Rockers improve to 16-3 with 5-1 win over Blue Crabs

WALDORF, Md. – The High Point Rockers won their fourth straight game and improved to 16-3 on the season with a 5-1 win over the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Thursday afternoon at Regency Furniture Stadium.

At 16-3, the Rockers own a winning percentage of .842, the highest winning percentage in professional baseball.  The win was No. 997 for Rockers manager Jamie Keefe who is chasing his 1,000th career victory in his 21st season as a manager.

Rockers’ starter Mickey Jannis (W, 3-0) made his knuckleball dance for seven innings and held the Blue Crabs to just four hits while striking out eight.

High Point started the scoring with three runs in the second inning. After So. Maryland starter Sandro Cabrera (L, 1-2) walked Ryan Grotjohn and Daikan Yoh to open the inning, John Daly singled to center to put High Point ahead 1-0. It marked Daly’s fourth consecutive game with a run batted in. After Daly stole second, Michael Martinez followed with a double to left, scoring Yoh and Daly to pad the lead to 3-0.

High Point added a fourth run in the top of the third when Zander Wiel blasted his fourth home run of the year with nobody on for a 4-0 advantage.

The Blue Crabs scored their lone run in the bottom of the third when Jannis yielded a leadoff double to Michael Baca who then moved around the bases on a pair of infield groundouts to make it 4-1.

Neither team would score again until the top of the ninth when Daly walked, stole second and scored on a Martinez single to left.

Martinez, John Nogowski and Wiel each finished with a pair of hits while Martinez accounted for three RBI. A.J. Cole and Jeremy Rhoades each worked a scoreless inning over the final two frames to secure the win.

The Rockers will remain on the road and head to Long Island where they will open a three-game series with the Ducks on Friday night at 6:35 p.m.  The game will be available on the Mixlr audio app with a live video stream at FloSports.com.