(September 22, 2019 – York, Pa.): Telvin Nash capped a 100-RBI season with his 41st home run of the year, a walk-off two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning as the York Revolution erased separate deficits of six runs and four runs in a dramatic 13-12 victory over the Lancaster Barnstormers in front of 3,707 fans at PeoplesBank Park on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale. The Revs finish the campaign at 75-65 including a 41-29 mark in the second half. York has a travel day on Monday and will open the 2019 postseason on Tuesday night at Sugar Land.
Lancaster’s offense got rolling early against York right-hander Jake Welch as K.C. Hobson lined an RBI double to right to give the Barnstormers an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Welch was dominant in the top of the second, striking out the side in a scoreless inning.
The offense responded with a pair of long balls off of Jared Lakind in the bottom of the frame. Melky Mesa and Carlos Franco smashed back-to-back solo home runs to left to give York the 2-1 lead after two innings of play.
After a scoreless third, the Barnstormers took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning courtesy of a Greg Golson two-run home run to left.
The Lancaster offense stayed persistent as they put up four more runs in the top of the fifth on a pair of RBI singles from Josh Bell and Golson, and a two-run double from Anderson De La Rosa driving the score to 7-2.
Each team added a run in the sixth. Caleb Gindl hit an RBI double to center as Lancaster’s lead peaked at 8-2, and James Skelton responded with an RBI single to right for the Revs, beginning the first of the sizeable comebacks and making the score 8-3 after six.
After Cesar Cabral worked a perfect seventh inning, the Revs offense exploded in their half of the frame. Manny Marrero led off the inning with a single to left. Lancaster reliever Cody Eppley battled back to get the next two men out, but Franco singled to right to keep the inning alive. Ryan Dent reached on an infield single to load the bases. Henry Castillo pushed two runs across on an RBI double down the right field line, cutting the deficit to 8-5. Zach Sullivan kept the fireworks going, blasting a game-tying three-run home run over the Arch Nemesis in left, knotting the score at 8-8.
Lancaster answered the five-run seventh with a four-run eighth to take a 12-8 lead, thanks to a two-run double to deep center from Josh Bell with additional runs scoring on an error and a wild pitch.
The Revs chipped away at the deficit, getting a pair of runs back on a two-run home run to left-center from Dent, cutting the margin to 12-10 after eight innings.
With the 12-10 lead, Lancaster called upon Gindl to pitch the ninth, looking for his first professional save. Skelton and Justin Trapp both slapped one-out singles to set the table for the Revs to complete the comeback. Marrero grounded a potential double play ball to third, but an errant throw from second allowed Marrero to reach first and Skelton to score, bringing York within 12-11. Nash then stepped to the plate and smashed a walk-off home run to deep right-center field, giving him 100 RBI on the season and his team a 2-1 series win to close the regular season.
Recap by Brett Pietrzak
Notes: York’s 75 wins are the fourth-most in a season in team history and most since 2016. The 41 second-half victories are the Revs’ most in a half since the 2014 first half, and most in a second half since 2012. Mesa’s home run was his 20th of the season, giving him back-to-back 20-homer seasons with the Revs; he joins Chris Nowak as the only two players in franchise history with multiple 20-homer seasons, and ranks tied for 8th all-time with 40 homers in his Revs career (Salvador Paniagua). Dent’s 10th home run of the season gives the Revs a new team record seven players in double figure home run totals. York also boasted a team record three players with 20-plus home runs (Nash, Isaias Tejeda, Mesa). The Revs finish the season with a league-high and club record 167 home runs, 22 more than the next closest team (High Point), and the league’s highest total since 2010. The Revs also finish with a league-leading .293 team batting average and 762 runs scored, the league’s highest totals since 2012 and 2011, respectively. The win is the Revs’ fourth walk-off victory of the season and first walk-off home run since June 29, 2018 (Michael Burgess vs. Somerset). It is Nash’s third regular season walk-off hit with the Revs and second home run (third walk-off home run of his Revs career including postseason). It is York’s 13th last at-bat victory with seven of those having come since August 25. It is York’s fourth victory of the season when trailing after eight innings as all four have also come since August 25. The Revs will enter the 2020 regular season approaching several major milestones, as Sunday’s win marked the 897th victory in Revs history, 496th at PeoplesBank Park, and 494th under manager Mark Mason. York went a league-best 62-35 from June 10-on. Jameson McGrane (4-2) earned the win with a scoreless top of the ninth, submitting his 51st scoreless outing out of a league-high 59 appearances. Nash’s 41 home runs are tied for second-most in a season in league history (Brian Becker, Nashua, 2005); only Ozzie Canseco’s 48 for the 2000 Newark Bears rank higher. Nash is the third in Revs history to reach 100 RBI, joining Jason Aspito (105 in 2008) and Chris Nowak (107 in 2012); he is the league’s first to 100 RBI since Nowak in 2012. Nash also finished with triple digits in runs, leading the league with 107, the second-highest total in a season in club history, and in walks, adding three more to his league-record total on Sunday (105). Nash also set league single-season records for extra-base hits (77) and total bases (303). The Revs will face the Sugar Land Skeeters in Game 1 of the Freedom Division Series on Tuesday at 7:35 p.m. ET at Constellation Field. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK on YouTube beginning at 7:15 p.m. ET with Darrell Henry on the call.
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