(September 13th, 2023 – York, Pa.): Drew Mendoza’s ninth inning homer accounted for the only offense as the York Revolution dropped the middle game of their series, 4-1 to the High Point Rockers on Wednesday night at WellSpan Park.
York sent Pedro Vasquez to the hill opposed by lefty Brandon Leibrandt for High Point and the starters did not disappoint.
After both starters went 1-2-3 in their first innings, Quincy Latimore homered to left field to begin the top of the second giving High Point a 1-0 lead.
Vasquez rebounded with another 1-2-3 inning in the third, but in the fourth, the Rockers took advantage of a leadoff hit batter and scored on a two-out RBI single to right off the bat of Beau Taylor to make it 2-0.
Vasquez again retired the side in order in the fifth, but in the sixth, the Rockers knocked home a pair with two outs as Taylor singled home a run on his second consecutive at bat and Michael Martinez drove an RBI double to the gap in right center. Taylor was thrown out trying to score from first on the play, but the Rockers had built a 4-0 lead.
York was unable to score against Leibrandt (4-3) who threw six innings of just two hit baseball, allowing only a third inning double to Ryan January and a fifth inning infield single by Richard Urena.
Vasquez (8-4) breezed through innings at times but finished being charged with four runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings.
Will McAffer entered with two on in the seventh and after a walk, got a foul pop up to leave the bases loaded, while Zach Neff set down all three with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the eighth for York. Ben Dum worked around a two-out threat to leave the bases loaded in a scoreless ninth.
High Point’s bullpen was also stout as Sam Selman used a double play to erase a leadoff walk in a scoreless seventh and Cam Bedrosian stranded a pair of runners in the eighth.
Mendoza launched a towering solo home run to right in the bottom of the ninth, his 15th of the year and second in as many nights, extending his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games. High Point righty Jameson McGrane got a double play ball to end the game, however, snapping the Revs’ franchise record five-game win streak head-to-head against the Rockers.
York falls to 3.5 games back in the North Division with four to play in the regular season and will look to keep its playoff hopes alive in the rubber match of the series on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. York RHP Cody Brittain (1-0, 1.59) will face off with lefty Justin Nicolino (4-1, 4.09) on Hunger Free Thursday presented by Members 1st Federal Credit Union. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
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