LEXINGTON, KY, – The High Point Rockers lost to the Lexington Legends 6-1 on Tuesday night at Wild Health Field in Lexington.

Jay Gonzalez led the Rockers with three hits including a double. Jonah Scolaro took the loss, allowing six hits and four runs over 3.1 innings while striking out five.

The Rockers are now 40-38 overall and 1-11 in the second half of the Atlantic League season.

The Rockers took a 1-0 lead with a run in the second when Tyler Ladendorf led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a single by Jay Gonzalez and scored on a single by Giovanny Alfonzo.

Scolaro allowed a double to Courtney Hawkins leading off the third before walking Manuel Geraldo. Rusber Estrada then hit a three-run homer that was followed by a solo homer from Montrell Marshall to give the Legends a 4-1 lead.  Estrada added a solo homer in the fifth to go ahead 5-1.

In the sixth, Boog Powell tripled and Hawkins walked. With runners on first and third, the Legends executed a double steal with Powell taking home to put Lexington up 6-1.

Lexington starter David Lebron (W, 3-2) went five innings and allowed five hits and five walks while striking out six.

High Point and Lexington will play the middle game of this three-game series at noon on Wednesday at Wild Health Field.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Zander Wiel belted two long home runs and drove in three runs in leading the High Point Rockers to a 4-1 win over Southern Maryland on Sunday at Truist Point. Starting pitcher Ivan Pineyro went eight innings and struck out seven to earn his third win of the season.

The win snapped High Point’s 10-game losing streak and marked the 950^th career victory for Rockers manager Jamie Keefe.

Southern Maryland took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when second baseman Michael Wielansky was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a ground ball before scoring on an RBI single by Zach Collier. But Pineyro (W, 3-1) then shut down the Blue Crabs, retiring 11 straight hitters as the High Point offense got in gear.

With one out in the third, centerfielder Ben Aklinski drew a walk before Wiel hit his first homer of the day, his 19^th of the season, to give the Rockers a 2-1 lead. Blue Crabs’ starter Mitch Lambson (L, 5-5) put the Rockers down in order in the fourth before Wiel launched his second homer of the game and 20^th of the year to put High Point ahead 3-1 in the fifth. Two batters later, Jerry Downs hit his 11^th homer of the season to extend the Rockers’ lead to 4-1.

“Our sticks needed to wake up,” said Wiel following the game. “Jerry Downs had a big swing, Ivan pitched great and he really set the tone. Ivan going eight strong innings was the story of the day. When a guy throws like that, the offense wants to do all it can to do its part. But he didn’t need much help today.”

Pineyro allowed only one Southern Maryland base runner to advance beyond second after the first inning. Collier doubled with one out in the sixth and advanced to third on a ground out but was stranded there. Pineyro scattered five hits and allowed one run and did not issue a walk. Ryan Dull pitched the ninth and struck out two in earning his fifth save of the season.

Lambson went the distance for Southern Maryland, throwing eight innings and allowing six hits while walking four and striking out four.

“The curse is broken,” joked Keefe following the game. Despite the home runs, Keefe laid all the credit for the win at the feet of Pineyro.

“It’s unreal what Ivan has done since Junior (Rincon) arrived,” said Keefe. “They know each other and they’ve talked a lot about pitching off the fastball. Ivan hadn’t broken 90 (MPH) since he’s been here but today he was consistently between 89 and 92. And to go eight strong innings against the best team in the league, that was a big win for us.”

The Rockers now hit the road and will play at Lexington Tuesday through Thursday. High Point will return to Truist Point on Friday, July 22 to start a three-game series with Gastonia.

NOTES: Jerry Downs’ home run in the fifth inning came on the same day that his younger brother, Jeter Downs, hit his first Major League home run for Boston at Yankee Stadium . . . To snap the 10-game losing streak, the Rockers burned sage candles in the clubhouse prior to the game to remove any curses . . . The win was the 950^th of Jamie Keefe’s professional managerial career, now in its 20^th on-field season . . . Wiel now has five multi-homer games this season.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – For the second night in a row, the High Point Rockers dropped a heartbreaking one-run game to Southern Maryland. On Saturday night in front of 2,328 fans at Truist Point, the Blue Crabs claimed a 5-4 win from the Rockers.

High Point put the tying and go-ahead runners on base in the ninth inning with one out but Blue Crab reliever Endrys Briceno struck out Tyler Ladendorf and Ben Aklinski to preserve the Southern Maryland win.

The loss was High Point’s 10^th straight to start the second half of the Atlantic League season.

The Rockers got on the board first when Michael Russell led off the second inning with a double. With two outs, Giovanny Alfonzo hit a routine ground ball up the middle and as Southern Maryland shortstop Michael Baca went to make the play, the ball hit second base and ricocheted into shallow left field, allowing Russell to score.

Joe DeLuca hit a solo homer leading off the third for Southern Maryland to tie the game at 1-1. The Blue Crabs added a pair of runs in the fourth on a single by Michael Wielansky, an RBI tiple from Zach Collier and a run-scoring ground out by David Harris to give SMD a 3-1 lead.

The Rockers jumped back in front with a three-run sixth inning. Walks to Aklinski and Zander Wiel allowed Quincy Latimore to drive in a run with a double. Russell was intentionally walked to load the bases and Chris Proctor’s infield out plated a run before Jay Gonzalez sliced a run-scoring single to left to give the Rockers at 4-3 lead.

High Point starter Liam O’Sullivan went six innings and allowed six hits and three runs while striking out two. He departed after the sixth with a 4-3 lead. Chasen Bradford (L, 2-3) came on and yielded a double to DeLuca and a two-run homer to Ryan Haug to put the Crabs back on top 5-4. Patrick Baker relieved SMD starter Alex Merithew in the sixth and pitched through the seventh to earn the win and improve to 3-1.

High Point went down in order in the seventh and eighth innings before rallying against Briceno in the ninth. After striking out Chris Proctor to open the frame, Gonzalez beat out an infield single and Briceno walked pinch-hitter Logan Morrison to put two aboard with just one out. But the two strikeouts quelled the High Point threat as Briceno earned his sixth save.

The Rockers and Blue Crabs put the finishing touches on this three-game series at Truist Point on Sunday with a 4:05 p.m. first pitch.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers had the tying run on second base in the ninth inning but dropped a 3-2 decision to Southern Maryland Friday night at Truist Point in front of 2,327 fans.

The Rockers were trailing 3-1 in the ninth when Quincy Latimore and Michael Russell opened the inning with consecutive singles. Jay Gonzalez moved the runners to second and third with an infield out. Pinch-hitter Jerry Downs delivered a sacrifice fly to left to score Latimore and make it a 3-2 game. Giovanny Alfonzo battled the Atlantic League leader in saves, Mat Latos (S, 20), before grounding out to end the game.

Both starting pitchers delivered solid performances. High Point’s Craig Stem (L, 2-3) went six innings and allowed three runs, all unearned, while walking three and striking out two. Southern Maryland starter Daryl Thompson (W, 9-2) is the Atlantic League’s all-time leader in wins and tonight’s victory was the 85^th of his career.

Southern Maryland took a 3-0 lead on three unearned runs. In the second inning, David Harris’ ground ball to third was mishandled by Michael Russell for an error. Singles by Alex Crosby and Joe DeLuca moved Harris to third and he scored on a sac fly by Ryan Haug.

In the fifth, Harris led off the inning by reaching via error and Crosby and Zach Collier followed with singles. DeLuca hit a sac fly to score Harris and then Haug grounded out to plate Crosby.

The Rockers got on the board in seventh when Zander Wiel singled with one and Latimore moved him to second with a base hit. Gonzalez singled to left to score Wiel and the Rockers had cut the deficit to 3-1.

Wiel, Latimore and Russell all finished with a pair of hits for the Rockers. Relievers Chasen Bradford (seventh inning), Bryce Hensley (eighth) and Ryan Dull (ninth) each held the Blue Crabs scoreless.

High Point is now 0-9 in the second half and 39-36 on the season. Southern Maryland, the ALPB North Division first half champion, improved to 54-22 and 6-4 in the second half.

The middle game of the three-game series between High Point and Southern Maryland is set for 6:35 p.m. Saturday at Truist Point. The first 1,000 fans at Saturday’s game will receive a free baseball courtesy of B&H Heating and Air Conditioning.

LANCASTER, Pa. – The Lancaster Barnstormers took an early 4-0 lead then added six runs in the sixth inning and went on to post an 11-2 win over the High Point Rockers on Thursday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The loss left the Rockers with a 39-35 overall record and an 0-8 mark in the second half of the Atlantic League season.

The Rockers were held to five hits on the night by four Lancaster pitchers.

High Point’s first run came in the seventh when Lancaster reliever Erik Cha walked Michael Martinez, Dakota Mulcay and Giovanny Alfonzo to load the bases. Tyler Ladendorf grounded into an infield force out to score Martinez but Cha was able to escape the inning without allowing any further runs.

High Point added a run in the eighth on a Martinez sacrifice fly.

Lancaster scored four times off High Point starter Nick Evangelista (L, 1-3) in his three innings. Kyle Mott pitched two shutout innings in the fourth and fifth before being relieved by Nathan Bates. Bates loaded the bases on a single and a pair of walks then threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score as Lancaster went up 5-0. John Hayes came in from the bullpen and Trayvon Robinson hit his first pitch for a grand slam before Anderson Feliz followed with a solo homer and the Barnstormers had a 10-0 advantage.

Lancaster’s Nile Ball (W, 6-3) allowed just three hits over six innings while striking out four.

The Rockers return home to start a three-game series with Southern Maryland on Friday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The Rockers will hold a fireworks display following the game with fans allowed to watch the show from the field.

LANCASTER, Pa. – The High Point Rockers battled tooth and nail for 10 innings on Wednesday night but a controversial call at the end resulted in Lancaster taking a 3-2 win at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The game was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 10^th and Austin Glorius (L, 3-6) was on in relief for the Rockers. His first pitch hit Jake Hoover to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third before Glorius fanned Trace Loehr. Anthony Peroni then singled to left to tie the game and leave runners at the corners. Lancaster’s Devon Torrence sent a grounder to second where it was fielded by Tyler Ladendorf who flipped to Giovanny Alfonzo at second for the second out. Alfonzo’s relay to first was ruled not in time, allowing Hoover to score the winning run in Lancaster’s 3-2 victory.

The ending was a disappointment for the Rockers who never relented in their quest to end what has become a seven-game losing streak to start the second half of the ALPB season.

Trayvon Robinson staked the Barnstormers to a 1-0 lead with a solo homer off High Point starter Jonah Scolaro in the second inning. The Rockers answered back in the third when Logan Morrison hit a two-out solo homer off Lancaster starter Oscar De La Cruz to knot the game at 1-1. It was Morrison’s ninth homer of the year.

Scolaro struck out a career-high eight in his six innings of work while allowing just three hits and walking three. De La Cruz also allowed three hits and fanned six in his five innings.

Four Lancaster hurlers held the Rockers to just two hits after the sixth inning. Bryce Hensley shutout the Barnstormers in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings while striking out four and giving up just two hits.

In the 10^th, High Point’s Tyler Ladendorf started the frame at second base. Ben Aklinski struck out before Ladendorf moved to third on a passed ball by Lancaster catcher Anthony Peroni. Morrison was intentionally walked and Zander Wiel sent a sac fly to center to score Ladendorf and put the Rockers ahead 2-1.

High Point and Lancaster will play the final game of the three-game series on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Clipper Magazine Stadium.