Rockers fall on late Stormers rally

LANCASTER, Pa. – The Lancaster Stormers scored four times in the seventh inning to erase a 4-1 High Point lead as the Rockers fell 6-4 on Saturday night at Penn Medicine Park.

The Stormers were able to get to the Rockers bullpen in the seventh. Jesse Hahn (L, 0-2), who came on in the sixth, was on the mound to protect High Point’s 4-1 lead. Hahn allowed a lead-off walk and a single before getting a ground ball to second that Ty Hubbard was unable to convert, leaving the bases loaded. Joseph Carpenter hit a two-run single, Jalen Battles delivered a sac fly and Corey Rosier poked an RBI single for four rns that left the Stormers with a 5-4 advantage.

Lancaster’s Tristin English added a solo homer to put the Stormers up 6-4.

Aidan Brewer started the Rockers scoring with a solo homer to right in the third inning.

High Point grew its lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Lancaster starter Noah Bremer allowed a lead-off double to Ivan Melendez and a broken bat single to Hogan Windish. Ryan McCarthy grounded to first and nobody covered the bag, allowing McCarthy to reach on a fielder’s choice. Nick Longhi’s grounder to third resulted in a throwing error by third baseman Jalen Battles allowing Melendez to score. Nolan Watson then grounded to short as Longhi was retired at second but Watson beat the throw to first allowing Windish to score.

Nick Lucky led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer to pull the Stormers to within two at 3-1. But Luke Napleton answered back in the top of the fifth with a solo shot to right, his 25^th of the year, that pushed the Rockers ahead 4-1.

High Point starter Sam Ryan pitched into the sixth inning, leaving with two outs and two on. Hahn came on and walked Corey Roisier to load the bases before Ryan McCarthy saved multiple runs with a diving catch in the left-center gap to rob Melvin Mercedes of extra bases.

Ryan allowed just five hits and one run while walking three and striking out three. Hahn allowed four runs in one-third of an inning.  Lancaster’s Richie Dell (W, 1-0) earned the victory in relief and Phil Diehl set the Rockers down in order in the ninth to record his eighth  save of the season.

The Rockers are now 15-17 in the second half and 44-51 on the full season. Lancaster improved to 15-16 and 50-44.

The third and final game of the series is an out-of-the-ordinary 6:45 p.m. start on Sunday at Penn Medicine Park.

Rocker fans can follow the action live on DugoutTV.org or the audio broadcast on the free app MixLR.

NOTES: Ty Hubbard doubled in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games . . . Napleton’s homer, his 25^th of the year, puts him in sixth place among High Point’s all-time single season home run leaders.