Leibrandt & staff toss 3-hitter at Crabs

WALDORF, Md, – The High Point Rockers needed six pitchers, but they combined to three-hit Southern Maryland in a 3-2 Rockers victory on Friday night at Regency Furniture Stadium.

With High Point’s win and Gastonia’s 19-8 home loss to Charleston, the Rockers are now just a half-game back of the Honey Hunters in the Atlantic League’s second half South Division pennant race. Gastonia is 33-21 and the Rockers are 32-21.

High Point starter Brandon Leibrandt set the tone, throwing four no-hit innings to start the game. He did allow base runners but promptly erased them. He hit Khalil Lee with a pitch with two outs in the first then picked him off first. The lefty allowed a walk to Jimmy Kerrigan in the second but then picked him off as well. He retired the Blue Crabs in order in the third and fourth then exited when he reached his maximum pitch count.

High Point got on the board in the fourth when Zander Wiel walked and came around to score on a Michael Martinez double for a 1-0 Rockers lead.

The newly acquired Darrien Ragins, who came to the Rockers in a trade from the Lake Eric Crushers of the Frontier League, started the fifth but ran into trouble. He walked Kerrigan, allowed a single to Alex Crosby then walked K.C. Hobson to load the bases. Philip Caulfield singled to tie the game before Ragins walked Isaias Quiroz with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run. Jeremy Rhoades (W, 8-2) came on and induced a double play ball and an infield groundout to keep the Rockers’ deficit at 2-1.

Diego Goris led off the seventh with a double off Blue Crabs starter Ian Kahaloa (L, 10-8). D.J. Burt then sent Goris to third with a single to right, setting the table for Ryan Grotjohn to lift a sac fly to center, scoring Goris and tying the game at 2-2. After Kahaloa set down Daikan Yoh, Burt stole second then scored the go-ahead run on a single by Ben Aklinski.

Bryce Hensley threw a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh and Sam Selman did the same in the eighth. Cam Bedrosian followed suit in the ninth, striking out two, and earning his first save of the season.

The Rockers managed nine hits on the night with Goris collecting three and Burt two. The eighth and ninth hitters in the Rockers order went five-for-eight on Friday night with two runs scored.

Game two of the series is scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. start on Saturday at Regency Furniture Stadium. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.