(September 8, 2026 – Waldorf, Md.): Six pitchers combined on a gem and Jackson Ross launched a big two-run homer late in the game as the York Revolution kicked off the final week of the regular season with a 4-1 victory over the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs at Regency Furniture Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Revs (74-47, 39-19) pull into a virtual tie for first place with five games remaining, alongside Long Island (40-20 in second half) who has just three games remaining and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Mikolajchak (5-1) helped the Revs take care of the business at hand, allowing just one run on three hits over five innings to earn the victory.
Southern Maryland drew first blood as Jackson Loftin led off the bottom of the second with a homer to left, but Mikolajchak allowed no further damage. The Revs righty enjoyed 1-2-3 innings in the first and third, and relied on a pair of big strikeouts to strand runners at second base in both the fourth and fifth.
Held in check by Crabs starter Andrew Thurman (0-1) through the first four innings, the Revs ignited a fifth inning threat as Drew Ramirez singled to left and Mike Rosario drilled a double off the left field wall to set up runners at second and third with no outs. Thurman induced a ground out that kept the runners stationed, but Tomo Otosaka’s grounder to short stayed under the glove of Brody Fahr for a two-run error as the Revs went in front, 2-1.
Ross provided the rest of the offensive fireworks. After Jacob Teter (10-game hitting streak) singled to center with two outs in the eighth, Ross blasted his 18th homer of the year, a two-run shot to left center extending his RBI total to 94 on the season as the lead grew to 4-1.
Five Revs relievers combined to hold the Crabs scoreless.
Brendan Collins took care of the sixth inning with help from catcher Austin Bates who erased Taylor Darden’s leadoff single with his 13th pickoff of the season.
Denny Bentley and Ryan Shreve teamed up for a scoreless seventh as Bentley set down two of three and Shreve earned his league-leading 15th hold, retiring Ryan McCarthy on a grounder to short to strand the tying run at second.
Tyler Thornton struck out the side in the eighth, increasing his strikeout total to 25 in 12.0 innings with York, and Cam Robinson earned his second save since returning to the Revs, striking out two in the ninth.
Notes: Mikolajchak has allowed two runs or fewer in nine of his 12 starts. Shreve has stranded 15 of 20 inherited runners. Thornton has struck out the side four times in 12 appearances. Nick Dunn singled in the third for his 160th hit of the season, second most in the league behind teammate Brian Rey’s 170 and one shy of cracking the Revs’ single-season top five. York improves to 32-26 on the road including a 19-7 mark since July 9. The win is Rick Forney’s 299th as Revs manager (299-198).
Roster Moves: York made two trades on Monday with teams from the Frontier League for players to be named later, acquiring infielder Jarrod Watkins from Lake Erie and lefty reliever Justin Lovell from Windy City. Watkins batted .263 with eight homers and 50 RBI this season; he has spent seven years in the Frontier League and has two seasons in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization reaching Double-A Amarillo. Lovell went 5-6 with nine saves and a 3.30 ERA in 45 games as a rookie this season out of Palm Beach Atlantic (FL) University.
Next: York righty Rhett Kouba (9-5, 5.15) faces Crabs right hander Anthony Borrero (2-2, 8.13) on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, the York Revolution app, and Dugout TV beginning at 6:15 p.m.
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