(July 18, 2024 – York, Pa.): The York Revolution and High Point Rockers played a marathon afternoon of baseball on Camp Day at WellSpan Park, with York taking game one in extras, 2-1 on a walk off infield single from Colton Welker in the bottom of the 11th for the Revs’ seventh consecutive win. Game two was a different story, as York could not rebound from High Point’s big first inning and fell short of the sweep in a 7-3 decision.
Game one was a resumption of Wednesday night’s affair which was suspended while scoreless in the bottom of the third inning. Ethan Lindow had pitched three scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts.
Nate Espelin picked up the resumption on the mound for High Point and quickly ended the bottom of the third by getting Matt McDermott to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.
High Point put two runners on with two outs in the top of the fourth inning against Aaron Fletcher but the lefty got a flyout to end the frame.
Rudy Martin Jr broke the scoreless tie with a solo home run to right field to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning.
Fletcher went 1-2-3 in the fifth inning and Espelin worked around a one-out double for a scoreless inning of his own.
Ben Aklinski led off the top of the sixth inning with a walk, stole second base, and moved up to third on an infield single by Connor Owings. High Point evened the score at 1-1 when Aklinski scored on a groundout by Quincy Latimore.
Latimore’s groundout kicked off a stretch of eight consecutive retired by Fletcher before Owings snapped it with an eighth inning double.
Meanwhile in the bottom of the seventh, York got the first two runners on with singles from Donovan Casey and David Washington, and following a double steal, Michael Berglund walked to load the bases against reliever Kyle Halbohn, but the righty got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.
In the top of the ninth, Fletcher surrendered two consecutive two-out walks before getting DJ Burt to fly out to left field to finish off his outing. Fletcher completed his day with six innings of one-run ball on just three hits (all by Owings), completing the longest relief outing by a Revs pitcher in team history.
Rockers reliever Will Carter tossed perfect innings in the eighth and ninth with three strikeouts against his former team to send the game to extras.
Aaron Holiday loaded the bases in the top of the tenth with a pair of walks but struck out the side to strand all three runners in his ninth consecutive scoreless outing to begin his Revs career.
York came up empty in their half of the tenth despite a two-out intentional walk to pinch hitter Jacob Rhinesmith that put two runners aboard.
Matt Turner (4-1) retired the side in order in the top half of the 11th, setting the Revs up with another opportunity to win it with just one run.
Zombie runner Matt McDermott moved up to third on a Martin Jr groundout to start the bottom of the 11th, setting up Welker who drove him in with the winning run on a soft roller toward first base. With McDermott breaking on contact, Evan Edwards could not make the play as York won the game on their fourth walk off of the season, this time a 2-1 victory in 11 innings.
High Point came out swinging in the first inning of game two against spot starter Will Stewart who was one strike away from getting through the inning scoreless. Owings roped a two-out RBI double to right center and Latimore followed with a two-run blast to right center field to make it 3-0. That started a string of eight consecutive two-out baserunners with seven runs scoring in the inning. Brian Parreira, Clayton Mehlbauer and Martin Figueroa all had run scoring hits which contributed to what tied the second biggest inning allowed by the Revs this season. Alex Valverde relieved Stewart and got Aklinski to fly out to finally end the inning.
Martin Jr roped a one-out double down the right field line in the bottom of the first inning. Martin Jr kept running as York thought he had an inside the park home run but it was ultimately ruled a ground-rule double. Martin Jr moved to third on a groundout and scampered home on a wild pitch. Rhinesmith drew a two-out walk and scored from first on a Zander Wiel double down the left field line as York trailed after an inning, 7-2.
Valverde worked a scoreless second before giving way to Tom Sutera who was marvelous, firing five no-hit innings while facing the minimum, allowing his only runner to reach on a hit by pitch in the fourth.
York’s offense could not get much of anything against Rockers starter Jonah Scolaro who faced just one over the minimum from the second through the fifth innings.
McDermott started the sixth with a walk and moved to third on a Martin Jr single before scoring on an RBI groundout by Welker, but that was all York could manage in the inning. Scolaro picked off Martin Jr at second base for the lefty’s second pick off at second on the day and got Rhinesmith to ground to short to end the inning.
Scolaro (4-1) capped off his first career complete game effort with a 1-2-3 seventh, denying York’s attempt at a series sweep.
The Revolution will welcome the Lexington Legends for the first and only time over the weekend with Jon Olsen getting the ball in Friday’s series opener at 6:30 p.m. The night features the Health Fair presented by Highmark, a Game-Worn Hawaiian Shirt Jersey Auction presented by PSECU to benefit Children’s Miracle Network, Cooling Towel Giveaway to the first 1,000 fans, and it’s Softball Night with a Post-Game Movie. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
Notes: The opener was York’s second suspended game victory of the season (May 9-May 17 at Lancaster). The Revs improve to 5-1 in extra innings. The seven-game winning streak came one shy of tying their longest streak of the year. York is the league’s second team to 50 victories (50-24). The Revs are 25-13 at home and 25-11 on the road. York finishes the season series 4-2 against High Point. Welker now has a 13-game hitting streak and has 40 RBI in his last 27 games. Casey now holds a league-best 31-game on-base streak and a 13-game hitting streak. The Revs stole two bases in the opener giving them 208 steals as a team, moving up to eighth-most in a season in league history.
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