WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs traded punches all night long, battling for nearly 4 and one-half hours, before the Blue Crabs’ Danny Bautista, Jr. tripled with two on in the bottom of the 13^th for a 13-12 SMD win on Saturday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

The Rockers are now 26-33 for the season while Southern Maryland improved to 39-20 and moved a game closer to clinching the South Division first half pennant.

The game was tied 6-6 after nine innings after the Rockers had rallied with the tying run in the ninth. High Point’s Ryan McCarthy singled sharply back up the middle to put the tying run on base. A comebacker by Alex Dickerson resulted in a 1-3 putout but moved McCarthy to second. Ivan Melendez then delivered with a single through the left side and McCarthy slid head-first across the plate to tie the game.

The two teams traded single runs in the 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th innings. In the top of the 13^th, the Rockers scored three times to take a 12-9 lead. Ethan Skender scored on a wild pitch to tie the game before Dickerson and Nick Longhi delivered RBIs to push the lead to three.

But Southern Maryland got to Rockers reliever Brayden Matthews in the bottom of the 13^th. With the ghost runner on second, Brody Fahr was hit by a pitch to put two aboard. A walk to Viandel Pena loaded the bases. A wild pitch allowed Jackson Loftin, the ghost runner, to score and make it a 12-10 Rockers lead. Matthews fanned Phillip Sikes for the first out but Ezequiel Pagan singled to cut the margin to 12-11. Bautista’s drive into left-center was nearly caught by a diving D.J. Burt but the ball rolled to the wall, allowing two runs to score and give the Blue Crabs the 13-12 win.

The Blue Crabs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Loftin doubled, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

The Rockers claimed a 3-1 lead in the third when Chris Brady beat out an infield single, moved to third on single by Ryan McCarthy and both runners scored on Luke Napleton’s double in the right-center gap.

Southern Maryland’s Ryan McCarthy hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third off High Point starter J.C. Kiss that tied the game at 3-3. The Blue Crabs forged a 4-3 lead in the fourth when Bautista opened the frame with a triple off High Point reliever Daniel Blair and then scored on a sac fly by Dylan Hoy.

Nick Longhi’s two-run homer in the fifth, with Ivan Melendez aboard, reclaimed the lead for the Rockers at 5-4.

Southern Maryland pushed ahead 6-5 with a pair of runs in the sixth off Rockers reliever Dustin Baird who was making his first appearance for High Point. Baird walked two in the inning, including a bases loaded walk to Hoy, and allowed an RBI fielder’s choice to McCarthy.

Tied at 6-6 after nine innings, the Rockers scored once in the top of the 10^th when the ghost runner, Mikey Kane, scored from second base on a bloop single to right. But the Blue Crabs answered in the bottom of the 10^th when Ryan Chasse walked Southern Maryland’s Ryan McCarthy with the bases loaded to tie the game at 7-7.

Alex Dickerson’s RBI single in the 11^th scored Napleton from second to push the Rockers in front 8-7.

In the top of the 12^th, Skender scored on a wild pitch with two outs for a 9-8 Rockers lead. But the Crabs responded with an RBI single from Ethan Wilson to send the game to the 13^th inning tied 9-9.

Brady wound up with a four-hit night for the Rockers while Dickerson had three hits and three RBI. Longhi drove in four runs while Napleton had two RBI. SMD was led by Bautista who finished with three hits and two RBI.

Matthews (L, 0-2) was the last of eight Rockers pitchers to throw. He allowed two hits and four runs with one walk and a strikeout.

Rockers second baseman Tyler Hubbard earned his first professional hit with a double in the 12^th but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

The final game of the series is set for a 1:05 pm start on Sunday at Regency Furniture Stadium. Rocker fans can catch all the action on DugoutTV.org or listen to the audio broadcast on the MixLR app.

WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers pounded out 17 hits including three home runs in blasting the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 12-3 in a rain-shortened five inning contest on Friday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

The Rockers improve to 26-32 on the season while Southern Maryland now leads the South Division at 38-20. The Blue Crabs have a narrow one-game lead over Gastonia (37-21) with five games remaining in the Atlantic League’s first half.

The Rockers opened with four runs in the first with Luke Napleton hitting a three-run homer. When he homered again in the second to push High Point’s lead to 5-0, it marked Napleton’s fifth homer in the last three games.

The Rockers added seven runs in the fourth with Ivan Melendez hitting a three-run homer and Nolan Watson, Braxton Davidson and Ryan McCarthy each contributing RBI singles.

Matt Solter (W, 4-5) went all five innings and walked one while striking out five.

The game was halted at the end of the fifth inning. The contest started nearly 2 ½ hours late due to rain prior to the game.

Napleton was three-for-three with five RBI on the night while D.J. Burt and Watson each had three hits as well.

Game five of the six-game series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Saturday at Regency Furniture Stadium. Rocker fans can follow all the action on DugoutTV.org or listen to the broadcast on the free MixLR app.

WALDORF, Md. – Luke Napleton blasted two home runs and the High Point Rockers exploded for eight runs in the sixth inning to win a second straight game over the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 11-3, on Thursday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

Napleton’s two blasts and four RBI combined with the three-hit pitching of lefty Ben Wereski (W, 1-1) led the Rockers to the victory.

The win improves High Point to 25-32 for the year while Southern Maryland falls to 38-19. The Blue Crabs continue to lead the Atlantic League’s South Division and entered the game with a magic number of just three to clinch the title with five games remaining.

The game was scoreless until the third inning when Ryan McCarthy led off the frame with a blast to left that just missed going out but resulted in a double. D.J. Burt followed immediately with a single through the right side and McCarthy was able to escape the tag at the plate to give the Rockers a 1-0 lead.

Southern Maryland tied the game in the third when Wereski walked the lead-off batter, Danny Bautista, Jr. who moved to third on a single by Ethan Wilson and scored on a Wereski wild pitch that tied the game at 1-1.

Nolan Watson led off the fifth with a double and scored on a single by Patrick Sanchez to put the Rockers back in front 2-1.

The Rockers used five hits and three walks to score eight times in the sixth inning and break open a 2-1 lead to a 10-1 advantage. Alex Dickerson had a two-run double, Ryan McCarthy added a two-run single and Luke Napleton blasted a three-run homer in the Rockers’ highest-scoring inning of the season.

Napleton would follow with a solo homer leading off the ninth inning. He now leads the team with 12 homers on the season.

Wereski allowed just three hits over his five innings of work while walking three and striking out six. Nick Timpanelli and Matt Colucci each allowed a homer in relief but the Rockers offense had already done its damage.

Ian Kahaloa (L, 5-2) took the loss, allowing eight hits and seven runs with two walks and six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Dickerson finished the night with a pair of RBI and McCarthy had two hits and two RBI as the Rockers equaled their 11 runs with 11 hits while holding SMD to just six safeties.

Game four of the series is scheduled for Friday at 6:35 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium. Rocker fans can follow the action on DugoutTV.org and the audio on the free MixLR app.

NOTES: The Rockers signed 6-8 reliever Dustin Baird on Thursday. Baird, who pitched at Brown and Belmont and spent several years in the Frontier and Pioneer Leagues, faced the Rockers twice last week while pitching for Lexington . . . Neither High Point nor Southern Maryland has announced its starting pitchers for Friday’s game.

WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers dropped a 9-4 decision to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Tuesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium in the first game of a six-game series.

The Rockers were led by Mikey Kane who had three hits including a double and a triple and two hits each from Nick Longhi, Alex Dickerson and Patrick Sanchez.

The Rockers fall to 23-32 while Southern Maryland continues to lead the Atlantic League’s South Division at 38-17. The Blue Crabs magic number to clinch the first half title is down to six.

High Point took a 1-0 lead in the first when D.J. Burt walked, stole second, moved to third on Dickerson’s fly out to right, and scored on an infield single by Ivan Melendez.

The Rockers grew their lead to 2-0 in the second when Kane and Sanchez hit back-to-back doubles with Kane scoring on Sanchez’s hit.

The Blue Crabs tagged High Point starter Justin Jarvis (L, 1-2) for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Jackson Loftin reached on a swinging bunt and moved to second on a throwing error. Loftin scored from second on a single by Ezequiel Pagan and, after Pagan stole second, he scored on a single from Danny Bautista, Jr. to knot the score at 2-2.

Southern Maryland added a run in the third to move ahead 3-2. Stephen Paolini and Brody Fahr each drew walks with Paolini scoring on Jackson Loftin’s single. The lead grew to 4-2 in the fourth when Bautista tripled and scored on a single by Blue Crab catcher Ryan McCarthy.

McCarthy tagged High Point reliever Dalton Hitt for a solo homer leading off the seventh which led to a three-run outburst and a 7-2 SMD lead. Rockers reliever Matt Solter allowed a pair of runs in the ninth before the Rockers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Kane tripled to start the inning and scored on Sanchez’s double. Dickerson then poked an RBI single that plated Sanchez to account for the 9-4 final.

Southern Maryland starter Kyle Virbitsky (W, 5-2) went five innings and allowed six hits and two runs while walking two and striking out seven. Jarvis fanned nine with just two walks in his five innings of work.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium. High Point will send righty Yuhi Sako (2-5, 6.06) to the mound to face Southern Maryland righty Connor Overton (4-3, 5.54). Rocker fans can follow the action on DugoutTV.org and the audio on the free MixLR app.

 

NOTES: The Rockers activated INF D.J. Burt prior to the game and released INF Luca Danos.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point’s David Hess won his fourth consecutive start as the Rockers offense supported him with a five-run third inning as High Point took an 8-6 decision in the series finale against the Lexington Legends on Sunday afternoon at Truist Point.

Hess (W, 5-3) improved to 5-3 on the year with six innings of solid work, allowing seven hits while striking out six and not allowing a walk.

Ethan Skender, Luke Napleton and Nolan Watson all collected multiple hits. Napleton went three-for-five while driving in three runs in the victory. Napleton’s three doubles tied the club record for doubles in a game.

The Rockers hit a season-high six doubles in the game including three in the first inning when they scored a pair of runs to tie the game at 2-2.

The Legends struck first with Nick Senzel and Jackson Feltner each hitting RBI singles to give their squad an early 2-0 lead.

High Point was quick to strike back in the home half of the first. Ryan McCarthy led off with a double, then Ethan Skender traded places with McCarthy, ripping an RBI double to get the Rockers on the board.

Napleton kept the double party going with one of his own, plating Skender from second and tying the game at two.

Damiano Palmegiani homered for the fourth consecutive game in the third, a solo shot off of Hess to put his squad back in front 3-2.

The Rockers scored five times in the third inning with Dickerson and Napleton collecting RBI doubles and Watson and Sanchez contributing run-scoring singles as High Point took an 8-3 lead.

The Legends scored twice in the seventh to cut the gap to 8-5.

Ryan Chasse gave up a late RBI single to Dylan Rock, but the closer was able to bear down and earn his fourth save of the season.

High Point moves to 23-31 as Lexington falls to 24-30. High Point will hit the road for a series with the first place Southern Maryland Blue Crabs starting Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Md.  Rocker fans can follow the action live on DugoutTV.org or the audio broadcast on the free MixLR app.