Rockers lose lead, regain, win

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers lost a 3-0 lead in the ninth inning but rallied back to defeat the York Revolution in 10 innings, 5-4 Thursday night at Truist Point.

The Rockers were cruising on an outstanding pitching performance from starter Fin Del Bonta-Smith who threw seven innings of one-hit baseball with a career-high strikeouts. But the Revs rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth, two of them coming on game-tying homer from Mike Rosario.

After York scored a single run in the 10^th to go-ahead 4-3, the Rockers scored twice in the bottom of the 10^th for the victory. With Patrick Sanchez starting the inning on second, Braxton Davidson struck out but the ball squirted away from catcher Austin Bates and Davidson was safe at first with Sanchez advancing to third. Ethan Skender then cleared the bases with a triple to seal the win for the Rockers.

Del Bonta-Smith delivered one of the finest outings of his professional career, striking out a career high nine batters across seven dominant innings of one-hit, scoreless baseball. This was the right-hander’s second scoreless start of the young season. Despite the stellar outing, it would end up as a no-decision.

What was a classic pitchers duel stayed scoreless until the sixth frame when Davidson finally broke the scoreless deadlock, launching his fourth home run of the season over the right field wall to give the Rockers a 1–0 lead.

High Point kept the pressure on in the sixth following Davidson’s go ahead blast. Skender worked a walk and later moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, setting the stage for D.J. Burt, who came through with an RBI knock to bring Skender home from second and extend the Rockers lead to 2–0.

Catcher Chris Brady made his 2026 debut for the Rockers and wasted no time making an impact, ripping an RBI double to score Skender from second and provide the Rockers with late inning insurance at 3–0. Brady finished with a multi-hit performance and reached base safely three times in an impressive debut.

Zach Vennaro ran into trouble in the ninth while navigating the heart of the York order, as Jacob Teter and Brian Rey opened the frame with back to back singles. A Nick Dunn sacrifice fly brought the tying run to the plate, and Rosario crushed a game-tying two-run homer off the bottom of the scoreboard to even things at 3-3 in the ninth.

For the second consecutive night, these two clubs needed extra innings. A fielder’s choice moved ghost runner Devonte Brown over to third, setting the table for Josh Day in a prime sacrifice situation, and he executed perfectly, lifting a deep fly ball to right that allowed Brown to tag and score, giving York a 4–3 lead.

Skender continued his hot stretch at the plate, reaching base safely in all five of his trips, including a three hit performance. Skender has driven in a run in each of his last five games (11 RBI in that stretch).

High Point improves to 9-6 as York falls to the inverse, 6-9.  Game four of this six-game set is slated to start at 6:35 pm, Friday at Truist Point. Rockers will send righty Yuhi Sako (1-0) to the mound to face off against York’s Braden Scott (2-1). Rocker fans can follow the action live on HomeTeamLive.com (DugoutTV) or the audio broadcast on the free app MixLR.