HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers used the knuckleball of Mickey Jannis and some timely hitting from Beau Taylor to trip the Charleston Dirty Birds 4-3 Friday night at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston.
Jannis (W, 6-0) went 5.1 innings and struck out six while yielding just three hits. He ran into trouble in the sixth when Telvin Nash homered but the Bullpen pitched the final 3.2 innings and allowed just two hits while striking out seven. Jannis is now tied for the Atlantic League lead with six wins along with So. Maryland’s Mitch Lambson.
The Rockers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Zander Wiel was hit by a pitch with one out. After a Ben Aklinski single moved Wiel to second, both runners advanced on a wild pitch by Dirty Birds starter Kit Scheetz (L, 2-5). Taylor’s sac fly to left scored Wiel and put the Rockers up 1-0.
The Rockers added a pair of runs in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. Brian Parreira singled to lead off the frame and John Daly reached on a bunt single. With Joe Johnson at the plate, both Parreira and Daly moved up a base on a disengagement violation by Scheetz. Shed Long, Jr. then singled to left to score both runners.
Taylor’s solo homer leading off the fifth inning, his sixth homer of the year, put the Rockers up 4-0.
Jannis allowed just one hit through the first four innings before walking Diego Goris to lead off the fifth. Jose Bermudez doubled to left to score Goris from first and cut the deficit to 4-1. In the sixth, Jannis walked Dwight Smith, Jr. to lead off the inning and Nash then homered to pull Charleston to within a run at 4-3. A.J. Cole retired the final two hitters of the fifth and then turned it over to Cam Bedrosian who struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.
Jameson McGrane threw a scoreless eighth before Rockers manager Jamie Keefe called on Ryan Dull in the ninth. Dull allowed a single and a walk but struck out Jalen Miller to end the game and earn his ninth save of the year.
The Rockers now stand at 26-12 on the season and are 6-1 this season against Charleston.
High Point and Charleston will play the second game of this three game series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at GoMart Ballpark. The game will be streamed live on FloBaseball.com.
NOTES: Jannis has tied his Atlantic League high for wins in a season. He was 6-2 with Long Island in 2015… Beau Taylor continues to pace the league with a .354 average… Dull’s ninth save ties him for the most in the ALPB this season… 1B John Nogowski was placed on the inactive list prior to the game and P/OF Joe Johnson was activated from the injured list.
