Rockers outhit Frederick but fall 5-4

HIGH POINT, N.C. – If baseball games were decided by the number of hits each team had, then the High Point Rockers would have scored a 9-4 victory over Frederick on Thursday night. Unfortunately, High Point came out one run short, the only category that does count, falling 5-4 to the Question Marks despite holding a better than 2:1 advantage in base hits.

“We had nine hits, we had plenty of baserunners, we just didn’t get it done when we needed to,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe. “That’s going to happen. But we won the series (2-1) so we will turn the page and get back after it tomorrow against Southern Maryland.”

High Point starting pitcher Mickey Jannis (L, 6-1) was bidding to become the first seven-game winner in the Atlantic League. And while he allowed just four hits through seven innings, he walked four and struck out one. Frederick starter Max Povse (W, 1-2) went six innings, yielded seven hits and four runs and struck out two while not issuing a walk.

The loss dropped the Rockers to 29-14 on the season and a half-game behind Gastonia (29-13) in the race for the South Division title in the Atlantic League.

The Rockers got to Povse right from the start. Lead-off hitter Shed Long, Jr. singled up the middle and moved to second when Povse hit Michael Russell with a pitch. Zander Wiel moved both runners up a base with a swinging bunt that was fielded by Frederick catcher Kole Cottam. Ben Aklinski then flew out to center for a sac fly that brought Long, Jr. home with High Point’s first run.

High Point made it 2-0 in the second when Michael Martinez singled through the right side, stole second, moved to third on an infield groundout by Montrell Marshall then scored on a passed ball by Cottam.

Frederick tied the game with a pair of runs in the third. Moises Sierra walked and was advanced to third on a single by Steven Brault. Osvaldo Abreu brought in Sierra on a grounder to second and Brault scored on an RBI single by Starlin Castro.

With three runs in the fourth, Frederick took a 5-2 lead. Jannis walked Jimmy Paredes and allowed a double to Cottam. Leobaldo Cabrera brought home one run with a sac fly before Brault hit a two-run homer that also scored Cottam.

The Rockers made it a 5-3 game when Ryan Grotjohn blasted his sixth homer of the year off the videoboard in right-center leading off the fourth inning. High Point narrowed the gap to 5-4 in the sixth when Grotjohn singled and stole second before taking third on a single to right by Martinez. But rightfielder Sierra launched his throw back into the infield all the way into the Frederick dugout allowing Grotjohn to score on the error.

Long, Jr. finished with three hits including a double while Grotjohn and Martinez each had a pair of hits. Brault was the only Frederick player with two hits as the Rockers did not allow a hit after the fourth inning.

The Rockers will start a three-game series against Southern Maryland on Friday at 6:35 p.m. at Truist Point. The game will be available on FloBaseball and on the Mixlr app. There will be postgame fireworks which fans can watch from the field and the first 1,000 fans will receive a free mini bat courtesy of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.