Rockers split doubleheader with Charleston

HIGH POINT, N.C – The High Point Rockers split a doubleheader with the Charleston Dirty Birds on Sunday afternoon at Truist Point. In game one, High Point starter Mickey Jannis threw 5.2 innings of perfect baseball to lead the Rockers to a 6-3 victory. In game two, Charleston starter Troy Bacon allowed only three hits in five innings to secure the 6-1 win and the doubleheader split.

The Rockers are now 24-10 on the year and a half-game behind South Division leader Gastonia which improved to 24-9 with a win on Sunday.

Jannis (W, 5-0) secured the opening win while throwing 5.2 perfect innings. He allowed three hits and one walk, while striking out seven.

In the opener, the Rockers scored all their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The rally started with a lead off walk to Michael Martinez followed by a single from Brian Parreira. Michael Russell then drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single to right field. John Daly produced a pinch hit sacrifice bunt which resulted in an error by Charleston third baseman Diego Goris to load the bases. A walk to Shed Long, Jr. extended the lead to 2-0, followed by a two-run single from John Nowgowski to give the Rockers a 4-0 lead. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Ben Aklinski and Ryan Grotjohn gave the Rockers a 6-0 advantage at the end of five innings.

Kit Scheetz (L, 2-4) took the loss for the Dirty Birds, allowing three hits, five walks, and four strikeouts.

Jannis didn’t allow a baserunner until the sixth inning, retiring the first 17 batters he faced until Charleston’s Yefri Perez hit a two-out single to right. Charleston would score three times in the inning but could get no closer.

In the nightcap, the Dirty Birds took a 3-0 in the third inning against Rockers starting pitcher, Neil Uskali (L, 1-1). The two out rally started with a bunt base hit by Yefri Perez who then stole  second to move into scoring position. Jalen Miller drove in Perez with an RBI double to put the Dirty Birds up 1-0. Luis Roman then hit an RBI double to score Jalen Miller, followed by a base hit from Telvin Nash.

Charleston continued to play small ball to plate three more runs in the top of the fifth. Jose Bermudez started the inning with a bunt base hit before Perez singled to move Bermudez into scoring position. Following a sac bunt from Jalen Miller, the Rockers issued an intentional walk to Telvin Nash to load the bases. Uskali induced a ground ball to first from Bobby Bradley that first baseman John Nogowski fielded cleanly. But his toss to Uskali covering first was dropped, allowing two more runs to score. After Diego Goris followed with an RBI single, Charleston had a 6-0 lead.

The Rockers scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth off a home run by Zander Wiel, his eighth of the year.

High Point will have Monday off and then will start a three-game series against Southern Maryland at Truist Point Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.