LEXINGTON, Ky, – The High Point Rockers unleashed a series-worth of offensive frustration in beating the Lexington Legends 13-2 on Friday night at Legends Field.
Having dropped the first three games of the six-game series, High Point broke out the bats on Friday, banging out 12 hits including a grand slam and six RBI from Braxton Davidson and a pair of solo shots from Ben Aklinski.
The Rockers improved to 53-32 on the season and 12-10 in the second half, pulling to within 2.5 games of first place Lexington (14-7).
Aklisnki started the Rockers scoring with a solo homer in the first for an early 1-0 lead.
The Rockers opened the third with Luis Gonzalez driving a single to right and Aklinski drawing a walk. Drew Mendoza put the Rockers up 2-0 when he singled to right to score Gonzalez from second with Aklinski moving to third. Alex Dickerson then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play with Aklinski crossing the plate for a 3-0 Rockers advantage.
The Rockers scored five times in the fifth, highlighted by Davidson’s grand slam and Burt scoring on a wild pitch to grow an 8-0 lead. High Point tacked on another four runs in the sixth including RBI singles by Gonzalez and Dickerson, a run-scoring double by Max Viera and an RBI double from Davidson.
Jonah Scolaro (W, 3-3) allowed just four hits over his six innings of work without allowing a walk and striking out four. Scolaro was ejected by the home plate umpire following the sixth inning. Scolaro allowed a run in the sixth when jerry Huntzinger doubled and scored on a single by Paul Winland.
David Hess came on in the seventh and allowed a solo homer to Pedro Gonzalez as Lexington climbed back to trail 12-2. Hess earned his first save of the season by pitching the final three innings. He walked two and struck out three while allowing three hits and one run.
Aklinski led off the eighth with another solo homer, his 24th of the season and the 124th of his Atlantic League. He moved into a tie for fifth place in ALPB history with 124 homers.
High Point tacked on a pair of runs in the ninth on an RBI double by Burt and a run-scoring single from Gonzalez
Lexington starter Wilton Castillo (L, 5-8) gave up four hits and seven runs, hindered by five walks. Hollis Fanning allowed four hits and four runs in his one inning of work.
Gonzalez finished with three hits while Aklinski, Davidson and Burt each had two. Davidson finished the night with six RBI.
Game five of the series is slated for a 7 p.m. start on Saturday at Legends Field. The Rockers will send RHP Mike Devine (1-0, 4.40) to the mound to face Lexington RHP Dustin Beggs (3-0, 3.94). Rocker fans can catch all the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app.
NOTES: Davidson’s home run was the 10th of the season for the Rockers, extending the club season record. The all-time minor league record for team grand slams in a season is 14 by the Albuquerque Isotopes in 2022. The MLB record is also 14, shared by the 2006 Cleveland Indians and the 2000 Oakland A’s . . . With two homers tonight, Aklinski now has 96 homers as a Rocker and 124 for his ALPB career which includes the 2021 season with Lexington . . . He is tied for fifth in the Atlantic League in career homers with Josh Pressley (Somerset/Sugar Land, 2007-13) and Telvin Nash (York/Charleston, 2015-23).
