HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers jumped on top early and never took their foot off the gas pedal in defeating the Gastonia Ghost Peppers 8-1 in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the Atlantic League’s South Division Playoffs on Thursday night at Truist Point.

The Rockers will now move on to face the York Revolution in the League Championship Series which begins at York on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The championship series will feature the two teams that finished with the best full season record in the Atlantic League at 74-52.

The Rockers took a 2-0 lead in the first when Drew Mendoza singled to left and came around to score on Evan Edwards’ triple to right field. Alex Dickerson followed with a soft single to center to bring home Edwards.

High Point grew its lead to 3-0 in the second inning following a walk to D.J. Burt, a single by Luis Gonzalez and a run-scoring single from Mendoza.

Gastonia tallied its first run in the top of the fourth. High Point starter Fin Del Bonta-Smith (W, 1-0) walked Cole Roederer who moved to third on a double by Carter Aldrete and scored on a sac fly from Dalton Guthrie.

Gonzalez blasted a homer off the video board in right in the fourth as the Rockers surged to a 4-1 lead. It was his second homer of the series.

Del Bonta-Smith went five innings, allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out four, never allowing more than one base runner in any inning. Yuhi Sako came on in the sixth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning before yielding to Kyle Halbohn in the seventh who pitched around one hit.

The Rockers blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three runs on four hits and a walk. Mendoza, Aklinski and Dickerson all had run-scoring singles as the Rockers went up 7-1.  Aidan Brewer scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh to make it 8-1.

Jameson McGrane allowed one hit in the ninth in closing out the win.

Zac Westscott (L, 0-1) started for Gastonia and went three and one-third innings, allowing eight hits, four runs, a walk and one strikeout.

The Rockers are seeking to become the first High Point professional baseball team to win a championship since the 1968 High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms won the Carolina League championship. The last Triad area team to win a baseball championship was the Greensboro Grasshoppers who won the 2011 South Atlantic League title over the Savannah Sand Gnats.

NOTES: This was the third Game 5 between High Point and Gastonia in the postseason . . . The Rockers won Game 5 in the 2022 South Division Championship Series with an 8-7 win while Gastonia won the 2023 SDCS with a 9-3 victory . . . The Rockers have now reached the playoffs in four of their six seasons in the Atlantic League . . . The Rockers have made one League Championship appearance, losing in three games to Lancaster in 2022.

Rockers home runs (exit velocity-distance): Luis Gonzalez (107-406)

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers were held to four hits and, after taking a 2-0 lead, were kept scoreless over the last eight innings as the Gastonia Ghost Peppers claimed Game 4 of the Atlantic League’s South Division Championship with a 4-2 win Wednesday night at Truist Point.

The Gastonia win ties the series at 2-2 and forces a deciding Game 5 at 7:00 p.m. Thursday night at Truist Point. The winner will advance to the ALPB League Championship Series to meet the York Revolution.

Wednesday night, High Point jumped on in the first inning. After Luis Gonzalez led off the bottom of the first with a single, Gastonia starter Ljay Newsome (W, 1-0) walked Ben Aklinski. With two outs, Alex Dickerson lined a single to left to score both runners and give the Rockers a 2-0 lead.

Gastonia tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning. High Point starter Ben Wereski (L, 0-1) hit Cole Roederer with a pitch with two outs, allowing Carter Aldrete to hit a game-tying two-run homer to left.

The Ghost Peppers took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Wereski issued a two-out walk to Narciso Crook which was followed by an RBI double from Eric De La Rosa. Gastonia added a run in the top of the eighth when High Point reliever Scott Rouse yielded a one-out triple to De La Rosa then a sac fly to Justin Wylie as Gastonia went up 4-2.

Tickets for Thursday’s Game 5 are on sale now at the Truist Point Box Office and online at www.HighPointRockers.com.

The Rockers are seeking to become the first High Point professional baseball team to win a championship since the 1968 High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms won the Carolina League championship. The last Triad area team to win a baseball championship was the Greensboro Grasshoppers who won the 2011 South Atlantic League title over the Savannah Sand Gnats.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers slapped six extra base hits including back-to-backer homers to take Game 3 of the Atlantic League’s South Division Championship on Tuesday night by a 6-2 score over the Gastonia Ghost Peppers at Truist Point.

The win puts the Rockers in position to win the South Division title and move on to the League Championship series with a win on Wednesday night.

Drew Mendoza collected his fifth and sixth hits of the series with a run-scoring single in the first and an RBI double in the second. He finished the night with two hits after smacking four against the Ghost Peppers in Game 2. Luke Napleton and Alex Dickerson also added a pair of hits.

The Rockers went up 2-0 in the first inning on RBI singles from Mendoza and Napleton. The lead grew to 3-0 in the second when Aidan Brewer singled and scored on a double off the wall in center by Mendoza.

Narciso Crook hit a solo homer leading off the third to pull the Ghost Peppers within a run at 3-1.

Ben Aklinski and Evan Edwards hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth as the Rockers went up 4-1. Gastonia added a run in the seventh when Aaron McKeithan singled and scored on a double by Shed Long, Jr.

The Rockers made it a 6-2 game with back-to-back homers in the eighth off the bats of Napleton and Dickerson. It was the first playoff homer for each.

Josh Hendrickson (W, 1-0) went six innings and scattered six hits while striking our four and allowing just one run. David Hess struck out two in his one inning of work while Cam Cotter in the eighth and Kyle Halbohn in the ninth each retired the Peppers in order.

Game 4 of the series is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start on Wednesday at Truist Point. The Rockers will send lefty Ben Wereski (4-4, 3.76) to the mound to face Gastonia righty Ljay Newsome (4-3, 5.04).

Tickets for Wednesday’s Game 4 are on sale now at the Truist Point Box Office and online at www.HighPointRockers.com.

GASTONIA, N.C. – The High Point Rockers dropped the opening game of the Atlantic League South Division Championship Series to the Gastonia Ghost Peppers, 6-4, on Saturday night at CaroMont Health Park.

Game two is set for a 4 p.m. start on Sunday afternoon, again at Gastonia.

An early pitcher’s duel became more of a slugfest in the final innings as the Rockers tried desperately to overcome a 6-2 ninth inning deficit.

The Rockers came out on the offensive as lead-off hitter Luis Gonzalez slapped the first pitch of the game to left field for a base hit. Gastonia starter Matt Hartman then allowed a two-run homer to Evan Edwards as the Rockers took a 2-0 lead.

After Edwards’ home run, Hartman settled down and retired the next 16 Rockers he faced with 11 strikeouts. He departed after six innings, having allowed two runs and two hits while striking out 12.

High Point starter Fin Del Bonta-Smith was perfect through the first four innings, striking out three. Carter Aldrete led off the bottom of the fifth with a sharp single to left for Gastonia’s first baserunner of the night.

The Ghost Peppers scored five times in the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead. Del Bonta-Smith allowed a one-out single to catcher Aaron McKeithan, which was followed by RBI doubles from Shed Long, Jr., Justin Wylie and Cole Roederer. The Rockers brought in David Hess from the bullpen and he was greeted by Aldrete who smacked a two-run homer to left to put the Peppers up 5-2.

Gastonia added a solo run in the eighth when Eric De La Rosa reached on a bunt single and eventually scored on an infield ground out by Jack Reinheimer.

Lefty Nick Horvath put the Rockers down in order in the seventh and struck out Alex Dickerson to start the eighth before yielding to Tyler Wilson who completed another shutout inning.

The Rockers, void of base runners since the first inning, sent Braxton Davidson to pinch-hit in the top of the ninth and he launched a line drive over the netting in left to pull the Rockers to within three at 6-3. Wilson was replaced by lefty Ryan Hennen who promptly gave up a single back through the box to Gonzalez. Ben Aklinski singled and Evan Edwards drew a walk to load the bases. Gastonia brought in Sam Bordner who allowed a sac fly to Luke Napleton as High Point made it a 6-4 contest. But Bordner was able to get Alex Dickerson to fly out to center to end the game and give the Ghost Peppers the Game One win.

Game two of the best-of-five series is slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch on Sunday afternoon at CaroMont Health Park. The Rockers will send righty Erich Uelmen (6-4, 3.82) to the mound to face Gastonia righty Connor Grey (1-3, 4.46).

HIGH POINT, N.C. – On a night when the High Point Rockers celebrated the career of star outfielder Ben Aklinski, the fitting ending would have been Aklinski hitting yet another walk-off homer.

Alas, the final result, a 3-2 win by the Charleston Dirty Birds in 10 innings, was not the way it was written in the script.

Tied at 2-2 in the 10^th, Charleston used a walk, a ground out and a wild pitch to move the “ghost runner,” Alsander Womack, around to score to give Charleston the 3-2 victory.

In their regular season finale, the Rockers put two men on in the bottom of the 10^th but were unable to tie the game.

That Aklinski was unavailable at the end was a tribute to his outstanding four-year career as a Rocker in which he set club records for games played, at-bats, runs scored, hits, home runs and RBI as well as a slew of other milestones. Rockers manager Jamie Keefe had pre-arranged to take Aklinski out in the seventh inning which he did to a standing ovation from the 2,520 fans at Truist Point on Thursday night.

“Ben exemplifies what it means to be a Rocker,” said Keefe following the game.

The loss ends the regular season with the Rockers and the York Revolution tied for the best full season record in the Atlantic League at 74-52.

Next up for the Rockers is a date with the Gastonia Ghost Peppers in the best-of-five ALPB South Division Championship which starts on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Gastonia’s CaroMont Health Park.

Thursday night, Charleston put runs up on the scoreboard first, tallying two in the second inning. Alan Alonso managed a lead-off single off Rockers starter Ben Wereski before moving to second on a single by Carlos Amezquita. Thatcher Poteat then doubled to right to score Alonso and Amezquita scored on an infield groundout by Benjamin Blackwell.

The Rockers tied the game at 2-2 in the third on an RBI single from Luis Gonzalez and a run-scoring double from Drew Mendoza.

The Rockers were held to five hits by Charleston’s pitchers. Reliever Parker Kruglewicz (W, 1-0) shutout the Rockers over his two innings of work in the eighth and ninth innings before turning it over to Nolan Lamere (S, 1) for the save. High Point’s Jameson McGrane took the loss, allowing a walk and two strikeouts in the top of the 10^th.

Saturday’s ALPB DCS game will be streamed live on FLOBASEBALL.TV  and available on the MixLR app.

NOTES: Ben Aklinski made his first start of the year at second base . . . He was removed from the game to a standing ovation in the top of the seventh and replaced by Ian Yetsko . . . Luis Gonzalez extended his consecutive games on-base streak to 32 with a first inning single . . . Luke Napleton finished the regular season with a .407 batting average though he will not qualify for the league statistics . . . Aklinski finished as the team home run leader with 32 while he and Drew Mendoza share the team RBI lead with 96.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Five High Point Rockers pitchers combined to throw a two-hitter in an 8-1 win over the Charleston Dirty Birds in front of a crowd of 2008 on Wednesday night at Truist Point. Charleston did not get its first hit until James Nelson led off the top of the ninth with a line drive single to right.

Josh Hendrickson (W, 1-0) made his High Point debut after coming over to the Rockers in a trade from the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association. Hendrickson went five hitless innings, walking three and striking out five.

Yuhi Sako kept the Dirty Birds hitless in the sixth with two strikeouts, David Hess did the same in the seventh and Cam Cotter tossed a clean eighth inning. Nelson singled off closer Jameson McGrane and Joe Deluca singled to center to score Nelson and prevent the shutout.

The Rockers tallied all the runs they would need during a five-run fifth inning. Braxton Davidson unloaded a solo shot to lead off the inning before the Rockers took advantage of three walks and an RBI single from Drew Mendoza and a two-run single by Luke Napleton as well as a run scoring on a wild pitch.

High Point added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI double from Aidan Brewer and another run-scoring wild pitch. Evan Edwards drove in the final run with a bases-loaded infield groundout in the eighth.

The Rockers took advantage of Charleston’s staff issuing 11 walks. High Point only had five hits in the game.

Charleston starter Marc Davis (L, 0-4) went 4.1 innings and allowed four runs on three hits while walking five and striking out five.

With one game left in the regular season, the Rockers have an opportunity to finish with the best overall record in the Atlantic League. High Point is 74-51 going into Thursday’s finale while the York Revolution are 73-52.

Thursday’s finale is slated for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch at Truist Point. Rocker fans can catch all the action of every game on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app,