Dickerson homers, Rockers pitching stifle Legends

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Alex Dickerson hit a pair of home runs and three Rockers pitchers held Lexington to seven hits in a 5-1 win by High Point over the Legends on Thursday night at Truist Point.

Dickerson blasted his 15^th and 16^th homers of the season to lead the Rockers offense.

High Point starter Ben Wereski (W, 1-3) and relievers Scott Rouse and Daniel Blair allowed the Legends just seven hits. The lone run scored in the second inning and no Lexington base runner reached second base after the third inning. Wereski departed after five innings with a 2-1 lead. He struck out seven, walked four and allowed just the one run on five hits.

Rouse and Blair each tossed two shutout innings, allowing one hit apiece and each struck out two without a walk.

The win pulls the Rockers to within one game of first place in the second half South Division race. Gastonia lost on Thursday to Southern Maryland to fall to 23-16. The Rockers are a game back at 22-17 and Lexington trails High Point by 1.5 games. High Point’s 63-39 overall record continues to pace the Atlantic League.

Drew Mendoza staked the Rockers to a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the first, his 16^th of the year. Lexington responded in the top of the second with a sac fly off the bat of Pedro Gonzalez to tie it up at 1-1.

The Rockers went up 2-1 in the top of the third on a cunningly smart play by D.J. Burt. After hitting a line drive to center, Burt tried to stretch it into a double. But the throw from center arrived well in front of Burt who slowed down to lure the shortstop into an easy tag. At the last moment, Burt went into a slide and successfully avoided the tag. Burt would score on Mendoza’s single to left.

Dickerson blasted a solo homer leading off the sixth to put the Rockers in front 3-1. In the seventh, following a walk to Mendoza, Dickerson hit his second homer as High Point surged to a 5-1 lead.

Game four of the six-game series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Friday at Truist Point with a fireworks shot to follow the contest. The Rockers will send lefty Alex Barker (0-0, 0.00) to the mound to make his first start as a Rocker. He will face Lexington righty Ben Ferrer (3-4, 5.79). Rockers fans can catch all the action on FLOBASEBALL.TV and on the MixLR app.

NOTES: The Rockers activated RHP David Hess from the inactive list prior to Thursday’s game and placed LHP Jonah Scolaro in the inactive list.

Rockers Home runs (exit velocity-distance): Mendoza (98-365);Dickerson (110-419), (110-397)