-1), D.J. Burt led off with a single and stole second base. Jimenez’s single put High Point in front 2-1. Dakota Chalmers put the Legends down in order in the ninth to earn his first save as a Rocker.

The Rockers will head to Hagerstown, Md. this weekend and will return home on Friday, July 19th to face off against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point.

NOTES: The duration of the game, 1:52, surpasses the previous fastest game of 1:57 set on April 30, 2019 at Somerset… Quincy Latimore has hit safely in all six games since his return to the Rockers… Right-fielder Gilberto Jimenez has hit in all five of his games since joining the team and is hitting a sizzling .476 with 10 hits in 21 at-bats… The Rockers are now 14-5 vs. Lexington this season and 7-2 at Truist Point… Cooper Casad’s eight innings of work tied his career high… He went eight innings vs. Southern Maryland and Long Island, both in 2021 with the Rockers… Rockers pitchers held Lexington to 11 hits over the three-game series, and just two runs… High Point took the series by scores of 5-0, 11-1 and 2-1… The previous mark for fewest runs allowed in a series was four against Somerset on July 5-7 of 2019.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point centerfielder Ben Aklinski drove in five runs on three hits to lead a 13-hit offensive explosion as the Rockers took an 11-1 decision from Lexington on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Point. Aklinski was a triple away from hitting for the cycle, having blasted a solo homer, an RBI single and a three-run double.

The win gives the Rockers the series win over the Legends with the series finale slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Thursday at Truist Point.

Aklinski was not the only hitting star for the Rockers as right fielder Gilberto Jimenez had three hits and scored two runs and Quincy Latimore and Evan Edwards each drove in a pair of runs. Edwards hit a two-run homer in the seventh while Latimore knocked a two-run double during a seven-run fourth inning for the Rockers.

Rockers starter Neil Ramirez (W, 3-3) did his share, holding Lexington to four hits and a single run with six strikeouts in his five innings of work. Jacob Edwards and Garrett Schilling each threw a shutout inning in relief. Rockers manager Jamie Keefe turned to newcomer Sam Peddycord to finish up the game. An East Forsyth High grad and former pitcher at Greensboro College, Peddycord made his professional debut with two outstanding innings, retiring all six men he faced and recording a pair of strikeouts.

The seven-run fourth put the game away for the Rockers who had taken a 2-0 lead after three innings on Aklinski’s first inning home run and his third inning RBI single. High Point banged out five hits in the third off Lexington starter Luis De La Rosa (L, 1-2) who yielded three doubles and a triple along with three walks in the frame.

The Rockers are now 3-1 in the second half and have a five-game lead in the Atlantic League’s Wild Card race over Southern Maryland and Lancaster.

HIGH POINT, N.C – High Point pitcher Cam Bedrosian turned in one of the most masterful pitching performances in Rockers history Tuesday night in shutting out the Lexington Legends 5-0 at Truist Point. Bedrosian (W, 4-1) held the Legends to just two hits over his eight innings of work, retiring 19 consecutive batters during one stretch, and facing just two batters over the minimum.

”I just felt really good, probably the best I’ve felt this year,” said Bedrosian following the game. “I had a feel for all my pitches. The fastball was getting ahead of hitters with strike one which was huge, and everything else played off of that.”

After allowing a hit to Lexington’s Matt Botcher with one out in the first, Bedrosian did not allow another base runner until Brady Whalen doubled to right in the seventh. Between the two hits, Bedrosian retired 19 straight Legends hitters and the Rockers did not issue a walk the entire game.

Newly acquired reliever Will Carter put the Legends down in order in the ninth to preserve the shutout.

“I can’t say enough about what Cam did tonight,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe. “It makes it easy as a manager when your starter can throw like that. He was really fun to watch. We got enough offense early by jumping on Miller. Benny (Aklinski) had a big homer in the second to give us some breathing room. But Cam was the story tonight. He was throwing it as well as anyone has all year.”

The Rockers did all of their scoring in the first two innings. After Connor Owings drew a walk from Lexington starter Justin Miller (L, 1-4), Quincy Latimore singled to left where it was misplayed by Justin Williams, allowing Owings to score from first to stake the Rockers to a 1-0 lead.

High Point advanced its lead in the second inning to 5-0. Jake Washer drew a lead-off walk and Clayton Mehlbauer followed with a single. Washer was able to score on a sac fly from DJ Burt. Aklinski then smacked a three-run homer, his 14th of the season.

Miller took the loss for the Legends, allowing five hits, five runs and seven walks over his four innings of work to go with a pair of strikeouts.

Gilberto Jimenez had a pair of hits for the Rockers and Quincy Latimore added a hit to give him a modest four-game hitting streak since his return to High Point.

The Rockers will face the Legends at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday in game two of the series at Truist Point.