Rockers complete 6-game sweep of Ducks

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – The High Point Rockers ended the season on Sunday by completing a rare six-game sweep of the Long Island Ducks, adding a 9-2 win at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

The Rockers finished the second half of the season with a 38-25 record, tying the Charleston Dirty Birds for first place. However, the first tiebreaker in the Atlantic League is head-to-head competition in the second half of the season and Charleston won eight of the 13 second half games from the Rockers.

The Rockers ended the season with the third-best overall record in the league at 74-52, trailing only York (80-45) and Gastonia (83-43).

Sunday’s victory was the sixth straight for the Rockers, all at Long Island.

Evan Edwards hit his fifth home run of the series, taking Long Island starter Chris Ellis deep after Ryan Grotjohn had doubled to give the Rockers a 2-0 lead.

The Ducks tied the game with single runs in the second and third. Yoelquis Cespedes doubled off High Point starter Jeremy Rhoades (W, 5-3) in the second and came around to score on a sac fly by Alexis Pantoja. In the third, Leobaldo Cabrera singled home Nick Heath to knot the game at 2-2.

The Rockers tied the game in the sixth when Edwards hit an infield pop-up that first baseman Kendon Strachan was unable to catch. An errant pickoff throw to first allowed Edwards to move to second and he scored when Connor Owings lined a single just out of the reach of shortstop Alexis Pantoja.

High Point added multiple insurance runs in the eighth, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring six runs to increase its lead to 9-2. After Martin Figueroa singled to left, he moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored from second on another wild pitch by Ducks reliever Daniel Corcino. Following a walk to Ben Aklinski, he stole second and then scored on a double by Owings. Corcino, who previously walked Edwards, then hit Quincy Nieporte with a pitch to load the bases. A walk to Brian Parreira drove home another run before the Ducks went to the bullpen for Rolando Casihis. Michael Martinez lined a two-run single and Figueroa lined to left to plate Parreira.

Rhoades went five innings and allowed just four hits while walking four and striking out three. Austin Warner threw two scoreless innings and Jacob Edwards pitched around a leadoff single to throw another shutout inning in the eighth then retired the first two Ducks in the ninth before exiting. Kyle Halbohn came on for the Rockers to retire Kevin Higgins on a grounder to short for the final out of the game.

NOTES: High Point’s 74 overall wins are tied for the second-most in club history. The 2023 team won 78 games… The Rockers have now won or tied for the South Division title in three of the last four half-seasons… OF Ben Aklinski led all ALPB players with 125 games played… SS Ryan Grotjohn tied for the league lead with seven triples… Connor Owings led all ALPB players with 12 sacrifice flies on the season with 12… Jonah Scolaro led all ALPB pitchers with two complete games… Charleston and Gastonia will play for the ALPB South Division Championship starting on Tuesday while York and Lancaster will battle for the North title. The two winners will meet in the League Championship Series that is slated to start September 24.