Yoh, Johnson power Rockers to sweep of ‘Clocks
Yoh, Johnson power Rockers to sweep of ‘Clocks
LEXINGTON, Ky. – High Point’s Daikan Yoh reached base five times, scoring twice, and Joe Johnson had his best offensive day as a Rocker as High Point swept the weekend series from Lexington with an 8-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Counter Clocks Field.
The Rockers improved to a league-best 47-24 on the season by winning their fourth straight game. They are in first place in the Atlantic League’s South Division at 6-2 in the second half of the season.
With the Rockers holding a narrow 4-3 lead in the ninth, Yoh reached base on a walk, his third walk of the game. He then raced to third on a single by Brian Parreira before Emmanuel Tapia lined a double off the center field wall, scoring both Yoh and Parreira for a 6-3 advantage. Johnson, the former High Point Panther, then blasted his first homer as a Rocker, scoring Tapia ahead of him and giving High Point a comfortable 8-3 margin.
The Rockers’ Ryan Dull allowed a hit and a walk in the bottom of the ninth but was aided by a 3-6-3 double play turned by Tapia and Shed Long, Jr.
Johnson, who has been starting in left field in recent games, drove in three runs and scored once. Yoh finished 2-for-2 with a homer and three walks while Tapia slammed a pair of doubles.
Lexington starter Merandy Gonzalez struggled with his control right from the first inning. After coaxing ground outs from Long, Jr. and D.J. Burt to start the contest, Gonzalez threw 12 straight pitches out of the strike zone to walk the bases loaded with Zander Wiel, Yoh and Ben Aklinski. Gonzalez then hit Parreira with a 1-0 pitch to force in the first run of the game before getting Michael Martinez to strike out and end the inning.
Lexington knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first on a solo homer by Brandt Broussard, his first of the year. Broussard continued to swing a hot bat, doubling home two runs in the second to give the Counter Clocks a 3-1 lead.
Yoh hit a solo homer to straightaway center field in the third to pull the Rockers to within one at 3-2. High Point tied the game in the fourth when Martinez walked, moved to second on a disengagement violation by Gonzalez, stole third and then scored on a groundout by Johnson.
The Rockers forged a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth when Tapia led off the inning with a ground-rule double to right-center. John Daly was the designated pinch-runner and took Tapia’s place at second. A Johnson ground out moved Daly to third and he then scored the go-ahead run on a sac fly by D.J. Burt.
Lexington’s J.C. Encarnacion reached third with one out in the bottom of the eighth with the ‘Clocks trailing by one but Bryce Hensley (W, 5-1) fanned Mitch Ghelfi and Cam Bedrosian came on to strikeout Jesus Tavarez to quell the threat.
All four of the Rockers’ runs in the eighth and ninth innings came off reliever Joey Steele (L, 0-2). The Counter Clocks walked 12 High Point hitters on the day with Gonzalez contributing seven free passes.
The Rockers will enjoy an off-day on Monday, July 17, before returning to action on Tuesday when they start a three-game series at Gastonia. First pitch on Tuesday from CaroMont Health Park is set for 6:35 p.m.
First inning homers power Rockers to win over Clocks
First inning homers power Rockers to win over Clocks
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Shed Long, Jr. led off the game with a solo homer and two batters later, Zander Wiel clubbed a two-run homer to lead the High Point Rockers to a 7-3 win over the Lexington Counter Clocks on Saturday night at Counter Clocks Field.
Those two first inning homers staked the Rockers to an early 3-0 lead but the Counter Clocks responded quickly. Connor Owings singled in the first and would eventually score on a wild pitch to make it a 3-1 game. Lexington pulled to within 3-2 in the second when Hector Roa tripled and scored on a single by Brandt Broussard.
After allowing those two early runs, High Point starter Ryan Weiss (W, 5-2) settled down and did not allow another run over the course of his seven innings of work. Weiss left after the seventh, having walked just two and striking out eight.
High Point added a pair of runs in the third when Ben Aklinski reached on an error and scored on a triple by Daikan Yoh. Brian Parreira then slapped an RBI single to plate Yoh and put the Rockers ahead 5-1. The Rockers added two more runs in the eighth when Michael Martinez lined a pitch off the wall in left with two outs and the bases loaded.
High Point’s Sam Selman allowed Lexington an unearned run in the eighth on a pair of walks and a double fielding error to account for the 7-3 final.
The Rockers improved to 46-24 on the season and now stand at 5-2 in the second half of the Atlantic League season.
The final game of this three game series is slated for 2:05 p.m. start on Sunday. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.
Down 3-0, Rockers rally for 10-6 win
Down 3-0, Rockers rally for 10-6 win
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The High Point Rockers overcame an early 3-0 deficit, answering with a seven-run fifth inning before going on to take a 10-6 win from the Lexington Counter Clocks on Friday night at Counter Clocks Field.
Daikan Yoh banged out three hits and drove in a pair of runs for High Point while Zander Wiel and Ben Aklinski each had two hits.
Mitch Atkins made his first start of the season for the Rockers after a long recovery from an elbow injury. The 37-year-old is in his seventh season in the Atlantic League and has been playing professionally since 2004. Atkins allowed the Counter Clocks a single run in the second when Hector Roa homered to give Lexington an early lead. The ‘Clocks made it a 3-0 game in the fourth when Logan Brown reached first on a third strike wild pitch. Roa doubled to put runners on second and third before Brandt Broussard delivered a two-run ground-run double.
Lexington lefty Mike Kickham (L, 1-3) retired the first 10 Rockers he faced as the game moved into the fifth and the Rockers offense came to life with a seven-run outburst. High Point sent 12 men to the plate, starting with Beau Taylor who led off the inning with a homer. Yoh, Brian Parreira and Joe Johnson each stroked consecutive singles to load the bases. Michael Martinez plated two with a double and Ryan Grotjohn picked up an RBI with a single that scored Johnson. Wiel beat out an infield single that allowed Martinez to score before Aklinski hit his 10th homer of the year, a two-run shot that also scored Wiel and left the Rockers with a 7-3 edge.
Kentucky scored three times in the bottom of the fifth to cut High Point’s lead to one at 7-6 with Logan Brown’s two-run homer causing the most damage.
High Point struck for three more runs in the top of the seventh to jump out to a 10-6 lead. The Rockers touched Lexington reliever Jack Maynard for a single by Grotjohn, a double by Wiel and a walk to Aklinski to load the bases. A walk to Emmanuel Tapia scored one and then Yoh singled to center to bring home Wiel and Aklinski.
Atkins went 4.2 innings, one out shy of securing the win. Bryce Hensley (W, 4-1) bailed out Atkins in the fifth by striking out Roa for the final out and then kept the Counter Clocks off the scoreboard in the sixth while allowing one hit and striking out two before giving way to Jeremy Rhoades in the seventh. Rhoades surrendered a single hit during his one shutout inning and Austin Ross put the ‘Clocks down in order in the eighth and finished off Lexington with a scoreless ninth, recording four strikeouts over his two innings of work.
The win gives the Rockers a 4-2 mark in the second half of the Atlantic League season, a half-game behind 4-1 Gastonia. Both clubs won their 45th overall game of the season on Friday, the most of any ALPB club.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. on Saturday at Counter Clocks Field in Lexington. The game will be streamed live by FLO baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.
Rockers ‘hit by pitch’ their way to win over ‘Hawks
Rockers ‘hit by pitch’ their way to win over ‘Hawks
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers picked an unusual way to start their game with Staten Island on Thursday night. Four of High Point’s first five batters were hit by a pitch and that fueled a four-run rally to what would become a 9-3 win over the Ferryhawks in front of 2,040 fans at Truist Point.
After retiring Rockers lead-off hitter D.J. Burt on a grounder to third, Staten Island starting pitcher Anthony Quattrocchi (L, 0-1) hit the next four batters he faced. Michael Russell, Zander Wiel, and Beau Taylor all got plunked and when Quattrocchi hit Ben Aklinski to make it four in a row, Aklinski earned the RBI as Russell scored. Ryan Grotjohn then slapped a two-run single to right and Aklinski scored on an infield groundout by Daikan Yoh to give the Rockers a 4-0 lead after one.
“I’ve never seen that before in my life,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe of the four consecutive hit batters. While there is no known Atlantic League record for consecutive hit batters, it is worth noting that no Major League Baseball pitcher has ever hit more than three batters in a single inning.
Justin Williams blasted a solo homer leading off the third for Staten Island to make it a 4-1 contest.
Quattrocchi put the Rockers down in order in the second but ran into trouble again in the third. He walked Wiel to start the inning before Taylor delivered a run-scoring double. After three more walks to Aklinski, Grotjohn and Yoh, Ferryhawks manager Homer Bush pulled Quattrocchi and brought in Christian Capuano, who was able to pitch the ‘Hawks out of the inning but not before High Point took a 7-1 lead.
Russell gave the Rockers an 8-1 advantage with a homer leading off the fourth, his seventh blast of the year. Yoh doubled with one out in the fifth and scored on a fielding error by Staten Island to put High Point up 9-1. The Ferryhawks scored once in the sixth and then cut the lead to 9-3 on a Roldani Baldwin homer to start the seventh.
High Point starter Jheyson Manzueta (W, 2-0) went six innings and allowed eight hits and two runs while walking one and striking out three.
“Manzueta had another great outing,” said Keefe. “He kept the ball down in the zone and he was effective. When he needed a strikeout, he got it.”
The Rockers were out-hit 12 to five but were aided by seven walks, three Ferryhawk errors and the aforementioned four hit batters, leading to an additional 14 baserunners. No Rocker had more than one hit. Staten Island first baseman Luis Castro led all players with three hits.
The Rockers are now 3-2 in the second half and 44-24 on the season.
High Point will leave Friday morning and head to Lexington where they will start a three-game weekend series with the Counter Clocks. Friday’s first pitch is slated for 6:45 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and available on the Mixlr app.
‘Hawks take middle game of series, 5-1
‘Hawks take middle game of series, 5-1
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers dropped the middle game of their three-game series with Staten Island by a 5-1 score on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Point.
High Point lead-off hitter Trent Taylor started the first inning in a positive fashion, nursing a walk from Staten Island starting pitcher Nick Beardsley (W, 2-0). After another walk to Ben Aklinski, Taylor scored on an RBI single from Daikan Yoh.
But that was all the scoring the Rockers would muster against Beardsley and three FerryHawk relievers. High Point was held to six hits on the afternoon while also receiving six walks. But Staten Island helped its cause by turning two double plays, stranding eight Rockers runners and limiting High Point to just one hit with runners in scoring position over eight at-bats.
“That was ugly,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe following the game. “It was one of those days where we were off-balance all day. Their pitcher, Beardsley, did a heckuva job. We lined out a lot but we had our opportunities early and didn’t take advantage of them. We need to put it behind us and come out and win the series tomorrow.”
High Point starter Mickey Jannis (L, 8-3) leads the league in wins and allowed four runs on seven hits over his six innings while walking two and striking out five. Jeremy Rhoades and Taylor Guerrieri threw scoreless innings in relief though lefty Sam Selman was touched for a run in the ninth on a walk to Justin Williams, a sac bunt, and a run-scoring single from Kevin Krause.
“Mickey threw the ball well, should have given up two runs at the most but we made some mistakes in the field,” said Keefe. “We’ve played good baseball up to this point and this was probably our ugliest game of the year. We were flat the whole day. We just didn’t get it done.”
The FerryHawks grabbed hold of the lead with two runs in the second off Jannis. Roldani Baldwin singled to center and Jack Elliott followed with an infield single. A walk to Luis Castro loaded the bases before Mike Wilson delivered an RBI single. Garrett Kueber then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that allowed Elliott to score for a 2-1 Staten Island lead. The ‘Hawks increased the lead to 3-1 in the third on a walk to Brandon Pugh who took on a single by Ricardo Cespedes and scored on a groundout by Angel Aguilar. Aguilar added a solo homer in the sixth off Jannis to complete the scoring.
The Rockers were held hitless after a lead-off single from D.J. Burt leading off the seventh. Staten Island finished off the game by retiring the final nine Rockers batters in order, seven on strikeouts. Yoh was the lone Rocker with a pair of hits.
The Rockers are now 2-2 in the second half of the Atlantic League season.
The third and final game of the Rockers-FerryHawks series is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Thursday at Truist Point. It will be a Thirsty Thursday with specials on all drinks. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and on the Mixlr app.
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