LANCASTER, Pa. – Mike Devine won his first game in professional baseball since 2022, leading the High Point Rockers to a 9-3 over the Lancaster Stormers on Saturday night at Penn Medicine Park. Devine (W, 1-0) went six innings, allowing just five hits and a pair of walks while striking out two.
For Devine, 35, it marked his first victory on the mound since pitching for Veracruz in the Mexican League in 2022. The former VMI pitcher had last pitched in the Atlantic League with Southern Maryland in 2021. A freight broker in Tampa by day, Devine worked his way back to professional baseball earlier this month and was making his second start as a Rocker on Saturday.
The Rockers improved to 6-5 in the second half and continue to hold the Atlantic League’s top overall record at 47-27. The Rockers are a game behind Lexington in the South Division second half standings.
The Rockers never trailed after loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the first. Lancaster starter Noah Bremer (L, 4-2) then struck out Alex Dickerson and Ben Aklinski before walking Braxton Davidson to force in a run. D.J. Burt then singled to center to score Max Viera but the Stormers were able to throw Drew Mendoza out at the plate to limit the Rockers to a 2-0 lead.
Devine kept the Stormers hitless until Nick Ward hit a solo homer in the third to cut High Point’s lead to 2-1.
After Isaiah Mirabal singled to start the fifth inning, Aidan Brewer hit a two-run homer to left-center to put the Rockers up 4-1. Luis Gonzalez followed with a double into the right field corner and then scored on consecutive wild pitches by Bremer. Viera then drew a walk before Mendoza delivered a 404-foot homer to right to put High Point ahead 7-1.
Lancaster answered with two runs on three hits off Devine in the bottom of the fifth. Ward delivered a two-run double after Danny Amaral and Scott Kelly had singled.
Stevie Branche came out of the bullpen in the seventh followed by Zach Vennaro in the eighth as each kept the Stormers without another run.
The Rockers added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth. Gonzalez led off the inning with a solo homer, his 15th of the year, to put High Point ahead 8-3. After Mendoza tripled, Dickerson doubled to right for a 9-3 Rockers advantage.
Jameson McGrane pitched the ninth and was aided by a pair of acrobatic leaping catches in the outfield by Gonzalez and Viera to keep Lancaster off the scoreboard.
With the series knotted at 1-1, the rubber match is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Penn Medicine Park. Rockers fans can catch the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app. High Point returns home to start a six-game home stand beginning on Tuesday at 6:35 against the Charleston Dirty Birds.
NOTES: The Rockers placed C Nolan Watson on the 7-day injured list after he suffered a leg injury while rounding first base on a base hit on Friday . . . High Point signed C Chris Brady who had been with the club during spring training.
