WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers nearly came back from an early 7-0 deficit but came up short, falling 7-6 to Southern Maryland at Regency Furniture Stadium on Thursday night.

The Rockers will travel back to High Point Thursday night and continue the series with the Blue Crabs at 6:35 p.m. Friday at Truist Point.

Southern Maryland took an early lead when Anthony Brocato and Juan Kelly slapped back-to-back home runs in the first inning off Rockers starter Taylor Guerrieri.

The Blue Crabs scored five times in the second to take a 7-0 lead. A walk, two singles and a double plated two runs before Brocato hit his second homer of the night, a three-run shot.

The Rockers scored four times in the fifth inning to pull within three runs at 7-4. Martin Figueroa singled and Ben Aklinski drew a walk. Connor Owings followed with a single to score Figureroa and send Aklinski to third. Nick Longhi then blasted a three-run homer, his seventh of the year.

The rains came in the sixth and the tarp was dragged over the field for what amounted to a 32 minute delay.

When play resumed, the Rockers’ hitting did too. In the top of the eighth, Brian Parreira walked and moved to second on a single by Ryan Grotjohn. A walk to Figueroa loaded the bases. After Ben Aklinski fouled out, Owings ripped a line drive single to right that scored Parreira and Grotjohn to pull the Rockers to within a run at 7-6.

Guerrieri (L, 1-2) exited the game after the second inning and the High Point bullpen dominated over the final six innings. Zach Muckenhirn went two innings allowing just one hit and striking out two. Neil Ramirez through a shutout inning in the fifth before David McKay got the Rockers to the seventh, striking out five over his 1.2 innings of work.  Ryan Meisinger worked around a pair of hits but kept the Blue Crabs scoreless through the seventh and eighth.

Owings led the Rockers with three hits and three RBI while Longhi also drove in three runs. Brocato finished with four RBI on his two home runs.

Southern Maryland’s Alex Katz (W, 1-0) earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief work. Endrys Briceno put the Rockers down in order in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.

WALDORF, Md. – High Point’s Ryan Weiss tied the club record for strikeouts in a game and the Rockers bats erupted for seven runs in the third inning as High Point defeated Southern Maryland 8-1 on Wednesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

Weiss (W, 1-1) struck out 12 Blue Crab hitters, tying a mark set by Edwin Carl and Michael Bowden during the Rockers’ inaugural season in 2019. Weiss fanned two batters in each of the first three innings, struck out the side in the fourth and added two more strikeouts in the fifth. He whiffed Michael Wielansky leading off the sixth for his record-tying 12^th strikeout.

The Rockers held a 1-0 lead heading into the third inning. Colin Moran blasted a double off the wall in centerfield to lead-off the top of the second. He scored on a broken bat single to left by Jake Washer to give the Rockers a 1-0 lead.

In the third, High Point tallied seven times to take an 8-0 lead. Martin Figueroa drew a lead-off walk, stole second, and scored on a single to right by Connor Owings. Nick Longhi followed with a single before Southern Maryland starter Shawn Semple (L, 0-2) walked Moran to load the bases. Zander Wiel singled to plate two more runs, the second being the 200^th of Wiel’s High Point career. Jake Washer then doubled to score Moran and Wiel and give the Rockers a 6-0 lead. The lead grew to 8-0 when Clayton Mehlbauer homered to score Washer ahead of him and finish off a seven-run outburst.

Weiss finished with 5.1 innings of work, allowing just two hits and one run while walking four. The lone run Weiss allowed was unearned.

The Rockers added a run in the ninth when Owings walked, moved to second on a single by newly acquired Cayman Richardson and scored on an infield ground out by Washer.

High Point’s pitching staff combined to allow just three hits while striking out a season-high 17. Ben Aklinski, Moran, Weil and Washer all had two hits for the Rockers. Wiel and Mehlbauer each drove in two runs while Washer drove home three.

Game three of the series is scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start on Thursday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

NOTES: Wiel is High Point’s all-time leader in RBI, having driven in the 199^th and 200^th of his career tonight… The Rockers signed former University of Virginia utility player Cayman Richardson on Tuesday. He made his first appearance as a Rocker on Wednesday and collected a base-hit… The 17 strikeouts by the Rockers staff ties for the second-most in a game. High Point fanned 17 Blue Crabs in a 2019 game and set the record of 18 strikeouts in a game vs. York, also in 2019.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The bottom half of the batting order provided a big lift on Sunday, helping the High Point Rockers end a four-game losing streak with a 5-1 in the final game of the series with the York Revolution on Sunday afternoon at Truist Point.

High Point’s sixth through eighth hitters in the order, Brian Parreira, Ryan Grotjohn and Clayton Mehlbauer, combined to go five-for-11 with three runs scored, two homers and three RBI. Parriera had two hits and a homer, Grotjohn had a hit and a run scored and Mehlbauer hit his first homer as a Rocker as part of a two-hit, two-RBI day.

Brandon Leibrandt earned the win, his first of the season, with five innings of four-hit baseball. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. Four High Point relievers finished the game with one inning of work each.

Lead-off hitter Martin Figueroa walked to open the first for the Rockers and scored on a two-run homer from Nick Longhi, his team-leading fifth of the year. Parriera put the Rockers up 3-0 with a solo shot leading off the second.

High Point extended its lead to 5-0 in the sixth when Grotjohn drew a walk, stole second and scored on Mehlbauer’s opposite field shot to right field.

York scored its only run of the game on a David Washington homer leading off the seventh inning.

York starter Chris Vallimont took the loss, allowing five hits and three runs over five innings of work.

Longhi finished the day with a pair of hits and two RBI.

The Rockers will have Monday off before heading to Southern Maryland on Tuesday for a three-game series with the Blue Crabs. The Rockers will return home on Friday, May 10 vs. the Lexington Legends.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers and Charleston Dirty Birds locked up in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel on Thursday night at Truist Point with the ‘Birds pulling out a 2-0 win.

Charleston starter Trey Supak allowed just one hit over his six innings of work while walking one and striking out seven. Reliever Jalen Miller came on in the seventh and nearly equaled Supak’s effort with one hit allowed and six strikeouts over the final three innings.

High Point starter Kyle Barraclough was also at the top of his game, striking out six and yielding just one hit over his six inning stint.

The only runs of the came off High Point reliever Taylor Guerreri in the seventh inning. After retiring the first two hitters in the frame, Charleston catcher Rusber Estrada sent a ground ball to short and Ryan Grotjohn’s throw to first was out of the reach of Zander Wiel. Charleston’s Kevin Maitan then homered to center to give the ‘Birds a 2-0 lead and concluding the scoring for the game.

Supak retired the first 11 batters of the game before Connor Owings coaxed a walk with two outs I the fourth. Supak then set down the next four hitters before Grotjohn led off the sixth with a single. But Supak was able to retire D.J. Burt, Martin Figueroa and Ben Aklinski to escape unharmed.

Miller came on in the seventh and put the Rockers down in order in the seventh and eighth. Aklinski doubled to center with two outs in the ninth but Owings’ fly ball to right was caught near the warning track.

High Point’s two hits mark the second-fewest the Rockers have managed in a game in club history. The Rockers struck out 13 times. High Point’s pitchers allowed just three hits and three walks while fanning 11.

Supak improved to 1-0 with the win while Guerrieri evened his record at 1-1. It was Miller’s first save of the year.

The Rockers start a three-game series with the York Revolution on Friday night at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers’ five-game winning streak came to a halt on Wednesday night as the Charleston Dirty Birds took game two of the series by a 12-5 margin at Truist Point.

The Rockers were held without a hit for the first time this season, collecting 12 hits to Charleston’s 18.

The Rockers found themselves trailing for the first time this year when the ‘Birds tallied three runs in the third inning on a two-run double by Drew Ellis and an RBI single from Jared Carr.  The Rockers scored a pair of runs in the fifth when Ryan Grotjohn tripled and scored on a sac fly from D.J. Burt. After Martin Figueroa singled, a pair of Charleston errors moved him to third where he scored on a sac fly from Connor Owings.

Charleston tallied nine times over their final four at-bats, Rusber Estrada hit a three-run homer in the seventh, and tallied three times in the ninth on three consecutive hits.

The Rockers made their last gasp at taking the lead with two runs in the seventh. A single by Figueroa and a walk to Ben Aklinski led to a two-run double from Owings.

While Aklinski was held without a hit for the first time this year, Owings continued his hot streak, collecting a pair of hits, including a double and drove in three runs.

Peter Solomon (l, 0-1) started and went four innings and allowed six hits and three runs while striking out eight. Charleston’s Kyle McGowin (W, 1-0) went five innings, yielding six hits and two runs while fanning four.

The loss leaves the Rockers at 5-1 on the season.

The third and final game of the series will take place on Thursday night at Truist Point. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.

RECAP: High Point Rockers 8, Charleston Dirty Birds 0
Tuesday, April 30, 2024

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Five High Point pitchers held Charleston to just three hits as the Rockers opened their home season with a rousing 8-0 win over the Dirty Birds in front of a crowd of 2,029 on Tuesday night at Truist Point.

The Rockers have now started the season at 5-0 and are the only undefeated team in professional baseball.

Lefty Brandon Leibrandt went four innings and allowed just one hit while striking out seven. David Mckay allowed a hit in the fifth and then Southwest Guilford High grad Jacob Edwards tossed a pair of scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four. Zach Muckenhirn didn’t allow a hit in the eighth and Austin Ross closed it out by pitching around a walk in the ninth.

Offensively, the Rockers came out hot right from the start. Connor Owings slugged an RBI single in the first and Zander Wiel knocked home a run on an infield groundout to stake the Rockers to a 2-0 lead.

Owings and Wiel led off the third with back-to-back homers to push the Rockers to a 4-0 advantage. The lead ballooned to 7-0 with Aklinski rocketing a three-run homer, his fourth of the year. D.J. Burt hit a solo homer in the eighth to complete the scoring.

Charleston’s hits came on a double by Jared Carr in the second, a single by Carr in the fifth and a single by Gabriel Cancel in the seventh.

Aklinski finished with three RBI, Connor Owings had three hits, a pair of doubles and two RBI, and Wiel finished with two RBI. Burt had two singles and a homer for a three-hit night.

The Rockers and Dirty Birds will play game two of the three-game series on Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point.

NOTES: The Rockers are 5-0 to start the season for the first time in club history . . . Ben Aklinski leads the Atlantic League with four homers and 15 RBI . . . High Point has hit 15 homers through the first five games . . . Gastonia has 15 homers through its first 8 games . . . High Point has hit multiple homers in every game this season . . .  Here are High Point’s previous 5-game homer totals: 2019-2; 2021-2; 2022-3; 2023-5 . . . The Rockers, at 5-0 are the only undefeated team in professional baseball . . . Aklinski has a hit in all five games, a homer in three of five contests and an RBI in four of five . . . Connor Owings has a hit in all five games, a homer in three of five and an RBI in three of five . . . This marked the 20^th time in 529 all-time games that High Point pitchers have held the opponents to three hits or fewer.