HIGH POINT, N.C. – The day after winning the Atlantic League’s South Division first half championship, the High Point Rockers were still feeling a little bit of a hangover, falling 7-2 to Gastonia on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 2,074 at Truist Point.

A number of key contributors to the Rockers’ first half title run were given the night off, including Beau Taylor, Brian Parreira, Michael Martinez , Ryan Grotjohn, and Daikan Yoh.

High Point starter Craig Stem (L, 0-1) went four innings and allowed six hits and seven runs while walking six and striking our four. Gastonia’s Zack Godley (W, 5-3) tossed five innings for the Honey Hunters and yielded just two hits while walking three and striking out eight.

Gastonia tallied its first two runs in the top of the second when Eric De La Rosa Drew a walk and moved to second on a single by Pedro Gonzalez. Johnni Turbo’s ground out to second sored one before Kevin Santa singled to bring home the second run.

In the third, Scott Manea singled and scored on an RBI  single by De La Rosa to put the Honey Hunters up 3-0.

Gastonia increased its lead to 7-1 in the fourth inning when Stem walked the bases loaded then allowed a grand slam to Braxton Davidson.

High Point’s first run came in the third when John Daly singled, moved to second when Shed Long, Jr. was hit by a pitch, and took third on a walk to Michael Russell. Zander Wiel’s infield grounder went for an RBI as Daly scored. In the eighth, Daly reached on a two-base fielding error by shortstop Kevin Santa and would eventually scored on a passed ball.

Besides Daly’s third inning single, the only other Rocker hit was a liner through the hole at short by Ben Aklinski leading off the fourth. He was erased on the first of two Gastonia double plays on the night. Scott Manea and De La Rosa each had a pair of hits for Gastonia.

Game three of the series is slated for Sunday at 4:05 p.m. at Truist Point. The contest will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr App.