Rockers (whew!) win in 10 vs Gastonia

HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point Rockers defeated the Gastonia Baseball Club 7-6 in 10 innings on Wednesday night at Truist Point.

But that doesn’t tell half the story.

The first half of this tale is that the Rockers were on their way to throwing just the second one-hitter in club history and the first since 2019. Three Rockers hurlers had their way with the Gastonia line-up through the first eight innings. Starter Jeremy Rhoades went five innings and held Gastonia to a single hit and just one run. Lefty Jacob Edwards threw a pair of hitless innings in the sixth and seventh. And righty Zach Vennaro pitched around a walk in the eighth to keep the GBC in check.

Offensively, the Rockers took advantage of some poor Gastonia defense while generating plenty of offense to build a 6-1 lead after eight innings. High Point scored three times in the third on an RBI single from Ben Aklinski, a sac fly from Connor Owings, and an unearned run that came when Martin Figueroa reached on an infield error. The lead grew to 4-0 in the fourth on a sac fly from Gilberto Jimenez.

Gastonia used a walk, a stolen base and a pair of infield groundouts to score its lone run in the fifth.

High Point took advantage of two walks, an error and another sac fly, this one from Evan Edwards, to surge ahead 5-1 in the fifth then added an insurance run in the sixth when Figueroa’s fly ball to right was dropped and he scored on a single by Owings.

High Point tied the club record with three sacrifice flies and used their speed to beat out three infield singles through the first eight innings.

But, there’s always more to the story.

The Rockers brought in closer Dakota Chalmers in the ninth before misfortune hit. Chalmers walked the first two batters he faced before striking out Jake Gatewood for the first out and followed by fanning Marc Flores for the second out. Down to their last out, Gastonia’s Clint Coulter beat out an infield single of his own to load the bases. Jacob Robson then brought home a pair of runs with a double in the left-center gap. With two aboard, catcher Hidekel Gonzalez sent a line drive over the left field fence for a three-run homer to tie the game before Chalmers fanned Alan Alonso to force extra innings tied at 6-6. High Point did not get a runner into scoring position in the ninth,

Nate Griep (W, 2-1) came on the for Rockers in the 10th with a ghost runner at second in the form of pinch-runner Eric De La Rosa. Richie Martin attempted to bunt De La Rosa to third but he lined the bunt directly back to Griep who fired to second to double off De La Rosa on a 1-6 double play.

The Rockers began their half of the 10th with Owings at second and Gabe Klobosits (L, 4-4) on the mound for Gastonia. Edwards pulled a grounder to first that resulted in an out but moved Owings to third. After an intentional walk to Trey Martin to set up a potential double play, Jake Washer hit a high chopper to first. Flores leaped and made the grab before stepping on first but was unable to get off a throw to home, allowing Owings to score the winning run.

Figueroa and Burt each had a pair of hits for the Rockers 10-hit attack. Gastonia had four hits in the game and committed three errors leading to four unearned runs. Coulter was the only Gastonia player with two hits.

The Rockers, 15-7 in the second half, will maintain first place in the Atlantic League South. Charleston (13-8) was still playing late Wednesday night and Gastonia (12-10) is in third place.

The High Point Rockers will face the Gastonia Baseball Club in the series finale on Thursday, August 1st at 6:35 p.m. It will be Thirsty Thursday with beverage specials at all concession stands.