‘Hawks take middle game of series, 5-1

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers dropped the middle game of their three-game series with Staten Island by a 5-1 score on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Point.

High Point lead-off hitter Trent Taylor started the first inning in a positive fashion, nursing a walk from Staten Island starting pitcher Nick Beardsley (W, 2-0). After another walk to Ben Aklinski, Taylor scored on an RBI single from Daikan Yoh.

But that was all the scoring the Rockers would muster against Beardsley and three FerryHawk relievers. High Point was held to six hits on the afternoon while also receiving six walks. But Staten Island helped its cause by turning two double plays, stranding eight Rockers runners and limiting High Point to just one hit with runners in scoring position over eight at-bats.

“That was ugly,” said Rockers manager Jamie Keefe following the game. “It was one of those days where we were off-balance all day. Their pitcher, Beardsley, did a heckuva job. We lined out a lot but we had our opportunities early and didn’t take advantage of them. We need to put it behind us and come out and win the series tomorrow.”

High Point starter Mickey Jannis (L, 8-3) leads the league in wins and allowed four runs on seven hits over his six innings while walking two and striking out five. Jeremy Rhoades and Taylor Guerrieri threw scoreless innings in relief though lefty Sam Selman was touched for a run in the ninth on a walk to Justin Williams, a sac bunt, and a run-scoring single from Kevin Krause.

“Mickey threw the ball well, should have given up two runs at the most but we made some mistakes in the field,” said Keefe. “We’ve played good baseball up to this point and this was probably our ugliest game of the year. We were flat the whole day. We just didn’t get it done.”

The FerryHawks grabbed hold of the lead with two runs in the second off Jannis. Roldani Baldwin singled to center and Jack Elliott followed with an infield single. A walk to Luis Castro loaded the bases before Mike Wilson delivered an RBI single. Garrett Kueber then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that allowed Elliott to score for a 2-1 Staten Island lead.  The ‘Hawks increased the lead to 3-1 in the third on a walk to Brandon Pugh who took on a single by Ricardo Cespedes and scored on a groundout by Angel Aguilar. Aguilar added a solo homer in the sixth off Jannis to complete the scoring.

The Rockers were held hitless after a lead-off single from D.J. Burt leading off the seventh. Staten Island finished off the game by retiring the final nine Rockers batters in order, seven on strikeouts. Yoh was the lone Rocker with a pair of hits.

The Rockers are now 2-2 in the second half of the Atlantic League season.

The third and final game of the Rockers-FerryHawks series is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Thursday at Truist Point. It will be a Thirsty Thursday with specials on all drinks. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and on the Mixlr app.