WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers belted three home runs to support starter Kent Emanuel as the Rockers held off Southern Maryland 6-5 on Tuesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.
The win pushes the Rockers to 4-3 on the year while Southern Maryland suffers just their second loss to fall to 5-2.
High Point found itself trailing for much of the first half of the game. But after taking the lead in the fifth inning, it was catcher Luke Napleton’s solo homer in the ninth that provided the eventual winning margin.
Emanuel (W, 1-0) went six innings and allowed seven hits and all four runs, three earned, before turning it over to the bullpen in the seventh.
Southern Maryland touched Emanuel for a pair of runs in the first for a 2-0 lead. After shortstop Viandel Pena hit a solo homer, Alejandro De Aza rolled a slow grounder to second and Braxton Davidson could not come up with D.J. Burt’s low throw. De Aza would take third on a single by Quinn McDaniel and then scored on a wild pitch for an unearned run.
Nick Longhi closed High Point’s deficit to 2-1 with a solo homer in the second, his second round-tripper of the year.
Southern Maryland took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second when Taylor Darden singled and scored on a double by Brody Fahr.
Murphy Stehly homered in the fourth with Max Viera aboard to tie the game 3-3.
The Blue Crabs regained the lead at 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth on a walk to Ezequiel Pagan and an RBI single from Fahr.
An RBI triple by Aidan Brewer with D.J. Burt aboard in the fifth tied the game at 4-4. Anthony Servideo followed with a single to plate Brewer and give High Point its first lead of the night.
Ryan Chasse relieved Emanuel in the seventh but after securing the first two outs, issued a pair of walks. Scott Rouse put out the fire by striking out Quinn McDaniel to escape the jam. Rouse set the Crabs down in order in the eighth with the Rockers holding a 5-4 lead.
Napleton’s homer, his first of the year, came leading off the top of the ninth and provided the insurance run in High Point’s 6-4 lead.
Alec Barger was called on in the ninth to close out the win but with one out and one on, Viandel Pena lined an infield single off Barger’s leg to score one run and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. After getting a ground out and hitting a batter, Barger departed for Xander Hamilton who came on and struck out McDaniel for the final out and his first save of the year.
Connor Overton went five innings and struck out eight for Southern Maryland but allowed all five Rockers runs and was saddled with the loss.
Game two of the six-game set at Regency Furniture Stadium is set for a 10:30 a.m. first pitch on Wednesday. Rocker fans can follow the action on DugoutTV and listen to an audio-only broadcast on the free MixLR app.
