Rockers drop opener at York

YORK, Pa. – In a meeting of competing winning streaks, the High Point Rockers had their seven-game winning streak snapped in a back-and-forth 8-7 loss to the York Revolution on Tuesday night at WellSpan Park. The win extended York’s winning streak to six consecutive games.

The Rockers held a 6-2 lead in the fourth but could not hold on down the stretch as High Point fell to 43-29 overall and 7-2 in the South Division. York, the North Division’s first half champion, improved to 6-3 in the second half and 49-23 on the season.

The Rockers struck for three runs in the first as Ben Aklinski singled with one out, Connor Owings drew a walk from York starter Michael Horrell and Quincy Latimore brought home both runners with a double. After a walk to Evan Edwards, Jake Washer singled to score Latimore and give the Rockers a 3-0 lead.

York scored its first run in the bottom of the first when Rudy Martin, Jr. doubled, took third when an errant pickoff throw resulted in an obstruction call on the Rockers, then scored on a passed ball.

York made it a 3-2 game with a run in the third on singles by Matt McDermott and Colton Welker.

Ben Aklinski’s 17th homer of the year, a three-run shot in the fourth, put the Rockers back on top 6-2. York clawed back to make it 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth when former Rocker Zander Wiel doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch then scored on a double play grounder.

The Revs knotted the game at 6-6 in the fifth on a sac fly by Welker and solo homers by Matt McDermott and Wiel off High Point starter Neil Ramirez.

Ramirez went 4.2 innings and allowed eight hits and six runs while walking one and striking out three.

High Point forged a 7-6 lead in the top of the sixth on Brian Parreira’s solo homer. But York regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs coming on an RBI single from Martin and a run-scoring double from Welker off High Point reliever Jacob Edwards (L, 5-1).

Four Rockers each had a pair of hits on Tuesday including Aklinski, Gilberto Jimenez, Jake Washer and Parreira.

Game two of the three-game series is will take place at 6:30 on Wednesday at WellSpan Park.

NOTES: The game was delayed 43 minutes in the bottom of the second due to rain… Former Rocker Zander Wiel went two-for-four with a homer and one RBI on Tuesday… Gastonia was leading Southern Maryland 10-9 in the eighth inning on Tuesday night… A Gastonia win would put the Baseball Club at 6-3 in the second half, one full game behind the Rockers.