HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Rockers’ Kevin Saenz, Jr. was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, forcing home Connor Owings with the winning run as the High Point Rockers defeated the Gastonia Baseball Club 2-1 on Saturday night at Truist Point.

In a game dominated by outstanding pitching on both sides, the contest was scoreless until the eighth inning when Gastonia tallied first. Kevin Watson drew a walk, moved to second on a deep fly ball by Pedro Gonzalez and then scored on consecutive wild pitches the Rockers Jake Kuchmaner.

High Point tied the game in the bottom of the eighth on a solo homer by Southern Guilford High grad Evan Edwards.

Tied at 1-1 in the ninth, the Rockers’ Nick Longhi started the rally with one out when he was hit by a pitch from Gastonia reliever Zach Vennaro. Walks to Owings and Aklinski loaded the bases. Edwards grounded a ball back to the mound and Vennaro threw to the page to retire Longhi for the second out. Saenz was then hit by a pitch from Vennaro that brought Owings home with the winning run.

Kuchmaner earned the win, pitching three innings and did not allow a hit in earning the win. Vennaro was credited with the loss for Gastonia. The Rockers staff only allowed two hits all night while the High Point offense was held to five hits on the night.

The Rockers will play an exhibition game at Gastonia on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. High Point opens the Atlantic League season on Thursday at Lexington. The home opener at Truist Point is set for Thursday, April 30 against the Charleston Dirty Birds.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Staten Island hit four home runs including two from Luis Castro and tripped the High Point Rockers 13-3 on Thursday night in front of a crowd of 2,622 at Truist Point.

The High Point Rockers pitchers struck out the side in the first inning and also in the ninth inning. But in between, the Ferry Hawks put up 13 runs on 14 hits and handed High Point its second consecutive double figure loss coming on the heels of Wednesday’s 14-4 Ferry Hawk win.

High Point starter Neil Ramirez struck out the side in the top of the first but ran into trouble in the second. After a lead-off walk to Chris Brito, Luis Castro blasted a homer to left to give Staten Island a 2-0 lead. After Roldani Baldwin singled, Ramirez hit Bobby Sparling with a pitch to put two aboard. Noah Fisher singled to bring home Baldwin just before Angel Aguilar hit a three-run homer for a 5-0 Staten Island advantage.

Ramirez allowed an RBI single to Sparling in the third as the ‘Hawks built a 7-0 lead. Jeremy Rhoades relieved Ramirez in the fourth and gave up five more runs on five hits, the big shots being a two-run homer from Yoshi Tsutsuo and another two-shot from Castro.

High Point got on the board in the sixth when Ben Aklinski started the inning with a double and scored on a single by Ryan Grotjohn. But High Point left the bases loaded after just the one run.

The Ferry Hawks completed their scoring with a single run in the seventh off Cam Bedrosian when Brito singled home Mike Wilson who had walked to start the inning.

High Point tallied twice more in the eighth when Daikan Yoh was hit by a pitch and Brian Parreira drew a walk from reliever Anthony Quattrocchi. Beau Taylor brought home Yoh with a double and Michael Martinez delivered a sac fly to plate Parreira.

And High Point’s Ryan Dull finished off the game by striking out the side in the ninth.

Parreira was the only Rocker to collect two hits. Staten Island was led by Aguilar who had three hits and three RBI and Castro who drove in four runs with his two homers.

The Rockers are now 57-33 and 16-11 in the second half of the Atlantic League season. They are tied for first in the South Division with Gastonia as they share identical records for both the second half and overall.

The Rockers will start a six-game road trip on Friday with a three-day visit to Charleston, W.Va. Friday’s game will start at 6:35 p.m. from GoMart Park. The game will be live streamed on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Staten Island Ferry Hawks scored eight runs in the first two innings and went on to post a 14-4 win over the High Point Rockers on Wednesday night at Truist Point.

The Rockers spotted the Ferry Hawks four runs in the top of the first. Staten Island lead-off hitter Ricardo Cespedes reached on an infield single off High Point starter Mitch Atkins (L, 1-2). After stealing second, Cespedes scored on an Angel Aguilar homer to left for a 2-0 lead. After Atkins fanned Yoshi Tsutsugo for the first out, Chris Brito singled and scored on a double by Luis Castro for the third run of the inning. Castro would score on a wild pitch to complete the 4-0 start.

The Rockers answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Ferry Hawks starter Ofelky Peralta (W, 1-4) walked D.J. Burt and Ben Aklinski. After retiring Shed Long, Jr. and Quincy Latimore, Peralta loaded the bases with a walk to Beau Taylor. Zander Wiel then blasted a line drive off the wall in left, scoring all three runners and pulling the Rockers to within 4-3.

Staten Island added four more runs in the second off High Point reliever Joe Johnson. A lead-off double by Noah Fisher was followed by an RBI triple from Aguilar.  After Johnson hit Brito with a pitch to put two aboard, Castro blasted a three-run homer as Staten Island went up 8-3.

High Point’s Bryce Hensley came on and put the Ferry Hawks down in order in the third but allowed two more runs in the fourth and three in the fifth when Roldani Baldwin hit a solo homer and Noah Fisher added a two-run shot. The Ferry Hawks led 13-3 after five innings and added one more run in the seventh on a Baldwin double and an RBI single ground out by Noah Fisher.

High Point’s final run came in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Grotjohn was hit by a pitch and scored on a pinch-double by Daikan Yoh.

Shed Long, Jr. led the Rockers with three hits while Zander Wiel had a pair of safeties. Staten Island’s Aguilar came up a double shy of hitting for the cycle, collecting a homer, triple and single while Castro had a homer and a double. Each had four RBI in the game.

The Rockers are now 57-32 overall and 16-10 in the second half of the Atlantic League season. High Point holds a one-game lead over Gastonia for first place in the second half.

The third and final game of the series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Thursday at Truist Point. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: D.J. Burt reached base for the 44^th consecutive game, the second-longest streak by an Atlantic League player since 2019. Only York’s Carlos Franco, who reached base in 50 consecutive games last year, has a longer streak.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers overcame an early 3-0 deficit and went on to top the Staten Island Ferryhawks 9-4 on Tuesday night at Truist Point. Rockers starting pitcher Mickey Jannis became the third Rocker pitcher to win 10 games in a season as he improved to 10-4 on the season.

The Rockers maintained their one-game lead over Gastonia in the Atlantic League’s second half South Division race. High Point improved to 57-31 overall and 16-9 in the second half. The Honey Hunters, after a win over Spire City on Tuesday, stand at 56-32 overall and 15-10 in the second half.

 

The Ferryhawks took a 1-0 lead in the first when Chris Brito scored from third when Luis Castro was picked off first by Jannis. That lead grew to 3-0 in the third when Brandon Pugh hit a lead-off homer and Yoshi Tsutsugo singled home Angel Aguilar.

The Rockers knotted the game in the third when a pair of walks from Staten Island starter Nick Beardsley (L, 2-4) and a single by Shed Long, Jr. loaded the bases. Beau Taylor drew a walk to force home the first run before Zander Wiel delivered a two-run single to tie the game at 3-3.

Staten Island added a  run in the fourth for a 4-3 lead as Jack Elliott slapped a two-out double and scored on an RBI single by Brandon Pugh.

The Rockers surged back in front with a pair of runs in the fourth, taking a 5-4 lead. Ryan Grotjohn doubled and went to third on an infield single by D.J. Burt. Ben Aklinski followed with a triple in the right-center gap to plate both baserunners.

High Point grew its lead to 9-4 after scoring four runs in the fifth on just one hit. The Rockers took advantage of four walks issued by Staten Island hurlers as well as a pair of errors as Brian Parreira’s bases loaded double plated three of the four.

Jannis came out after five innings, allowing five hits and four runs while walking two and striking out 4. He received outstanding support from the bullpen as Jeremy Rhoads put the Ferryhawks down in order in the sixth and Sam Selman struck out the side in the seventh. Jameson McGrane picked up three strikeouts in the eighth before Ryan Dull closed it out with a three-up, three-down ninth.

“(Beardsley) got us the last time out,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe of the Staten Island starter who tossed six innings and allowed one run in a 5-1 Ferryhawk win on July 12. “The guys finally settled in and got themselves in a hitter’s count. He’ll get you into one.” Beardsley came out four innings on Tuesday, having allowed six hits and five runs while walking five and striking out two.

“Mickey (Jannis) settled in and his best stuff of the night in the fifth inning,” said Keefe. “In our four games last week, only four guys threw out of the bullpen and we knew the bullpen needed some work. The bullpen was awesome.”

Burt and Wiel each had a pair of hits to lead the Rockers while Parreira had three RBI and Wiel and Aklinski had two each. Pugh led the ‘Hawks with a pair of hits.

High Point and Staten Island will play the second game of the three game series on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The game will be live streamed on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

NOTES: Jannis became the third Rocker pitcher to win 10 or more games in a season, joining Tommy Lawrence (11-3) in 2021 and Joe Van Meter (10-6) in 2019… He also became the third Atlantic League pitcher to hit the 10-win mark this season joining York’s Nick Raquet (11-6) and Gastonia’s Zach Mort (10-2).

 

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point starting pitcher Brandon Leibrandt made his best start of the season, going five innings and limiting Long Island to just three hits as the Rockers took game two of the series by a 6-1 final score in front of a crowd of 2,045 at Truist Point on Saturday night.

Leibrandt (W, 1-2) went five innings and yielded just three hits while walking one and striking out three. Neil Ramirez came on in the sixth and allowed a single run in the eighth before Cam Bedrosian and Austin Ross recorded the last four outs of the game.

Zander Wiel put the Rockers on the scoreboard when he led off the bottom of the second with a double to left-center and scored on a single by Michael Martinez to give the Rockers a 1-0 lead.

The Rockers put up four runs in the fourth to increase their lead to 5-0. Franklin Van Gurp replaced Ducks’ starter Justin Courtney (L, 0-2) to start the inning and hit Beau Taylor in the foot with a pitch then walked Daikan Yoh. A single by Brian Parreira put the Rockers up 2-0. Michael Martinez then grounded back to Van Gurp whose throw to second to try and start a double play sailed into center field, allowing Yoh to score. D.J. Burt followed with a single that brought home both Parreira and Martinez for a 5-0 lead.

Long Island plated its lone run in the eighth inning when Brian Goodwin slapped a one-out double and scored on a single by Brantley Bell. Ben Aklinski saved another run with a diving catch of a sinking line drive in right to rob Alejandro De Aza of a base hit that would have scored another run. After Ramirez hit Sam Travis with a pitch, Bedrosian was summoned from the bullpen and he struck out pinch-hitter Boog Powell to end the inning.

High Point added an insurance run in the eighth when Taylor singled and pinch-runner John Daly stole second. Yoh then singled up the middle as Daly raced home to give the Rockers a 6-1 lead.

Courtney (L, 0-2) went three innings and allowed four hits and one run with no walks and two strikeouts.

Taylor was the only Rocker with two hits in the nine-hit attack. Burt’s two RBI were also a team-best.

The Rockers improved to 56-31 overall and 15-9 in the second half while Long Island, the North Division first half champion, fell to 11-13 and 48-39.

With Gastonia’s win over Lexington on Saturday night, the Honey Hunters are now 13-10 in the second half, 1.5 games behind High Point.

The third and final game of the series between the Rockers and Ducks is slated for a 4:05 p.m. start on Sunday at Truist Point. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Long Island lefty Robert Stock held High Point to just one run over eight innings of work while the Ducks’ defense turned five double plays in a 7-1 win over the Rockers in front of a crowd of 2,309 on Friday night at Truist Point.

Stock allowed the Rockers just two hits through the first five innings while relying on his infield defense to turn a double play in each of the first four innings. In the first inning, Stock allowed a lead-off single to D.J. Burt but Quincy Latimore grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. In the second, Beau Taylor started the inning with a walk but was erased on another 6-4-3 twin killing. Brian Parreira was hit by a pitch to start the third but eliminated on a 6-3 double play. Shed Long, Jr. singled to start the fourth but a 4-6-3 double play ball from Ben Aklinski cut the inning short. The fifth double play came in the ninth inning when Zander Wiel lined out sharply to Carlos Castro at first who stepped on the bag to double off Taylor.

Long Island’s Ruben Tejada hit a solo homer off High Point starter Justin Nicolino in the first and the Ducks were never headed. Long Island added a run in the third when Boog Powell singled and scored on a double in the right-center gap by Lew Ford. It marked the 500^th career Atlantic League RBI for the 46-year-old Ford.

A two-run homer from Castro in the fourth gave Long Island a 4-0 advantage and then a two-run triple by Wilson Ramos in the sixth helped the Ducks to a 7-0 lead.

The Rockers got on the board in the eighth when Parreira singled with one out. He moved to second on a single by Burt and scored on a Long, Jr. single that cut the margin to 7-1.

Nicolino (L, 4-1) went seven innings and yielded 11 hits without allowing a walk and striking out one. Bryce Hensley and Joe Johnson each threw a scoreless inning in relief of Nicolino. Stock (W, 7-2) completed eight innings and scattered seven hits with two walks and a strikeout.

Long, Jr. led the Rockers with three hits while Burt added a pair of safeties.

The five double plays hit into by High Point set a Rockers record, eclipsing the former mark of four set vs. the Sugar Land Skeeters in 2019.

The Rockers are now 14-9 in the second half and 55-31 overall.

 

Game two of the three-game series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Saturday at Truist Point. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app. It will be Margaritaville Night at Truist Point with the Rockers wearing specialty jerseys that will then be auctioned off with the proceeds going to benefit Hospice of the Piedmont.