HIGH POINT, N.C – Martin Figueroa singled home Ryan Grotjohn in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the High Point Rockers a 4-3 walk-off win over the Charleston Dirty Birds on Friday night at Truist Point.
Figueroa’s single culminated a game-long effort in which the Rockers continually fought from behind all night before finally knotting the game in the eighth inning.
Charleston opened up with an off the wall triple from Gabriel Cancel in the first before being singled home by Courtney Hawkins for a 1-0 lead.
Hawkins, signed by the Dirty Birds earlier in the day, smacked a homer to right field and gave Charleston a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
Charleston starting pitcher Gabriel Rodriguez held the Rockers hitless until the fifth when Grotjohn singled, moving Clayton Mehlbauer to third after he had drawn a walk. Gavin Johns followed with an RBI single for the Rockers first run.
Jared Carr homered for Charleston in the sixth to put the ‘Birds up 3-1.
High Point closed the gap to 3-2 in the seventh when Brian Parreira reached on a fielder’s choice, went to third on a single by Grotjohn, and scored on Johns’ second RBI single of the night.
The Rockers loaded the bases in the eighth on a walk to Connor Owings, a hit by pitch to Ben Aklinski and another walk to Colin Moran. Parreira’s sac fly plated Aklinski to tie the game at 3-3.
That set the stage for the Rockers’ game-winning rally in the ninth. Facing Charleston reliever Joan Martinez, Grotjohn drew a lead-off walk and Johns smacked his third hit of the night, putting runners on the corners. Figueroa then hit a hot smash that bounced past Charleston first baseman Dariel Gomez and into right, allowing Grotjohn to score the winning run.
Austin Ross (W, 1-0) earned the win by striking out a pair of ‘Birds in the top of the ninth and working around a pair of infield singles.
The win moved the Rockers to within one game of first place in the Atlantic League’s South Division. High Point is now 12-8 on the year while the loss puts Charleston at 13-7. Gastonia, which was rained out on Friday, is also in the hunt at 12-7 on the season.
The second game of the series will take place on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. It will be Veteran’s Appreciation Night with every Military veteran receiving four tickets for themselves and their family with military ID.
