HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers secured their place in the Atlantic League playoffs by winning the South Division’s first half championship on Friday night with an 8-1 win over the Gastonia Honey Hunters. The Rockers triumphed in front of 2,006 fans at Truist Point.
High Point broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with a five-run outburst before adding two more runs in the eighth. The Rockers put up the five spot on an RBI triple by Ryan Grotjohn, a sac fly from Brian Parreira and run-scoring singles from Shed Long, Jr. and Zander Wiel.
A.J. Cole (W, 3-2) earned the win with 1.1 innings of relief behind starter Jheyson Manueta. Michael Russell, Zander Wiel, and Brian Parreira each drove in a pair of runs.
“Hats off to the guys, they’ve been grinding and it’s been a long ride,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe. “We thought we were down and out last night and then we walked into the dug out and (trainer) Joe Geck had a big smile on his face and said ‘we’ve got another breath.’”
The Rockers had faced elimination from the South Division title race on Thursday night when they were shutout 3-0 at Southern Maryland. But Gastonia’s loss at Spire City kkept the Rockers alive.
Both High Point and Gastonia finished the first half with identical 41-22 records. But the Rockers held a tiebreaker by having posted the top winning percentage among South Division opponents.
The Rockers took a 1-0 in the bottom of the third when Parreira sliced a double to left. Long, Jr. sent a ground ball to short that was misplayed by Gastonia’s Kevin Santa, allowing Long, Jr. to reach first and sending Parreira to third. Michael Russell then grounded through the hole at short to score Parreira and give the Rockers a 1-0 lead.
Braxton Davidson blasted a solo homer to right center with one out in the sixth to tie the game at 1-1.
High Point starter Jheyson Manzueta went 5.2 innings, exiting in favor of Cole in the sixth with the score tied at 1-1. Cole recorded the final out of the sixth and put the Honey Hunters down in order in the seventh.
Gastonia starter Ryan Conroy went six innings and yielded just four hits while walking one and striking out four. He left after six in favor of reliever David Richardson who walked Ben Aklinski leading off the seventh. Ryan Grotjohn tripled off the wall in right center, bringing Aklinski across the plate. Richardson then walked Daikan Yoh to put runners on the corner when Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo again went to the bullpen and brought in Bryan Blanton. The first batter he faced, Parreira, hit an 0-2 pitch to the deepest part of left field, resulting in a sac fly that easily scored Grotjohn and gave the Rockers a 3-1 lead. Yoh moved to second on a single by Long, Jr. before Michael Russell singled home Yoh for a 4-1 advantage. Zander Wiel’s single, the third consecutive hit of the inning, scored both Long, Jr. and Russell and left the Rockers with a 6-1 lead.
Lefty Sam Selman came on for the Rockers and walked a pair before leaving with two outs in the eighth. Cam Bedrosian struck out Luis Curbelo to end the threat.
In the bottom of the eighth, Nick Wells started the inning for Gastonia and allowed a single to Aklinski and an infield single to Grotjohn. Yoh then lined a shot up the middle that hit Wells in the chest and he walked himself to the dugout as the Honey Hunters turned to Gabe Klobosits. Parreira bounced a grounder on the right side for the second out of the inning but it allowed Aklinski to score for a 7-1 Rockers lead. A Martinez double into the left field corner plated Grotjohn to extend High Point’s advantage to 8-1.
Game two of the series will be played on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The game will feature a performance from Ed’s Dinosaurs. The contest will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and will also be available on the Mixlr app.
