HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers on Saturday night dropped a second straight game to the visiting Gastonia Honey Hunters, falling 8-3 in front of a crowd of 2,100 at Truist Point.

The loss leaves the Rockers at 28-11 on the season while Gastonia improved to 26-13. High Point maintains a two-game lead over the Honey Hunters in the Atlantic League South Division.

For the second night in a row, Gastonia tallied a pair of runs in the first inning. After Jack Reinheimer doubled to start the game, he moved to third on a ground out to second before Joseph Rosa walked to put runners on first and third. A wild pitch moved Rosa to second and then Emmanuel Tapia lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Reinheimer with Rosa tagging up and moving to third. Another wild pitch from Rocker starter Austin Glorius allowed Rosa to score for Gastonia’s 2-0 lead.

Gastonia made it a 3-0 lead in the second when Luis Castro started the frame with a single and then came all the way around to score on a double to left by former Rocker Stuart Levy. An RBI single by Joseph Rosa and a two-run homer by Emmanuel Tapia gave Gastonia a 6-0 advantage after 4.5 innings.

High Point scored its first run in the bottom of the fifth when Chris Proctor started the inning with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sac fly by Michael Russell.  Gastonia went up 8-1 with a pair of tallies in the eighth courtesy of a two-run single by Herlis Rodriguez.

Jerry Downs blasted a two-run homer in the eighth inning, his fifth of the year, to account for the 8-3 final score.

Glorius (2-3) took the loss after giving up eight hits and six runs in five innings of work while striking out four. Gastonia starter Jerry Keel (4-1) worked six innings and held the Rockers to five hits and one run while fanning five.

The Rockers and Honey Hunters will play the third and final game of this three-game series on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. at Truist Point.