No Question Marks about Honey Hunters offense: Gastonia routs Frederick 10-4 on Opening Night

Game Story written by Noah Epstein, Broadcaster

The Gastonia Honey Hunters are coming off a remarkable 88-win season, which led the Atlantic League, in the club’s second year. They led the league in several hitting and pitching categories, dominating throughout 2022.

And they picked up right where they left off on Friday night, thanks to the help of returners from last year’s squad, both at the plate and on the mound.

Starting pitcher Marcus Walden, as well as hitters Cole Freeman, Jack Reinheimer and Zach Jarrett, led Gastonia to a 10-4 victory over Frederick on Opening Night.

Walden, who started nine games for Gastonia last year, was phenomenal on Friday. He went six innings pitched, allowing two runs and not walking a batter.

The 34-year-old righty didn’t get to Gaston County until the week of his start, as he was at his home in Fresno, California. Although he wasn’t with the team, Walden made sure he did everything he could to prepare for Friday.

“I have my own baseball facility at home,” Walden said. “I faced a lot of junior college guys back home [at] Fresno City College. I had five-ups last time I threw. I tried to get up to about 100 pitches before I got out here.”

Walden may want to go back home and stick to his preparation routine, as it worked wonders in the opener of the 2023 season. He had excellent command all game, especially when using his sinker and slider. His sinker stayed low in the strike zone, and it was the final pitch used for three out of Walden’s six strikeouts. He got two batters to strikeout on the slider, and got other batters to chase the pitch when it was out of the strike zone all night.

Walden stressed how important command and control have been for him, helping him get through six dominant innings without issuing a walk.

“That’s part of the game that I tried to get better at this offseason,” Walden said. “That was our whole game plan, me and (catcher) Scott (Manea) – just attacking hitters and going after it.”

While Walden was dealing on the bump, his offense was helping him out in a big way. The party at the dish got started before he even recorded his first strikeout.

Cole Freeman led off the bottom of the first with a single. Then Zach Jarrett gave Honey Hunters fans a familiar sight by hitting a 413-foot home run to dead center field. Jarrett, who hit 21 homers last year, put Gastonia up 2-0 early.

Freeman went deep himself in the third inning, his second of what ended up being a three-hit evening for Gastonia’s second baseman.

Three batters in the top four in Gastonia’s order produced an immense amount:

Cole Freeman: 3-5, HR, two runs scored

Jack Reinheimer: 3-5, two runs scored

Zach Jarrett: 1-2, HR, three walks, two runs scored

“We take pride in that,” Freeman said. “It’s kind of one of those things, if we can get rolling early and spark the team.”

Freeman batted .324 with the Hunters in 19 games played, and he’s made adjustments over the offseason to try to become even more dangerous offensively.

“[I’m] trying to get on my back hip a little more, trying to generate a little bit more power,” Freeman said. “Just trying to stay through the ball a little more, stay on my legs.”

The Honey Hunters blew the game open in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on three hits. The big hit – a no-doubt two-run moonshot deep to right field off the bat of lefty Steven Moya.

Moya is new to the Honey Hunters, just like J.C. Escarra who recorded three RBI and reached base three times on Friday.

Scott Manea reached base in all four of his plate appearances – going 1-1 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Returner Tim Naughton and new Honey Hunter Bryan Blanton each pitched clean innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively.

The Honey Hunters won the game 10-4 against the Frederick Question Marks.

“Question Marks” is the team name that Frederick, the lone new team to the Atlantic League in 2023, will stick with until an official team name is announced on June 23.

Gastonia will face off against Frederick in the second game of the series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Returner Alex Sanabia is likely to be on the mound for the Honey Hunters.

Moya’s oppo strength leads Hunters to opening series W

Game Story by Noah Epstein

In the bottom of the seventh inning in Gastonia’s second game of the season, left-handed batter Steven Moya demolished a ball over the left-center field wall.

This might have seemed like déjà vu for Honey Hunters fans, who already saw Moya hit a two-run blast to the right of the yellow fence in the fourth inning.

The two-run opposite field dinger in the seventh was hit 108.3 miles per hour off the bat, the exact same exit velocity as the first homer Moya hit.

Both balls traveled over 400 feet.

But the second bomb, Moya’s third in the first two games of the season, was the eventual game winner on Saturday night, as the Honey Hunters defeated Frederick 8-6 to win their opening series.

In addition to the two homers and four RBIs, Moya walked in each of his other two plate appearances – reaching base safely every time he came up to bat in Game 2 of the three-game set.

Gastonia manager Mauro “Goose” Gozzo said that Moya is “on fire,” as the former Detroit Tiger already has three two-run homers before the conclusion of the first series of the year.

Gozzo was impressed by Moya’s approach at the dish in the weeks leading up to opening weekend.

“[Moya was] so balanced when he was swinging during spring training,” Gozzo said. “You could just see that he has a balance there, it’s just gonna be a timing thing. But he’s not afraid to go the other way… and he’s got plenty of juice to do that.”

A couple other hitters who followed up their great performances from Friday’s affair with another productive evening were Zach Jarrett and J.C. Escarra. The former 2021 Norfolk Tides (Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate) teammates went back-to-back in the first inning to give Gastonia an early 3-0 lead.

Jarrett’s was a two-run shot, as he once again gave the Honey Hunters a 2-0 lead in the first just like on Friday. He also singled and walked on Saturday night, and even picked up his first stolen base of the season.

Escarra followed up going 2-4 in Game 1 with a 423-foot moonshot to straight away right field after Jarrett put Gastonia on the board. Although Escarra went 1-5 in the game, he looked great at the plate all night. He hit two deep fly outs to the wall in right field and center field, as well as two sharp lineouts to left and center. He had nothing to show for it on the box score after the homer, but Escarra took great swings and drove the ball a long way in all five at-bats.

Right-handed returning starter Alex Sanabia got the ball on Saturday against Frederick, and his outing was really defined by the long ball as well. Just like Gastonia’s four and five hitters in the order, Craig Dedelow and Kole Cottom went back-to-back in the third against Sanabia. Those dingers accounted for three of the four earned runs Sanabia allowed in three innings of work.

Between Sanabia allowing four earned in three innings, reliever Tyler Thomas giving up four hits in two innings and closer Jaime Schultz walking two batters despite getting the save, it was clear that the Question Marks were battling more against Gastonia’s pitching in Game 2 than they were in Game 1.

Gozzo linked the pitchers struggling a bit to the limited amount of competition they had heading into the season.

“I think these guys are still catching their stride,” Gozzo said. “It’s not them at 100% yet… as far as in tune and ready to go. One outing in spring training and lives doesn’t cut it… You gotta understand that competition is different than working out in a bullpen or throwing lives against your own team. Competition is something you can’t really replace.”

One reliever who had a great outing for the Honey Hunters was southpaw Gunnar Kines. The returner, who got the win in Game 3 of the Atlantic League South Divison Championship Series last year, pitched three scoreless innings as the first man out of the bullpen.

Kines had great command with his fastball and changeup, not walking a batter in his three innings – the fourth, fifth and sixth. His game plan was to work on his command, and he executed the plan to perfection.

“It was mostly just trying to get the fastball across early, and then work off of the changeup as well to be able to go up in the zone,” Kines said. “I didn’t throw any off-speed pitches today just because I was trying to make sure my fastball location was there.”

Kines is planning to become one of Gastonia’s starters in “a few weeks,” and Gozzo said he should be in the rotation by late May or early June. The reason for this is because Kines threw 99 innings last season between Gastonia and the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League. He also threw 56.2 innings for the Perth Heat of the Australian Baseball League.

“We’re kind of being cautious with him,” Gozzo said. “He’s a left-handed pitcher that’s gonna constantly throw strikes… He’ll pile up strikeouts, he’ll change speeds off of his changeup, he’ll change speeds off of his fastball.”

Kines threw over 40 pitches on Saturday night. He said once he throws over 70 pitches in an outing, he should be ready to make a start for the Honey Hunters.

Kines and the offense, which got 10 hits, led the team to its 8-6 victory over Frederick.

Gastonia improved to 2-0 on the season, while Frederick fell to 0-2.

Returner Zack Godley likely gets the ball for the Honey Hunters in the last game of the series, looking to help them sweep the Question Marks. First pitch is Sunday at 3:35 p.m.

How Sweep It Is: Gastonia handles Frederick for third day in a row, winning 7-4

Game Story by Noah Epstein

Zack Godley’s dominant start paired with Steven Sensley, Steven Moya and Jack Reinheimer’s solo home runs helped the Gastonia Honey Hunters finish off an opening series sweep of the Frederick Question Marks, winning 7-4 on Sunday afternoon.

Godley, who started 11 games for Gastonia last year, got the nod in the third game of the 2023 season.

And he pitched wonderfully.

Godley went five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven batters. All seven punchouts were swung at, and five of the seven were knuckle curves thrown by the former Arizona Diamondback.

This outing was much different than Godley’s performance in the home exhibition game against the High Point Rockers last weekend. The right hander came on in relief and gave up seven runs on seven hits. Although he struck out six batters, the outing was a rough one to say the least.

However, Gastonia manager Mauro “Goose” Gozzo wasn’t worried in the slightest after Godley’s exhibition outing.

“We’ve seen enough sample size of Godley last year… know what [he’s] capable of doing,” Gozzo said. “Spring training, having been a pitcher myself… you do work on things, you do work on certain zones that you’re having a hard time getting. You work on certain pitches in certain counts that you normally wouldn’t do in a game. So I take that [outing] with a grain of salt.”

Gozzo also said that Godley’s “intensity level” was higher on Sunday than it was on the day of the game against High Point.

As the exhibition game was just played to get ready for the season, it makes sense that Godley’s competitiveness and intensity was brought to a new level as soon as the season got underway.

Frederick starting pitcher (and pitching coach) Elih Villanueva and Godley were in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through three innings until Jack Reinheimer led off the fourth inning.

The Honey Hunters shortstop hit a solo homer to left center field to break the scoreless tie, and Curtis Terry added an RBI single later in the inning to give Gastonia a 2-0 lead.

That lead held up until the sixth inning, when Godley was taken out of the game for reliever Zach Mort.

Mort gave up a two-run 418-foot dinger to Craig Dedelow out of the three hole to tie the game at 2 in the top of the inning.

Gastonia then broke that tie in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of red-hot J.C. Escarra.

Escarra, who got the start in right field the first two games despite never playing outfielfd in his pro career, was behind the plate on Sunday afternoon, which is the position he’s most used to.

Well whether he’s in right field, left field (which he played on Saturday for a few innings), or catching, Escarra has been absolutely raking.

Escarra, who turned 28 years old on Monday, went 3-4 with a couple RBIs in Game 3 of the series.

Both the RBIs – singles off the wall. That’s right.

The first RBI single was inches away of a home run off the left center field wall.

The next run-scoring knock was off the right field wall.

Both balls were hit so hard that Escarra had to stay put at first.

So let’s recap Escarra’s start to his Honey Hunters career:

Friday: 2-4, 3 RBIs, BB, run

Saturday: 1-5, HR, three balls hit over 98 MPH off the bat (two over 104 MPH)

Sunday: 3-4, 2 RBIs

Escarra’s second RBI single followed solo homers by Steven Moya and Steven Sensley in the seventh.

Moya’s was his fourth of the year through three games, an incredibly impressive feat. And he hit it 426 feet to dead center field.

As for Sensley, he came into the afternoon hitless in the first couple games of the season. He solved that by going 3-4 with a home run he pulled to right field.

Sensley has been working on some adjustments, and they certainly worked on Sunday.

“I quieted my swing down,” Sensley said. “I felt myself lunging at the ball… in baseball less is more, so I applied it to my ABs. I stopped trying to press and do too much, and then just let the game come to me.”

The game came to him, just like the ball he hit came to a lucky fan sitting in the right field seats.

The Honey Hunters scored four in that bottom of the seventh inning, taking a 7-2 lead.

They held onto the lead, winning 7-4 and sweeping Frederick in the three-game set to start the season 3-0.

Another team that has started the year 3-0 is the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, which is where Gastonia will travel to for its next series.

Gozzo stressed how important it is to prepare to face any new players for Southern Maryland, especially when it comes to their pitchers.

“What do their new guys do? Why are they there? What is it that they hurt us with? Gozzo said. “But with Southern Maryland, it’s about their pitching. In the last couple years, they’ve had really, really good pitching. They shorten games with their awesome bullpen, so I’m kind of anxious to see how we handle their bullpen and their starting rotation with kind of a new re-built bullpen.”

The two 3-0 teams will battle it out Tuesday through Thursday, and Gozzo claimed there’s more on the line than just wins and losses.

“It’s early in the year, but still it’ll have some bragging rights to it,” Gozzo said before laughing.

First pitch between the Honey Hunters and Blue Crabs is on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.

Manea shines as Honey Hunters beat Blue Crabs; become only unbeaten team in ALPB

Game Story by Noah Epstein

Scott Manea’s 4-5 performance on Tuesday evening helped Gastonia stay unbeaten against the previously undefeated Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, as the Honey Hunters won 8-6.

Both teams were 3-0 heading into the series, each alone at the top of their respective divisions.

While thinking of Gastonia’s lineup that has 10 home runs already to its name, you may think of the explosive top of the order. But on Tuesday, just like the entire series against Frederick, the Honey Hunters showed that they’re dangerous one through nine.

In the first game of the Hunters-Crabs series, however, this was specifically showcased by catcher Scott Manea, who came into Tuesday night hitting 3-5 after two games.

Manea capped off a five-run top of the third inning for Gastonia with a two-run single, scoring Zach Jarrett and J.C. Escarra. The ball was hit so hard to left field that it gave left fielder Jose Rosario trouble fielding it, which allowed Manea to advance to second.

The Manea two-RBI single followed a game-tying rocket of a two-run double to right-center field off the bat of Carlos Franco. After the inning was over, Gastonia went from being down 2-0 to up 5-2.

But Manea wasn’t finished with Southern Maryland pitching.

In his next at-bat, facing lefty Willie Rios – one of six pitchers the Blue Crabs used – Manea hit a ball 420 feet to dead center field. This two-run homer gave the Hunters a 7-2 lead in the fifth inning.

An RBI infield single by Zach Jarrett in the next inning seemed to make it an extremely safe lead at 8-2. But the 3-0 Honey Hunters showed a bit of vulnerability in the bottom of the sixth when righty Sal Romano came out for his second inning of work.

Romano had a dominant 1-2-3 fifth inning after coming in to relieve starter Ian McKinney. He then gave up four runs on four hits and got taken out of the game for lefty Tyler Thomas.

Thomas got the job done in the inning and ended up with the win, striking out four batters in 1.2 innings pitched.

The 8-6 Gastonia lead held throughout the rest of the game, with Southern Maryland’s biggest chance coming in the bottom of the seventh – Thomas’s second inning pitched.

The southpaw loaded the bases, allowing a single and two walks. There was only one out.

He got Michael Baca swinging with a sinker.

He got leadoff hitter Jack Sundberg looking at a sinker.

And just like that, Thomas worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam.

Jaime Schultz came on in the ninth for his second save of the season.

After striking out Jose Rosario looking, Schultz gave up what appeared to be a triple to Ryan Haug. But after the dugout and the Gastonia players on the field motioned to check with Curtis Terry at first base, they appealed and it actually worked.

The umpires said that Haug never touched first base while rounding the bag, so he was called out, which wiped out a one-out triple. Instead of an important run 90 feet away, there were two outs and nobody on for pinch-hitter Ian Yetsko. Schultz got Yetsko to ground out to Jack Reinheimer at short to end the ballgame.

The Honey Hunters are now 4-0 to start the season, and they start with the “bragging rights” that manager Goose Gozzo joked about before the series.

Gastonia is now the only undefeated team in the Atlantic League, as it beat Southern Maryland, and previously 1-0 Charleston lost to High Point on Tuesday night.

Game 2 between the Honey Hunters and Blue Crabs is Wednesday night in Waldorf, Maryland at 6:35 p.m.

Honey Hunters Hitting Extravaganza: Gastonia records 17 hits, improves to 5-0

Game Story by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters have had a dominant offensive start to the season. They recorded at least 10 hits through their first four games, and have been scary from the leadoff hitter to No. 9 in the order.

And that trend continued on Wednesday night, as the Hunters lit up Southern Maryland pitching for 11 runs on 17 hits, winning 11-6 to improve to 5-0 on the season.

Eight out of the nine Gastonia batters had extremely impressive performances at the dish. Let’s go through the batting order, shall we.

Start Things Off: Jack Reinheimer (SS)

With Cole Freeman getting the night off, Reinheimer led things off. He went 2-3 with THREE WALKS and two runs scored.

Reinheimer had been showing patience at the plate, with two walks through four games to show for it. But he displayed all-time plate discipline on Wednesday, walking twice against Blue Crabs starter Jared Burch, in the second and fourth, and also against reliever Jacob Gilliland to start off the sixth.

His free bag in the sixth started a three-run inning, as he stole second (his third stolen base of the season) and then scored on an RBI single by Carlos Franco.

The walk back in the top of the fourth was crucial, as it loaded the bases for…

Up to No. 2: Scott Manea (C)

Scott Manea, who drove in Curtis Terry and Steven Sensley to give Gastonia a 3-1 lead.

Manea had been red-hot coming into the game, going 7-10 through three games played for the backstop. Previously batting eight, Manea was moved up to the two-hole in the order.

After striking out with the bases loaded in the second inning, Manea was successful when given the opportunity a couple innings later. He lined a clean line drive into center field to break the 1-1 tie.

Three Hits in Three-Hole: Carlos Franco (3B)

It’s only Game 5 of the season, and Carlos Franco has already had his breakout game as a Honey Hunter.

The lefty hitting third baseman went 3-6 with a solo homer in the first, the first run scored for either team in the game, as well as a pair of run-scoring singles.

The home run was Franco’s first of 2023.

This three-hit, three-RBI night for Franco is exactly what Gastonia expected when acquiring him in the offseason. Franco hit 30 homers with 95 RBI, slugging .618, last year for the York Revolution. He’s off to a stellar start, and Wednesday night was his best game of the early season.

Clean Things Up: Zach Jarrett (CF)

A home run.

That’s all Zach Jarrett needed to hit for the cycle.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to hit one out.

I guess he’ll have to settle for his 4-6 night with a couple singles, a double and a triple to his name.

Oh, and a leaping grab in left-center field to rob Jose Rosario of extra bases, as Jarrett collided into the wall in the process. He was on the ground for quite a bit after the sensational catch.

If you’re wondering if he was ok, Jarrett’s triple came in the next half inning, and he made it to third standing up. So I’d say he’s just fine.

Fab Five: J.C. Escarra (RF)

Most of Escarra’s outs have been hardly hit so far this season, and that held up in the second game of this three-game set against Southern Maryland.

In his first at-bat, Escarra flew out to the deepest part of left field. Rosario went all the way back to the wall to make the catch.

After a sharp lineout to right field, Escarra singled in his next two at-bats, one of which was off the right-field wall. That made it the third single Escarra’s hit off the outfield wall in five games. He hits the ball so hard, it prevents him from getting to second.

After Escarra’s first hit, in the fifth inning, he handed the baton to…

Sturdiness out of the Sixth Spot: Curtis Terry (DH)

Curtis Terry, who drove in Jarrett with his second double in as many at-bats.

Terry, who had a bases-loaded walk in his next plate appearance, finished the night going 2-3 with a couple walks and runs produced.

Both his doubles were rocket line drives, and the walks he worked were hard-battled disciplined plate appearances.

Terry had easily his best game as a Gastonia Honey Hunter, and he fits perfectly in this lineup, meshing well and having a great 1-2 punch with…

Lucky No. 7: Steven Moya (1B)

Steven Moya, another former MLB player on this Honey Hunters team.

Moya had two hits and two RBIs on Wednesday.

His run-scoring single in the fifth scored Escarra, giving Gastonia a 5-1 lead. He also had an RBI groundout in the sixth, which scored Jarrett and gave the Hunters a seven-run cushion.

Keeping Things Going: Steven Sensley (LF)

Sensley had been working on adjustments, saying he was “lunging” at the ball and trying to do too much. He said less is more, so he was going to try doing less.

Well he certainly tried doing less against the Blue Crabs, as he reached base four times.

He walked his first two trips to the plate, working the count full both times against Burch and earning a free pass to first.

He then hit a solo dinger in the seventh, his second homer of the year, which gave the Honey Hunters a 9-1 advantage.

Sensley singled and came around to score one of two runs Gastonia pushed across in the ninth, giving the team runs 10 and 11.

17 Again: Everybody

The Honey Hunters won their fifth game of the year, as they remain the only undefeated team in the Atlantic League.

Their hit totals through each game look like this:

Game 1: 13

Game 2: 10

Game 3: 10

Game 4: 12

Game 5: 17!!!!

After Game 1, hitting coach Chuck Stewart said that 10 runs and 10 hits was the plan for every game.

Apparently he wasn’t kidding.

Game 3 between Gastonia and Southern Maryland starts at 11:05 a.m. on Thursday.

Gastonia fails to sweep Southern Maryland, loses first game of 2023

Game Story by Noah Epstein

The Honey Hunters failed to record at least 10 hits for the first time this season, losing for the first time in 2023 on Thursday afternoon.

Gastonia totaled five hits as it lost the last game of the three-game set against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 4-2.

Marcus Walden was on the bump for Gastonia for the second time this year, and he was greeted rudely by the top of the Blue Crabs order in the first inning.

Jack Sundberg led off with a double and Braxton Lee drove Sundberg in with an RBI two-bagger.

That was the lone run scored in the opening frame. And Southern Maryland continued the scoring against Walden in the third.

After Michael Willansky was hit by the pitch and Lee singled, David Harris hit a sacrifice fly to right field and then Alex Crosby hit an RBI double – the second RBI double hit off Walden in three innings.

Walden ended up giving the Honey Hunters another couple innings, so he ended up going five innings, giving up five hits and three runs.

Walden also struck out eight batters, walking just one – K.C. Hobson in the third – which is his only walk issued so far this season.

Gastonia’s bullpen did the job of keeping the team in the game – Sal Romano and Bryan Blanton had clean innings while Tim Naughton gave up an unearned run in the eighth.

As for the offense for Gastonia, there was quite little. An offense that has looked unstoppable through five games was shut down by Blue Crabs starter Mitch Lambson.

The Southern Maryland southpaw went seven innings, allowing two runs – an RBI groundout by Scott Manea in the fifth and a run-scoring single by Luis Curbelo in his last inning of work.

Lambson didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.

He left it up to the bullpen, who continued mowing down the Gastonia bats.

Isaac Mattson and Andre Scrubb both pitched clean frames in the eighth and ninth, allowing just one baserunner combined – Manea, who worked a one-out walk in the top of the eighth and represented the tying run at the time.

Carlos Franco then grounded into an inning-ending double play.

A positive takeaway for the Honey Hunters, other than this only being their first loss of the season, is that Lamar Briggs was productive at the plate in his first start.

Briggs, who made the team through tryouts in the offseason, has primarily been used as Gastonia’s designated pinch runner. But on Thursday, he started in right field.

The Charlotte native was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance, and singled in the sixth. After singling, he stole second and scored on a ground ball hit to third by Manea.

The Honey Hunters fall to 5-1, and are now tied with High Point and Lexington at the top of the South Division.

Gastonia will now travel up north to Long Island where the Honey Hunters and Ducks will face off for a three-game weekend series. The first game is on Friday at 6:35 p.m

Long Ball on Long Island: Honey Hunters hit 2 homers in last 2 innings, comeback to beat Ducks

Game Story by Noah Epstein

Gastonia was lifeless offensively.

The team had just two hits through six innings, and Long Island Ducks starter Stephen Woods Jr had retired 11 batters in a row.

Woods was mowing down Gastonia batters, making it look totally effortless.

But the Honey Hunters battled back thanks to homers by Scott Manea and Curtis Terry, scoring three runs in the final three innings to beat the Ducks 3-2.

Alex Sanabia, coming off a start against Frederick in which he allowed four earned runs in three innings, didn’t get off to the best start on Friday night.

Sanabia gave up a leadoff double to Boog Powell, who scored on an RBI double off the bat of Sam Travis. Lew Ford then knocked Travis in with a single.

It was 2-0 Ducks in the first.

While the Gastonia offense was silent, the pitching was tremendous.

Sanabia went on to pitch five more innings, all of which were scoreless. He gave up seven hits, three of which were part of that two-run first inning, struck out six batters and didn’t issue a walk.

It’s safe to say he bounced back from his last outing in a big way, but he didn’t have any offense supporting him.

That is, until the seventh inning.

As Woods was going for his 12th straight batter retired, and his 12th straight scoreless inning to start 2023, Jack Reinheimer hit a routine fly ball to left.

Mike Wilson, the Ducks left fielder, put his hands up as the ball was falling down, signaling that he had no idea where the ball was. The ball fell right to the left of him, allowing the extremely speedy Reinheimer to make it to third base standing up.

Reinheimer then scored on an RBI groundout by Carlos Franco, cutting the deficit in half.

Lefty reliever Tyler Thomas came in after the seventh inning stretch, and he continued his great start to the season. He pitched both the seventh and the eighth, recording two strikeouts in each inning and not allowing a run.

Thomas now has 10 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched, and still hasn’t given up an earned run.

A Ducks pitcher who hadn’t given up an earned run this season was Jose Jose, who came in for the eighth inning with his team leading 2-1, not allowing a run in his first four appearances.

The first batter he faced was Scott Manea.

And that’s when Jose gave up his first run of the year.

Manea drilled a sinker over the left-center field wall for his second home run of the year to tie the game at 2.

Curtis Terry then followed suit in the ninth, hitting a game-winning homer off reliever Kevin Quackenbush to give the Honey Hunters their first lead of the game.

Jaime Schultz, who came into the night with two saves in as many opportunities, picked up save No. 3 by retiring the side 1-2-3.

The last out was made by Wilson, striking out for a fourth time in four at-bats.

Gastonia improved to 6-1 with its first comeback victory of the campaign.

Game 2 between the Honey Hunters and Ducks is Saturday at 6:35 in Central Islip, New York.

Honey Hunters muster just 3 hits as they lose 3-1 to Ducks

Game Story by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia offense looked electric throughout the team’s first five games, totalling at least 10 hits in each contest.

But the Honey Hunters have failed to reach that mark in their last three games, their most recent being on Saturday night against the Long Island Ducks.

Gastonia only recorded three hits as it lost for the second time this season, 3-1.

Very similarly to Friday night, when the Honey Hunters had a streak of 11 straight batters retired before their comeback victory, the Gastonia bats were quiet for most of the game.

Cole Freeman walked and Jack Reinheimer singled to start the game off, but then Ducks starter Stephen Tarpley retired the next three batters.

The next hit was off the bat of Curtis Terry in the fourth.

Terry, who hit the game-winning home run the night prior, tied the game at 1 with a no-doubt 465-foot moonshot to left-center field.

It was his second homer in as many nights, as well as his second of the season.

The third and final Honey Hunter hit was by Cole Freeman with the game still tied at 1 in the eighth.

Freeman hit a one-out pop up that second baseman Daniel Murphy wasn’t able to get a hold of while running backwards toward center fielder Boog Powell.

Reinheimer replaced Freeman on first after he beat out what would’ve been a 4-6-3 double play if not for his speed. He then stole second, his fifth stolen base of the season, and advanced to third after Carlos Franco and Zach Jarrett walked to load the bases.

Reliever Al Alburquerque got the same assignment he got on Friday night – come into the game with runners on base and get one batter out.

After walking Jarrett to load them up with two outs, he faced J.C. Escarra.

Escarra worked the count full, and then Alburquerque threw a two-seamer at 85 miles-per-hour over the outside part of the plate that was called strike three by home plate umpire Antonio Pinzon.

Alburquerque got out of the jam.

The Ducks tacked on an insurance run in the ninth and hung on to win 3-1 to even the series at one game a piece.

The star of the night for the Ducks was certainly reliever Joe Kuzia.

He came on in the fifth inning in relief of Tarpley, faced seven batters and struck out six of them – the first six batters he faced.

Those seven batters Kuzia faced were part of 12 straight batters retired by Long Island pitching, the streak starting after Terry’s fourth-inning home run and ending with Freeman’s eighth-inning base hit.

Gastonia might have not had the bats going Saturday night in the loss, but its pitching did the job.

Zack Godley got the ball for the second time in 2023, and he followed up his great first start with another good outing. He went 5.1 innings, giving up two runs and striking out five.

Sal Romano came into the game in a jam, with a couple runners on and one out in the sixth. He struck out Luis Guerrero and got Adeiny Hechavarria to ground out to retire the side.

Romano limited the damage to just one run in the sixth, a Philip Caulfield RBI single off Godley scoring Dustin Woodcock, which was the eventual game-winning run.

Tim Naughton pitched the last couple innings for the Honey Hunters, allowing his first earned run of the season – an RBI bunt single by Boog Powell that he laid down to the right side of the infield with two outs.

Gastonia dropped to 6-2 after the loss, falling to second place in the South Division after High Point improved to 7-1 on Saturday.

The rubber match between the Honey Hunters and Ducks is on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.

Hunters drop series for first time this year, fall 6-4 to Ducks on Sunday

Game Story by Noah Epstein

The top of the order for the Ducks combined for six hits and five runs scored, as the Honey Hunters lost to Long Island 6-4 on Sunday, dropping their first series of 2023.

The Gastonia offense showed up big-time in Game 3 of the series. It totalled 13 hits – the biggest being a Steven Moya three-run home run in the eighth inning.

But the Ducks offense out-performed Gastonia’s, as Moya’s fifth homer of the season cut the Honey Hunters’ deficit to 5-4 in a game Long Island never trailed.

The Ducks got off to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, scoring the three runs off four hits – all singles. Boog Powell, Lew Ford, Daniel Murphy and Adeiny Hechavarria were the recipients of the singles, with Murphy’s being an RBI base hit and Hechavarria’s plating two runs.

The Honey Hunters then responded in the next half inning with a two-out rally. Steven Moya worked a two-out walk, Luis Curbelo singled and then Steven Sensley hit a run-scoring single into right-center field. Cole Freeman then struck out swinging to end the threat.

The score was 3-1 Ducks and it stayed that way until the seventh inning.

Gastonia starter Ian McKinney gave up the three runs in the first, and those were the only runs he allowed through 5.1 innings of work. The southpaw player/coach did a great job giving the Honey Hunters innings after surrendering the big inning early.

McKinney faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth, got Sam Travis to fly out to start the sixth, and then was relieved by Zach Mort.

Mort got the last couple outs in the sixth, but then gave up three straight hits to Powell, Ford and Murphy after the seventh inning stretch.

Murphy’s was his second RBI single of the game, and two runs came across in the inning.

Moya’s towering three-run shot to right field, his third hit of the afternoon and fourth time reaching base safely, made it a 5-4 Ducks lead in the eighth.

The dinger scored J.C. Escarra and Curtis Terry, who both singled to get on.

The next couple batters in the order were Curbelo (looking for his fourth hit of the game), who struck out, and Sensley, who got his second hit of the game.

That left it up to Cole Freeman, representing the go-ahead run, who struck out swinging to end a rally once again.

Ryan Williamson came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth, attempting to keep the game at 5-4 in his Honey Hunters debut.

Hechavarria greeted him to the Atlantic League by hitting a no-doubt homer to left as the first batter the lefty Williamson faced.

That made it a 6-4 Ducks lead heading to the ninth.

Gastonia put two runners on with two outs – Zach Jarrett walked and Escarra singled.

That left it up to Terry, who had been red-hot and clutch in the first two games of the series.

In Game 1, he hit a game-winning home run in the ninth.

In Game 2, he hit a game-tying home run in the fourth.

But in Game 3, he grounded a ball right to Hechavarria at shortstop to end the ballgame.

Gastonia fell to 6-3 on the season, dropping to third place in the South Division.

The Honey Hunters face off in a three-game series against the Frederick Question Marks, who are still looking for their first win in franchise history, starting on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.

Jarrett walks it off for Hunters in 10th, Gastonia wins behind outstanding pitching

Game Story by Noah Epstein

Zach Jarrett got a slider that stayed up in the zone, waited back on it and drove it to deep center field.

Frederick center fielder Scott Kelly ran back to the wall as the CaroMont Health Park crowd of over 1,600 fans held their breath.

Kelly extended his glove as far as he could for the ball, but it was just out of his reach.

The crowd then exploded, as Carlos Franco was able to score from second base, which won the game for the Gastonia Honey Hunters in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Jarrett’s walkoff double gave Gastonia the win against Frederick in the first game of the three-game home series on Tuesday, as the Honey Hunters won 2-1 in 10.

Gastonia’s clean up hitter came up to the plate leading off the bottom of the 10th against a new pitcher, Arnaldo Hernandez.

The walkoff was hit on the first pitch delivered by Hernandez to Jarrett.

“I was just going with the approach of seeing the ball up and making sure it was in the middle of the plate, something I could do damage with,” Jarrett said. “And really focus on putting something in the outfield, trying to move the runner. Not necessarily trying to get the job done, but trying to do my job of moving it onto the next person.”

Well he put something in the outfield and ended up getting the job done in the process.

Franco was the last out in the bottom of the ninth, so he started the inning on second because of the extra-inning second base rule.

As soon as the ball was hit to center, Franco retreated to the bag to tag. Once the ball hit the ground, he made his way home.

“Franco made a great baserunning decision, tagging up on that because he’s gonna be able to go to third no matter what – if he catches it or not,” Jarrett said. “So that was awesome on Franco’s part.”

The tag-up was important for Honey Hunters manager Goose Gozzo. As soon as Jarrett hit the ball, Gozzo was focusing more on Franco than where the ball was going to end up.

“My first thoughts were, “Make sure you tag up and get to third base so we have a couple chances with a man on third to score,’” Gozzo said.

Franco was able to score even with tagging up from second, as the carom off the wall made it take some time before Kelly was able to get the ball in.

There wasn’t even a throw home. And Jarrett started celebrating well before Franco touched home plate.

Gastonia won the game 2-1, a game which had very little offense. The great pitching by both teams caused the minimal offensive production.

Each team only recorded four hits – Gastonia’s first hit coming off the bat of Jarrett in the fifth inning.

Winston Lavendier started on the mound for Frederick, and he was brilliant. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing only one hit – a Jarrett ground-rule double.

“Winston really had his stuff tonight,” Jarrett said. “I think he sort of had us off balance a little bit. We were missing some pitches, but he threw really well. So he was a good match for us and we sort of had to try to figure out how we could get some stuff going… We’re gonna have games like that. Just have faith and keep working and trusting that at some point we’re gonna get it going.”

The Honey Hunters struck as soon as Lavendier was taken out of the game. Reliever Brady Feigl came on for the eighth, and as a result J.C. Escarra and Steven Moya each doubled. Moya’s was an RBI double, scoring Lamar Briggs who pinch ran for Escarra.

That knotted the game at 1-1.

Bryan Sammons got the nod for Gastonia, the No. 5 starter in the Honey Hunters rotation. He also pitched really well Tuesday night, going five innings and allowing one run – an RBI single by Justin Twine in the fifth inning, scoring Kole Cottam.

Gozzo stressed how important it is for Gastonia’s starters to go deep into games. He said that the starters are starting to get to the 70/80 pitch range and five innings of work is a successful outing.

“Sammons was our last one to be able to get to that mark, and he got to that mark today,” Gozzo said. “And he probably could’ve gone another inning… He pitched really well today. I know Lavendier [had] the one-hitter for [seven innings], but Sammons commanded all his pitches and he really did a good job for us to keep us in the game. And that’s what a pitcher has to do when the offense is just not going at the time.”

Gozzo is an enjoyer of pitcher’s duels, and he got a great one on Tuesday evening.

“As a pitcher, I’m gonna tell you all the time – good pitching and good defense is gonna win a lot of times,” Gozzo said. “And there are gonna be games like this… That’s old time baseball. 2-1, 3-1 type games. That’s the baseball that the baseball enthusiasts really wanna see. They want to see a well-pitched game and then something gets manufactured.”

The game was certainly well-pitched by Gastonia, as after Sammons went five innings, Tyler Thomas, Bryan Blanton and Jaime Schultz followed him up with tremendous outings themselves.

Thomas and Blanton each went two innings, allowing one hit and striking out five batters combined.

Schultz came on for the top of the 10th with a runner on second to start the inning.

After walking Cottam, Gavin Johns layed down a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second and third with one out.

Schultz then struck out Twine swinging and Osvaldo Abreu looking to end the threat.

That set up something to be manufactured – Zach Jarrett up with a runner in scoring position.

And he called game.

Gastonia and Frederick play Game 2 of the series on Wednesday at 11:35 a.m.

GAME STORY COMING SOON

GAME STORY COMING SOON

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The High Point Rockers have been more than just dominant to start the 2023 season.

Coming into Friday night’s matchup with the Gastonia Honey Hunters, they led the Atlantic League in team ERA (2.25) and team OPS (.944).

And that success continued while facing Gastonia in Game 1 of the three-game weekend set, as the Honey Hunters failed to string hits together all game and lost 8-5.

High Point came into the game with a record of 11-2, atop the South Division. Gastonia came into the game at 9-3, in second place.

The matchup between the top two teams in the division, the teams that faced off against each other in the South Division Championship Series a year ago, got out of hand in the bottom of the third inning.

Zack Godley started for the Honey Hunters, and was coming off a 1-2-3 inning that he pitched in the second.

He allowed a leadoff walk to D.J. Burt, who reached base safely all four times he came to the plate Friday night. Then after striking out John Daly, Godley allowed five straight hits – three of which combined to plate six runs in the inning.

Beau Taylor’s two RBI double gave the Rockers a 2-0 lead, and then Zander Wiel and Ben Aklinski finished off the scoring in the frame with back-to-back home runs. Wiel’s was a three-run homer, and Aklinski’s was a solo shot.

High Point led 6-0 after three, and Gastonia never put a rally together until the ninth inning.

The Honey Hunters had six hits through eight innings, but never recorded more than one hit in a single frame. They had exactly one hit in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.

They were able to score three runs off those six hits – a Steven Sensley solo homer, Zach Jarrett RBI groundout and Curtis Terry coming home on a wild pitch – but the inability to string hits together was their downfall on Friday.

The Sensley home run to make it a 6-1 game in the fifth was a line drive to right field that was hit 116.6 miles-per-hour off the bat. The ball landed in the first row of the right-field seats in what felt like under two seconds.

Gastonia started stringing some hits together for the first time all game in the ninth inning, as they went into the frame trailing 8-3 and were facing reliever Gabriel Castellanos – the sixth pitcher used by High Point.

After Cole Freeman popped out, the Honey Hunters got three straight hits – Carlos Franco singled, Terry hit a ground-rule double and Scott Manea followed up with a long two-run double to left-center field, scoring Franco and Terry.

The Honey Hunters were now down 8-5 with Manea on second and one out.

The batter? Steven Sensley, who hit a ball earlier in the game so hard that I’m surprised someone didn’t check to see if the fans in right field were ok afterwards.

Sensley, looking to bring the tying run to the plate, hit a high fly ball down the left-field line. Daly, the left fielder, covered a lot of ground, ran toward foul territory deep in the left-field corner and made a spectacular running catch near the wall in fair ground.

If Daly didn’t make the tremendous play, the tying run would’ve been brought up to the plate with one out. Instead, the Honey Hunters were down to their final out with Luis Curbelo up.

Curbelo then fouled out to first baseman John Nogowski to end the game.

Nogowski had himself a night at the plate before making the final put-out.

He went three-for-five with a two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth inning off reliever Garrett Sutton.

The two RBIs put Nogowski ahead of Steven Moya for the league lead with number 19 (Moya’s current total) and 20.

Gastonia will try to even the series with High Point on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. with player/coach Ian McKinney on the mound.

6-run 4th propels Gastonia to 12-5 victory over High Point, set up Sunday rubber match

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Lamar Briggs’s first home run of the season, a three-run homer to left field, capped off a six-run fourth inning for the Honey Hunters.

Briggs’s three-run shot, a couple longballs off the bat of Zach Jarrett and everyone in the batting order scoring or producing a run helped Gastonia win 12-5 over the High Point Rockers on Saturday night.

The game was scoreless through three innings, as it appeared to be a pitcher’s duel between two southpaws – Gastonia starter Ian McKinney and High Point starter Brandon Leibrandt.

McKinney ended up being perfect through 4.1 innings of work.

Leibrandt couldn’t make it out of the fourth, only being able to retire one of the seven batters he faced.

Zach Jarrett led off the fourth inning with a home run, and he did the same to lead off the fifth – on consecutive pitches he saw.

The home run off Leibrandt in the fourth to right-center field was the first of six runs scored in the frame.

After the Jarrett bomb, Curtis Terry and Carlos Franco worked walks. It was Franco’s second walk in as many plate appearances, and he now has 13 walks – tied for the third most in the Atlantic League.

Steven Sensley then ripped a hard line drive into center field, scoring Franco and Terry. Center fielder D.J. Burt made a strong throw, but Terry was able to slide into home right before the ball went into catcher Beau Taylor’s mitt.

Luis Curbelo then kept the party going with a single, one of two hits on the evening for the second baseman.

After a sacrifice bunt by Cole Freeman, the only batter that Leibrandt retired in the inning, Briggs hit the three-run no-doubter into the left-field seats.

Briggs, a Charlotte native, made the team through tryouts in the offseason.

On Saturday, he hit a crucial home run to put the Honey Hunters up 6-0 and chase Leibrandt out of the game.

Jarrett’s solo shot to left field next inning gave the team a 7-0 advantage halfway through the game. Jarrett now has five home runs this year, which is tied for third most in the league.

McKinney, Gastonia’s player/coach, pitched brilliantly for most of his outing. He threw 4.1 innings of perfect baseball against the Rockers, who have been statistically the best offense in the league.

After striking out cleanup hitter Zander Wiel for the second time, who’s four-game hitting streak came to an end on Saturday, McKinney let up his first base runner of the game – Ben Aklinski, who hit a solo homer to left field. It was Aklinski’s second home run in as many days.

McKinney was then brought out for the sixth inning after the Honey Hunters tacked on a couple more runs, thanks to a Jack Reinheimer RBI infield single on a ball he smoked that couldn’t be handled by third baseman Daikan Yoh, as well as a J.C. Escarra sacrifice fly that he hit all the way to the left-center field wall. Curbelo and Freeman scored on the play, who walked and singled, respectively, to get on base.

McKinney started losing control of the strike zone in the sixth, issuing two straight walks to start off the frame. After recording an out, McKinney turned into a coach for the rest of the game, as his evening on the mound came to an end.

On to replace McKinney was David Richardson, the newest member of the Honey Hunters. And he had a rough first appearance with the team.

Richardson allowed both runners that McKinney left on base to score, and also let up another two runs from batters he faced. He gave up three hits, and a total of four runs were scored for the Rockers in the bottom of the sixth.

After High Point cut it to a 9-5 game, the game was in good hands. Manager Goose Gozzo handed the game over to two of the most reliable relievers this season – Bryan Blanton and Tyler Thomas.

They combined for three scoreless innings, and both still haven’t allowed an earned run in 2023.

Blanton pitched a hitless seventh inning. He has now only given up one hit in seven innings of work this year.

As for Thomas, he pitched the eighth and ninth for Gastonia. Thomas added three to his strikeout total this season, making it 15 in 10 innings.

Both relievers ensured that High Point had no chance of getting back in the game, even with its explosive offense.

Gastonia added two runs in the top of the ninth, with a two-run moonshot hit 416 feet to dead center field by Franco for his third homer of the 2023 campaign. Curbelo’s second hit of the game was an RBI double down the left field line, scoring Sensley.

Every batter in the Honey Hunters batting order scored at least one run except for Reinheimer, who still produced with the run-scoring single in the sixth inning.

Gastonia improved to 10-4 on the season, but are still behind the now 12-3 Rockers in the South Division.

The rubber match between the Honey Hunters and Rockers is on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.

Gastonia drops rubber match against High Point after leading 3-1 in 7th

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

After leading 3-1 going into the seventh-inning stretch, the Gastonia Honey Hunters let up three unanswered runs as they went on to lose the game and the series to the High Point Rockers on Sunday by a final score of 4-3.

The rubber match of the three-game set was certainly the most competitive.

After High Point controlled all of Game 1 and Gastonia won Game 2 in dominant fashion, the top two teams in the South grinded it out for nine innings at Truist Point on Sunday afternoon.

The Honey Hunters both made some great defensive plays, both had five hits, and each had an error.

Gastonia took an early lead in the top of the first when J.C. Escarra hit a rocket off the right field wall, scoring Jack Reinheimer from second. Escarra hit the ball 107 miles-per-hour off his bat, and he hit it so hard that he was held to just a single. It was the fourth time this season that Escarra’s hit a long single off the wall.

High Point answered in the third inning, with John Nogowski hitting a run-scoring single off lefty Bryan Sammons. The single scored John Daly, who got to second by stealing one of three bases he ended up swiping in the game.

Nogowski picked up RBI No. 22 of the season, as he is still atop the leaderboard for the category in the Atlantic League.

Breaking the scoreless tie was Escarra in the fifth, who hit a ball deep down the left field line that Ben Aklinski dove for but couldn’t come up with. Escarra’s double scored Lamar Briggs and Reinheimer, who both singled against Rockers starter Liam O’Sullivan.

The 3-1 lead was in the hands of Zach Mort, who took over for the starter Sammons in the fourth inning with the bases loaded. Mort got D.J. Burt to fly out to end the threat, and then retired the next six batters he faced.

Mort came on for the seventh after the stretch, and the first batter he faced in the frame was Brian Parreira, getting his first start of the series.

Parreira started the season 3-for-22 (.136) with seven strikeouts.

But he connected on a hanging curveball from Mort and put it into the right field seats to cut his team’s deficit to 3-2.

Mort got out of the inning just allowing the one run, and he passed the baton to Sal Romano for the eighth.

Romano had struggled with his control of the zone so far this season, and that continued on Sunday against High Point.

He walked the first two batters he faced, Aklinski and Ryan Grotjohn, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

After striking out Daikan Yoh, Romano faced Pareira.

Despite the slow start to his season, Pareira was coming off the solo shot he hit in the inning prior.

The backup catcher ripped a base hit into center field, scoring Aklinski to tie the game at three.

That brought up the Rockers nine hitter Daly, who had gotten on base all three times he had stepped up to the dish.

Runners were on the corners with one out. Romano just needed a ground ball to get out of the jam.

And he got one.

Daly hit a grounder to Reinheimer at short, who flipped it to Luis Curbelo at second. But Curbelo’s throw to first wasn’t in time, so Grotjohn was able to score the go-ahead run from third.

After Romano walked a batter for the third time, Bryan Blanton came on and retired Michael Russell to end the rally – but the damage had been done.

That left it up to Steven Sensley, Curbelo and Cole Freeman as the Honey Hunters trailed 4-3 and were down to their last three outs.

The hitters were facing Ryan Dull, who hadn’t given up a hit in five innings of work this season. He was also 2-for-2 in save opportunities.

Both those streaks continued, as Gastonia went down 1-2-3. Sensley and Curbelo struck out swinging on filthy sliders low and outside of the strike zone delivered by Dull. And Freeman flew out to center to end the game.

The Honey Hunters fell to 10-5 after dropping a series for the second time, as the Rockers improved to an impressive 13-3.

Gastonia’s next series will be at home against the 3-10 Charleston Dirty Birds. The first game of the three-game set is on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m

Gastonia scores 11 unanswered runs from fifth inning on, take advantage of 4 Charleston errors

Game Story written by Noah Epstein.

In the top of the fifth inning, Charleston’s Bobby Bradley hit his seventh home run of the year, and Jose Bermudez followed that up with a double.

That gave the Dirty Birds a 4-2 lead.

And those were the last hits that they got on Tuesday night.

Gastonia, on the other hand, recorded another nine hits and scored 11 unanswered runs, as the Honey Hunters took advantage of Charleston’s four errors and dominated 13-4.

Charleston didn’t look like a team that’s ranked last in several offensive categories through the first half of Game 1 of the three-game set.

The Dirty Birds strung hits together in three of the first five innings, scoring a run off Gastonia’s ace Marcus Walden, two off lefty reliever Ryan Williamson and another one off righty Garrett Sutton.

The runs scored off Walden and Sutton were both solo homers by Bradley, who hit No. 6 and No. 7 on the year. He also increased his RBI total to 17.

When he hit his home run off Sutton, the one that gave his team a 4-2 lead, Bradley admired the ball after launching it 434 feet to right field. He then tossed his bat aside and started his slow jog around the bases.

The Charleston hitters worked great at-bats against Gastonia pitching, working four walks – including two that walked in runs with the bases loaded.

While down 4-2, the Honey Hunters tied things up in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Montrell Marshall with the bases juiced.

Marshall’s throw toward second went into right field, allowing Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco to score to tie the game.

Marshall recorded one of FOUR Charleston errors in the game – two of which came in the fifth.

The last error, which came in the sixth, was even more costly.

Heading into the sixth, it was a 4-4 tie.

That’s not exactly what the score was when the half inning came to an end.

Williams Jerez, who was celebrating his 31st birthday on Tuesday, came on in relief of starter Kit Scheetz.

And if his birthday wish was for a good outing, it certainly didn’t come true.

Luis Curbelo led off with a single that was hit 108.4 miles-per-hour off the bat. Curbelo already scored earlier in the game because of a Cole Freeman RBI double that he hit into the right-center field gap.

This time up, Freeman hit a ground ball that shortstop Luis Atiles bobbled for his team’s fourth error of the game.

After Curbelo and Freeman both stole and Jack Reinheimer walked for the second time, the bases were loaded with nobody out for J.C. Escarra.

Escarra hit a rocket down the right-field line that just stayed fair and bounced into the seats. The ground-rule double scored Curbelo and Freeman.

Jarrett then followed up with a line drive right up the middle into center field that scored Reinheimer. Jarrett had great heads-up baserunning, advancing to second on Bermudez’s throw home as Escarra stayed at third.

Franco then did exactly his job as the cleanup hitter. He cleaned up the runners Escarra and Jarrett with a two-run scoring single of his own. His base hit was into center field, and was the fourth hit off Jerez.

Gastonia scored five runs on the four hits off Jerez, and the team turned a 4-4 tie into a 9-4 lead.

And the Honey Hunters didn’t pump the brakes there.

Freeman picked up his second hit of the game, and also stolen bases three and four for him on the night, before Reinheimer plated him with a single.

Escarra then hit a booming double into the gap in right-center, scoring Reinheimer all the way from first.

Reinheimer had two runs scored on Tuesday, keeping him atop the Atlantic League leaderboard in the category with 19. The next closest is 16.

He credits the hitters behind him – Escarra, Jarrett and Franco – who had a combined 7 RBIs against Charleston.

“I really think that’s a testament to the guys hitting behind me,” Reinheimer said. “I try to get on base, and right now I’ve been doing it and our guys have been hitting me in and that’s amazing.”

Reinheimer also has seven stolen bases, getting the most recent one in the second inning on Tuesday. He’s currently tied for third in the league, two shy of first place (Trey Martin of York.) He always has the same approach when reaching base.

“Really I just try to get into a rhythm with the pitcher and time him up,” Reinheimer said. “If I get to a certain point where I feel like I can make it, then that’s probably the priority.”

The Honey Hunters dominated the Dirty Birds when all said and done, but that certainly wasn’t the case early on when Marcus Walden let up a dinger to Bradley in the second.

After the Bradley home run, Steven Sensely answered with a solo shot of his own. He hit the ball 113.9 miles-per-hour off the bat to deep right field for his fourth dinger of the year.

After another Gastonia run, there was a lightning delay in the bottom half of the inning.

Walden didn’t return after the 24-minute delay, so Gastonia used six more pitchers to get the job done – Ryan Williamson, Garrett Sutton, David Richardson, Tyler Thomas, Bryan Blanton and Jaime Schultz.

From Sutton after he gave up the homer and double in the fifth to Schultz in the ninth, Gastonia pitching retired 13 Dirty Birds in a row.

Richardson, Thomas and Blanton all pitched 1-2-3 frames, with Richardson and Blanton each striking out the side.

Thomas struck out two batters, increasing his season total to 17 in 11 innings pitched.

The Honey Hunters improved to 11-5 with the win, and now stand alone in second place in the South Division.

The Dirty Birds fell to 3-11 and are only a half game up on last-place Frederick.

Game 2 of the three-game series is on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.

Sanabia shines, leads Gastonia to series W against Dirty Birds

Game Story by Noah Epstein

That was Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo’s response when asked before the game what he needed out of starting pitcher Alex Sanabia on Wednesday evening.

The right hander entered the game with a 7.71 ERA after three starts, allowing 18 hits in 14 innings.

The Honey Hunters bullpen was not well rested at all, as they used seven pitchers the night prior.

And Sanabia stepped up when his manager and team needed him most.

Sanabia pitched six innings of one-run ball, issuing no walks and striking out five batters, leading Gastonia to a 4-2 victory over the Charleston Dirty Birds.

While Sanabia was absolutely dealing on the mound, allowing just two baserunners through five innings and not allowing either of them to reach second base, the Honey Hunter hitters were giving him support.

Just like they did on Tuesday, the Gastonia hitters took advantage of Charleston fielding mistakes.

The Dirty Birds committed two errors on Wednesday. Both of them came when Luis Curbelo was up.

The first was in the second inning when Curbelo hit a routine grounder that wasn’t handled by the third baseman Luis Atiles.

After a Cole Freeman single, Jack Reinheimer ripped a line drive into center field, scoring Curbelo and giving his team an early 1-0 lead.

The Honey Hunters tacked on two more in the third when Steven Sensley hit a double down the right-field line that scored Zach Jarrett, and then Curbelo hit an RBI single that scored Curtis Terry.

While runs were being scored for Gastonia, Charleston was struggling mightily to get on base against Sanabia.

The closest a Dirty Bird hitter got to reaching second base in the first five innings was when Yefri Perez attempted to steal second after he singled to get on.

Sanabia bounced it on an 0-2 pitch, catcher J.C. Escarra picked it with the backhand and gunned down Perez, throwing it exactly where Perez was sliding. Reinheimer didn’t even have to apply the tag because the throw was low and to the right of the bag, so once the ball was in his glove Perez was already out.

Sanabia gave up a solo homer to Zachary Bridges in the sixth to make it a 3-1 game, but that’s the only run he allowed in six innings of work.

Gozzo commended the righty’s best start of the year so far.

“Sanabia was very focused today,” Gozzo said. “It looked like he was locating his pitches very well at a very low pitch count. He kept them off balance, he did his thing.”

Sanabia didn’t walk a batter and struck out five, which now makes it just two walks and 19 strikeouts on the season for him.

Although 19 strikeouts in four starts isn’t incredible, two walks is certainly something to be proud of. And it goes along with Sanabia’s annual objective.

“I’m not a power pitcher, so I rely on early contact and throwing strikes,” Sanabia said. “But that’s one thing that’s a goal for me every year is having less walks than outings.”

Walks: Two

Outings: Four

So far, so good for Sanabia.

After the Bridges homer, Escarra hit his second double of the game in the bottom of the sixth. He didn’t end up scoring, but that now totals eight two-baggers on the season for Escarra – which leads the Atlantic League.

Escarra started the season out in the five spot of the batting order, and has since been moved up to the two-hole. He’s batting .362 with 25 hits – one shy of the league lead.

“You know what the trick is? It’s not being too high and not being too low,” Escarra said. “Being the same guy every single day no matter if you go 0-for-4 or 4-for-4.”

Well he hasn’t seen too many 0-for-4 nights recently.

“I think [Escarra’s] loving the two-hole,” Gozzo said. “And when we got guys in the bottom of the order that are getting on and Jack (Reinheimer) is getting on, he’s gonna be cleaning up, he’s gonna be getting a lot of RBIs. So the lineup is kinda structured for him to be doing that. Sometimes you put your best hitter, your hot hitter, in the 2-hole.”

Tyler Thomas came on in relief of Sanabia in the seventh, and the first batter he faced was Bobby Bradley.

Bradley hit a high fly ball deep to right field and out of the park off of Thomas for his eighth homer of the year. This was the first earned run allowed by the lefty reliever, who had pitched 11 scoreless innings before that at-bat.

The Gastonia lead was now just one, as it was a 3-2 game.

But Thomas retired the next three hitters and came on for the eighth as well. He gave up a couple hits, and then struck out Telvin Nash to get out of a jam.

Thomas recorded four strikeouts in the two innings he pitched, now totalling 21 Ks in 13 frames to start the year.

The lefty came into the night feeling good about his year, especially because he had’t allowed an earned run.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” Thomas said. “When he hit that home run, it was definitely in my mind thinking, ‘Oh there’s the first one. At least we got it out of the way now.’ He put a good swing on the ball. I just gotta keep pitching and just keep pounding the zone – that’s the main thing. ‘Cause if you’re not pounding the zone, that’s when you get into trouble.”

Gozzo stressed how important it was for two pitchers to combine for eight innings, especially with the team using seven pitchers on Tuesday.

“We basically needed that,” Gozzo said. “We’re a little bit thin in the pen right now. Him and (Tyler) Thomas… they really got us to tomorrow.”

Gozzo was especially impressed with Thomas’s determination after letting up the leadoff homer to start his outing.

“Not only did he stay in the game, he pitched very well,” Gozzo said. “I thought he did a great job of battling back, and he even wanted to go another inning. We basically had to tell him no… What a gamer.”

Gastonia tacked on a big insurance run after the Bradley homer, as Pedro Gonzalez got his first hit as a Honey Hunter – an RBI single that scored Lamar Briggs and gave his team a 4-2 lead. It was a sharp grounder hit 102.2 miles-per-hour off the bat and then off the glove of second baseman Diego Goris and into center field.

Jaime Schultz then came on for the ninth. After allowing the first two batters to reach, Schultz struck out three in a row – all swinging – to end the ballgame.

Schultz is now 5-for-5 in save opportunities and he closed the door on Charleston in Game 2 of the series.

The Honey Hunters improved to 12-5, while the Dirty Birds fell to 3-12 and are now in last place in the South.

Gastonia will try to sweep Charleston on Thursday, with first pitch being at 6:35 p.m.

12 Lonely Men: Honey Hunters strand a dozen, drop game at home for first time

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters stranded 12 men on base in the last of a three-game set against the Charleston Dirty Birds, losing at CaroMont Health Park for the first time in 2023 by a score of 6-4.

The Honey Hunters were unable to complete the sweep of the Dirty Birds, and stranding a dozen runners was a large reason why.

They put a couple runners on base in each of the first two innings. In both innings, Gastonia failed to score and the frame ended with a strikeout.

From innings five to eight, the Honey Hunters scored one run in each inning.

The good news? They were scoring runs.

The bad news? They stranded seven runners in the process.

The biggest opportunity came in the seventh when Gastonia had the top of its order at the plate.

Jack Reinheimer and Zach Jarrett both drew walks, and Curtis Terry knocked in Reinheimer with a double.

Charleston southpaw Joe Testa came on in relief, and he hit Steven Sensley to load the bases with two outs.

Pedro Gonzalez then hit a chopper to short to end the threat.

Gastonia had a few opportunities that they were either to cash in one run or nothing at all on Thursday night.

“I thought they did a pretty decent job of shutting us down when we did have first and second a lot of times,” said Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo about Charleston’s pitching.

He stressed how important stranding runners can be, especially when the final score doesn’t go your way.

“One of the stats that I keep on my card in the dugout is left-on-base,” Gozzo said. “So I know exactly how many [runners are left on base.]... When you lose, that seems to be a stat that you really look at and say, ‘If this’ or ‘If that.’ But we have to do a better job of cashing in on our opportunities.”

It also didn’t help that the Honey Hunters were playing catch-up for most of the contest.

Zack Godley was coming off a start where he pitched five innings against High Point, allowing six runs – all coming in the third.

Thursday night was almost a carbon copy of his start against the Rockers.

Godley was cruising through three innings, retiring all nine batters he faced. But the second time through the order was a different story.

The right hander gave up five runs in an inning – this time in the fourth frame and on four hits.

Godley then went out and struck out the side in the fifth.

That makes two straight outings where he pitched dominantly in all but one inning, causing his team to be playing from behind for the entirety of the game.

Gozzo said that Godley’s tendency to let up a big inning has to do with locating his pitches.

“I think he’s got such a good breaking ball, such a good slider,” Gozzo said. “I think he might get a little happy with it at times – to where sometimes if he was to kind of go in and then make a good away… Obviously his stuff is good. The velocity is good, the breaking ball good. But it ends up being location.”

In the fourth, Diego Gorris’s RBI single, Daniel Brito’s bases-clearing double and Zachary Bridges’s run-scoring single combined for the five runs off Godley.

The sixth run scored by the Dirty Birds was a Goris solo shot to left field that Sensley didn’t even move at because it was that much of a no-doubter.

Lefty Bryan Sammons then came in for Gastonia to pitch the seventh and eighth. Usually a starter, Sammons is unable to pitch in the team’s next series against Lexington, so he pitched a bit on Thursday.

Sammons retired all six batters he faced, striking out four.

What once was a 6-1 Charleston was cut to 6-4 after Reinheimer plated Luis Curbelo with an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth.

But Reinheimer was stranded on second, and ended up being the best chance for Gastonia for the remainder of the game.

The Honey Hunters were 8-0 at home heading into the night, so they fell in front of their crowd for the first time.

Gastonia is now 12-6 and still in second in the South, while Charleston improved to 4-12. The Dirty Birds remain in last place because Frederick won its sixth game in a row on Thursday night – the longest winning streak in the league.

Gastonia will travel to Lexington for a weekend series with the Counter Clocks. First pitch on Friday is at 6:45 p.m.

Escarra stays red hot, leads Gastonia to rout of Lexington

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters scored in all but two innings on Friday night, totalling 13 hits and destroying the Lexington Counter Clocks 15-2.

It turns out the “J.C.” in J.C. Escarra stands for Just Crushing.

Because that’s exactly what the Honey Hunters catcher has continued to do all season, and it was portrayed in the first game of their three-game set against Lexington.

Escarra blistered a baseball 412 feet to right field in the first inning off Counter Clocks starter Kaleb Schmidt for his third homer of the year.

He then went a little nicer on Schmidt in his second at-bat, as the lefty’s second home run only traveled 386 feet to the pull-side.

Escarra didn’t want to show off too much, so the slugger worked a walk in plate appearance No. 3.

He then capped off his last couple at-bats with a pair of RBIs – a single scoring Jack Reinheimer, who still leads the league in runs scored with 21, and a sacrifice fly plating Cole Freeman, who despite struggling for most of the season has a six-game on-base streak.

Escarra’s four RBIs puts him third among Atlantic League hitters with 21, only behind High Point’s John Nogowski (25) and Frederick’s Craig Dedelow (24).

He’s tied for the most doubles (eight) and hits (28), and is third in slugging percentage (.632) and sixth in batting average (.368).

Escarra was rewarded by manager Goose Gozzo, who moved him from the five-hole to the two-hole in the batting order. That’s where the lefty has hit for the past few series.

And it’s certainly paid dividends.

With Reinheimer getting on base more than 44% of the time, stealing bases (he got his 10th on Friday) and scoring runs out of the leadoff spot, it makes for a lethal 1-2 in the lineup.

Not to mention Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco, who both played an impactful role against Lexington.

Jarrett had already reached base three times before the ninth inning, when he hit a three-run towering shot to deep left field. His sixth longball of the year capped off a five-run top of the ninth.

As for Franco, he picked up his league-leading 19th and 20th walks of 2023, and also added three hits.

Franco hit a two-run double in the fifth, on a ball that he drilled 113 miles-per-hour to dead center field. He also tacked on an RBI single in the eighth, scoring Jarrett.

The top four in the order helped Gastonia pummel Lexington, as the Honey Hunters scored 15 runs on 13 hits.

Although the offense was incredible, the Gastonia pitching was too.

Player/coach Ian McKinney pitched six innings of one-run ball. He was in control all game, dealing first-pitch strikes with ease and reiring batters without getting deep into counts.

The southpaw walked one batter and struck out eight.

McKinney had a stretch where he retired 13 out of 14, including seven in a row.

He was brilliant on Friday.

Game 2 between the Honey Hunters and Counter Clocks is on Saturday at 6:45 p.m

Mort Holds Down the Fort: 6 no-hit innings in first start helps Gastonia blank Lexington

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Zach Mort stepped in for the usual No. 5 starter Bryan Sammons on Saturday night.

He had only come on in relief in 2023, averaging just over two innings per outing.

The right-hander excelled in his first start, pitching six no-hit innings and striking out eight.

He helped Gastonia demolish Lexington for the second straight night, as the Honey Hunters won 8-0.

Since Sammons is inactive for the series, manager Goose Gozzo gave the ball to Mort, who was coming off a good relief outing against High Point.

Before Saturday, Mort had pitched 11 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.

On Saturday, Mort pitched six innings, giving up no hits and no runs.

He mowed through Lexington batters effortlessly, even ending his outing with nine straight batters retired.

Mort only allowed two baserunners – Jake Gitter and Connor Owings, who got hit by the pitch and walked, respectively.

Owings was the only Counter Clocks batter in the game who reached second base, as he stole after his fourth-inning walk.

After the steal, Mort struck out the next three batters to get out of the only jam he got into. He struck out eight and only walked Owings.

Five of Mort’s eight outs by way of the K were on his cutter, which he throws at around 86 miles-per-hour. Three of the five cutters were thrown to lefties, as the ball had a lot of movement and went in on lefty batters, making it tough for them to connect against the righty.

Mort was also aided by an offense that collected 13 hits for the second consecutive game.

Curtis Terry’s RBI single put Gastonia on the board in the fourth. The No. 5 hitter went 2-for-5 with a couple singles.

Terry’s single to give the Honey Hunters a 1-0 lead scored Zach Jarrett, who hit a homer for the second straight night.

Jarrett crushed a ball to deep left in the fifth on a two-run shot to extend the lead to 3-0.

The outfielder leads the team with seven bombs this year.

His homer scored Jack Reinheimer, who crossed home for the 23rd time – which leads the Atlantic League by five runs.

Reinheimer followed up hitting two doubles on Friday night with another couple of two-baggers in Game 2 of the series against Lexington.

Gastonia hit four more home runs in the game – two of them being firsts for Honey Hunter hitters.

Cristian Inoa and Pedro Gonzalez each went deep for the first time – in the sixth and eighth inning, respectively.

Inoa drove a ball over the wall to the opposite field in his Gastonia starting debut. He pinch-hit in the ninth inning the night prior, hitting an RBI single to add another run in the onslaught in Game 1.

In Game 2, he continued to make his new presence known, hitting a solo shot to make it 4-0.

Gonzalez hit a homer to left in his third start as a Honey Hunter.

He hit one of two longballs in the top of the eighth.

The other was one of the longest homers of the season.

And it was hit by slugger Steven Sensley.

The left fielder hit his sixth home run 426 to straight-away left field. He hooked it just inside the foul pole, striking the ball 107 miles-per-hour.

Sensley is now slugging .571, which is third on the team – behind J.C. Escarra (.617) and Jarrett (.602).

The last dinger was hit by Carlos Franco in the ninth frame. He hit a towering shot to dead center for his fourth of the year.

The homer scored Escarra, who was on second after hitting his league-leading ninth double of 2023.

After two straight routs of Lexington, Gastonia looks to sweep on Sunday.

First pitch between the Honey Hunters and Counter Clocks is at 2:05 p.m.

Sunday Sweep: Bullpen and top of the order lead Gastonia to 5-3 W

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia ace Marcus Walden was in line to start on Sunday against Lexington.

However, Walden was signed by the Seattle Mariners Triple-A affiliate Tacoma right before the weekend series, so manager Goose Gozzo had to go with a bullpen game.

And the ‘pen worked wonders, helping the Honey Hunters finish off a three-game sweep of the Counter Clocks as Gastonia won 5-3.

Right hander Sal Romano got the start, despite his rough start to the year.

Romano had thrown 6.1 innings, giving up nine runs, hits and walks.

But he gave Gastonia exactly what the doctor ordered on Sunday, pitching three innings of scoreless ball and not walking a single batter. Romano’s always had great stuff, and his control was on point all three innings against Lexington.

Romano passed the baton to lefty Gunnar Kines, who pitched two perfect innings.

After Kines finished his second inning of work, Gastonia pitching had retired 12 straight Lexington hitters – between Romano and Kines.

And the two relievers got three runs of support through those five total frames.

The three runs, like all five scored by the Honey Hunters, were produced by the top of the batting order: Jack Reinheimer, J.C. Escarra, Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco.

Escarra greeted Lexington starter Yeudy Garcia the exact same way he welcomed Kaleb Schmidt on Frdiay – with a long solo shot to right field in his first at-bat, putting Gastonia up 1-0.

The slugger now has five homers and 22 RBIs – driving in the third most runs in the Atlantic League.

Who’s driven in the fourth most runs? Zach Jarrett after Sunday’s game.

The star outfielder hit a run-scoring single in the fifth to make it 3-0 Hunters and also hit a two-run dinger in the top of the seventh to give his team a 5-1 lead.

The homer was Jarrett’s third of the series and eighth of the year, putting him just one shy of Frederick’s Craig Dedelow who leads the league with nine.

He now has 21 runs driven in.

Surely no other Honey Hunter has 20+ RBIs?

Actually someone does – Carlos Franco.

The lefty slugger picked up another multi-hit game on Sunday, his third in a row, and extended his on-base streal to 15 games.

Franco hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning to pick up RBI No. 20.

A major reason why Escarra, Jarrett and Franco are all in the top five in runs plated this season is because of leadoff hitter Jack Reinheimer.

Escarra and Jarrett scored themselves on their homers.

The other three runs – on the Franco sac fly, as well as Jarrett’s single and longball – were scored by Reinheimer.

The Honey Hunter shortstop has now touched home 26 times, seven more times than any other hitter in the league.

He walked and stole twice on Sunday, picking up his 12th steal which also leads the ALPB.

The offense is clicking in a huge way for Gastonia right now, as the order is structured in a perfect way.

Reinheimer gets on, steals, and Escarra, Jarrett and Franco drive him in.

It’s been working ever since Escarra was moved from the five-hole to the two-hole, and it’s a top-of-the-order that has been crucial in winning ball games for the Honey Hunters.

The rest of the pitchers used for Gastonia – Ryan Williamson, David Richardson, Bryan Blanton, Tyler Thomas and Jaime Schultz – took care of business to finish off the sweep of Lexington.

Schultz picked up his sixth save in as many opportunities, closing the door on the Counter Clocks in the ninth.

The Honey Hunters improved to 15-6 after winning seven of their last 10.

The only other team to go 7-3 in that span is Frederick, Gastonia’s next opponent.

The Hunters will travel to Maryland to take on the Question Marks for a three-game set. The first game is on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Franco’s four-hit night and Sanabia’s stellar start helps Gastonia shut out Frederick 6-0

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Alex Sanabia pitched seven scoreless innings and Carlos Franco went 4-for-5, as the two helped Gastonia blank Frederick 6-0 on Tuesday night.

Sanabia was coming off his best outing of the year against Charleston, throwing six innings of one-run ball and striking out five without walking a batter.

He followed up that performance with an even better one on Tuesday against the Question Marks.

Sanabia didn’t allow a run in seven innings of work, fanning four and once again not issuing a walk.

He retired 21 of the 25 batters he faced, giving up three hits and hitting one batter with a pitch – Luke Becker.

Becker swiped second after getting hit by the pitch in the sixth, and ended up being the only runner to reach second base against Sanabia.

Sanabia also got run support, courtesy of Franco’s fourth straight multi-hit game.

All four of his hits were part of Honey Hunter rallies, and three of them helped score a run.

Franco’s two-out single in the third passed the baton to Steven Sensley, who hit an RBI double scoring Zach Jarrett.

His two-out double in the fifth inning helped load the bases for Cristian Inoa, who grounded out to end the threat.

Franco then doubled in his next at-bat in the seventh, plating Jarrett, who also hit a two-bagger to get on base.

The third baseman then capped off his night with a solo home run to give the Honey Hunters a 6-0 lead in the ninth.

Franco hit one of three homers for Gastonia on Tuesday.

Braxton Davidson’s first hit as a Honey Hunter was a two-run shot in the second off Frederick starter Max Povse to make it a 2-0 game. The dinger scored Inoa, who reached on a 6-4 fielder’s choice.

Davidson was making his second start with Gastonia, previously going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a pair of walks.

The other long ball was hit by leadoff hitter Jack Reinheimer in the seventh inning.

Frederick righty Nate Peden was on for his second frame in relief of Povse, and the first batter Peden faced was Reinheimer who took him deep.

Reinheimer’s second home run of the year was one of two runs Peden allowed in the inning, the other being Franco’s RBI double.

After Sanabia pitched seven scoreless, he gave a 5-0 lead to Bryan Blanton.

The righty reliever had been dominant all season long, but allowed his first two runs of the year against Lexington on Sunday.

Blanton had a bounce-back outing on Tuesday, pitching a scoreless eighth and striking out the dangerous Craig Dedelow.

Jaime Schultz then came in for the ninth and completed the shut out of Frederick.

Gastonia improved to 16-6 on the season and now has a four-game winning streak.

The Honey Hunters try to win the series against the Question Marks, with first pitch on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

5-run 8th powers Gastonia to 8-5 comeback win over Frederick

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia had the top of the batting order coming to the plate in the eighth, just surrendering a 3-2 lead the half-inning prior.

Frederick had taken a 5-3 lead and was six defensive outs away from evening the three-game series.

The first six batters of the Honey Hunters lineup reached base, with five of them scoring on four hits.

The Honey Hunters used this five-run eighth, which included the second home run of the game for both J.C. Escarra and Zach Jarrett, to come back and beat the Question Marks 8-5.

Escarra homered in his first at-bat when facing Frederick starter David Kubiak. He hit a long drive to straight-away right field.

The home run gave Gastonia an early 1-0 lead, which it held through three frames.

Frederick responded in the bottom of the fourth after Honey Hunters starter Zack Godley retired the first 10 batters he faced.

Starlin Castro, who was making his Question Marks debut exactly a month after the team officially signed him, singled off Godley to become the first batter to reach base for Frederick.

Craig Dedelow then hit a two-run dinger to dead center field, giving his team a 2-1 lead with his 10th shot of the year.

Kubiak was cruising through 5.1 innings, retiring 10 of the last 11 batters he had faced.

The 12th batter he faced was Zach Jarrett.

And Jarrett hit a ball 418 feet to left, dropping his bat and staring at the ball as it sailed over the wall.

When it landed, the game was tied at two.

After Gastonia scored on a wild pitch thrown by Jack Weinberger, Frederick tied the game and started a seventh-inning rally by loading the bases with nobody out against Godley.

Godley got Scott Kelly to fly out to shallow right field for the first out.

He struck out Luke Becker, Godley’s eighth K of the day.

Now it was Godley against Castro, who looked to do damage in his first start.

Castro worked the count to 3-1, got a pitch in the zone and hit it into shallow center field – just out of the reach of a diving Jarrett. The hit scored a pair of runs and gave Frederick a 5-3 lead after seven.

Reliever Jeff Johnson came in for the Question Marks in the eighth.

He faced three batters. He didn’t record an out.

Jack Reinheimer walked before Escarra and Jarrett went back-to-back to give the Honey Hunters a 6-5 lead.

Escarra now has seven longballs and has driven in 25, while Jarrett still leads the team with 10 homers and has 23 RBIs.

Left-hander Brady Feigl then came on in relief of Johnson, but Gastonia wasn’t done with its rally.

Carlos Franco walked, extending his on-base streak to 17 games, and then Curtis Terry and Steven Sensley both hit singles.

Sensley’s base hit plated Franco, and then Luis Curbelo hit into a double play that scored Terry and capped off the five-run frame.

Gastonia led 8-5, and the team handed the ball to two extremely reliable relievers: Tyler Thomas and Jaime Schultz.

Each pitched scoreless innings, with Schultz picking up his league-leading seventh save in as many opportunities.

The Honey Hunters improved to 17-6 overall and 8-0 against the Question Marks.

Gastonia will try to sweep Frederick for a third time on Thursday. First pitch is at 11 a.m.

Lefty power carries Gastonia to 6th straight win, sweeping Frederick for 3rd time

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia looked to sweep Frederick for a third time this year and to go undefeated on their six-game road trip on Thursday afternoon.

The Honey Hunters did just that, and were aided by Carlos Franco’s lefty bat and Ian McKinney’s left arm.

They scored seven unanswered runs, four of them coming in the eighth, to come back for the second straight game and beat the Question Marks by a score of 8-3.

Franco, the cleanup hitter, came to the plate five times.

He either produced or scored a run in four of those five plate appearances.

The first run Franco produced was all set up by Jack Reinheimer in the top of the fourth inning.

The Honey Hunters leadoff hitter saw that Starlin Castro was playing back, so he laid down a bunt along the third-base line. And it was a perfect bunt, as he reached first on the infield single.

Reinheimer then stole his 13th base of the year, which is the most in the Atlantic League. He advanced to third on a fly ball to right hit by Zach Jarrett, and scored on a Franco sacrifice fly to center field.

The sac fly tied the game at one in the fourth.

The next time Franco came up to the plate, his fly ball didn’t stay in the yard.

He drilled a no-doubter to straight-away right field, and admired the ball sailing over the fence before starting his home-run trot.

Franco’s two-run homer came in the seventh, and it tied the game 3-3 against Frederick.

When he came to the plate in the eighth, Franco worked a walk and then came around to score the last of four runs plated in the frame by the Honey Hunters.

Franco scored on a booming two-run double the opposite way hit by Steven Sensley, who went 2-for-3 with a walk on Thursday.

Just as he produced the first run Gastonia scored, Franco was also responsible for the eighth and final run – another sacrifice fly hit to center.

The sac fly scored Reinheimer and was the seventh straight run scored by the Honey Hunters to give them an 8-3 lead in the ninth.

Reinheimer scored three times – two via Carlos Franco sac flies.

The second time he crossed home plate was off J.C. Escarra's RBI two-bagger hit down the left-field line.

That was the first of the four runs scored in the eighth, and it gave the Honey Hunters a 4-3 lead that they didn’t relinquish.

Reinheimer’s three runs gives him a total of 31 on the year, and he’s still atop the league in that category.

Jarrett, who came home on Franco’s home run and Sensley’s double, has 24 runs scored – which is the second most in the ALPB.

Southpaw Ian McKinney had a great performance for Gastonia on Thursday.

He retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced.

The one batter who reached was Raudy Ready, who hit a lazer of a home run that just got over the left-field wall to make it 1-0 Frederick in the second.

After the stretch of 13 in 14 batters, McKinney faced Wilson Garcia and Leobaldo Cabrera in a tie game in the fifth inning.

Garcia singled and then Cabrera hit a fly ball 341 feet the other way to right field that just got over the fence for a two-run homer.

Cabrera’s eighth long ball gave his team a 3-1 lead, which was given up a couple innings later.

McKinney only gave up the three runs – on the two home runs – in seven innings of work.

He walked only one batter and struck out 10 – the most any Gastonia pitcher has fanned in a single game this season.

The player/coach used four pitches to record the double-digit strikeouts:

Slider (5)

Sinker (3)

Curveball (1)

Changeup (1)

Aside from a couple mistakes, McKinney was almost perfect in the seven frames, and he got the win to show for it.

David Richardson and Bryan Blanton each threw scoreless innings to close the door on Frederick and help complete the three-game sweep.

Gastonia improved to 18-6 overall after going a perfect 6-0 on the road trip.

The Honey Hunters are now 9-0 against the Question Marks this year, as Frederick fell to 8-17.

Gastonia will now come back to CaroMont Health Park for a 10-game home stand.

Up first is a four-game series against the Lancaster Barnstormers, the reigning Atlantic League Champions.

First pitch on Friday is at 6:35 p.m.

Gastonia fails to score with bases loaded, nobody out in 11th; snap 6-game win streak

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th inning, the Gastonia Honey Hunters were all set up to walk the game off against the Lancaster Barnstormers on Friday night.

The Honey Hunters were trailing 4-3 with the tying run on third (Luis Curbelo) and the winning run on second (Cole Freeman).

Lancaster reliever Donald Goodson got two straight ground balls off the bats of Cristian Inoa and Zach Jarrett – Inoa’s turned into a 5-2-3 double play and Jarrett’s a routine grounder to short, as the Honey Hunters lost in extras.

The bottom of the 11th had drama written all over it.

Curbelo started the inning at second, pinch running for Braxton Davidson, who made the final out in the 10th.

Freeman laid a bunt down the third-base line, Goodson fielded and fired to first, and Yeison Coca’s foot was called off the bag, allowing Freeman to reach.

Lancaster manager Ross Peeples argued with first-base umpire Calvin Baker for a while until the three umps huddled up to discuss the ruling.

After the conference, the ruling on the field stood and Freeman was to stay at first.

The next batter was Jack Reinheimer, who got hit by the pitch on his left arm.

As he was making his way to first base, Baker told him to head back to the plate because the home-plate umpire Andrew Vincent was calling a foul ball – saying the ball hit Reinheimer’s bat instead of his arm.

It’s safe to say Reinheimer was frustrated with Vincent.

“I was kind of in disbelief, so I turned around and as I approached [Vincent], he was telling me that it was a foul ball,” Reinheimer said. “I said, ‘Dude, I can’t even feel my arm.’ And then he asked me to show him the mark, and I couldn’t pull my long sleeves up so I said, ‘Do you want me to take my shirt off?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”

The leadoff hitter then stripped off his undershirt and jersey for Vincent, displaying the red mark on his left arm.

The ump immediately awarded Reinheimer first base.

The next batter was Inoa, who hit the ball right to third and Gastonia ended up losing 4-3.

After all the antics, it ended up coming down to the Honey Hunters not being able to hit situationally with runners in scoring position.

Gastonia recorded six hits in the 11 innings and had a ton of good at-bats with little to show for it against Lancaster starter Brent Teller.

The righty went seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits.

The only inning that Teller got into any sort of trouble was in the sixth when Inoa hit a ground-rule double on a fly ball to dead center and Jarrett followed that up with a run-scoring single.

Other than that, the only mistake Teller made was to Freeman in the third, as the last hitter in the Honey Hunters order hit a line drive that just snuck inside the foul pole down the left-field line.

It was Freeman’s second homer of the year – the other was on Opening Night.

Although Gastonia failed to score in the 11th, Reinheimer doesn’t have his head down about the team’s situational hitting.

“We happened to hit into a double play right there, which was tough,” Reinheimer said. “But we’ve been good at slowing the game down and trying not to do too much in situations like that. And we’ve been putting the ball in play and putting pressure on them and made them have to make some plays. We did our part, but just came out empty-handed today.”

Gastonia dropped the first of a four-game Memorial Day Weekend series against Lancaster, snapping its six-game winning streak and falling to 18-7.

First pitch on Saturday is at 6:35 p.m.

Game postponed due to weather conditions.

Game postponed due to weather conditions.

Gastonia splits Memorial Day Doubleheader, blows 3-0 lead in Game 2

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Honey Hunters were six outs away from sweeping the Barnstormers in Monday’s Memorial Day doubleheader, as they were winning 3-0 in the sixth inning of a seven-inning affair.

Lancaster’s Chris Proctor’s go-ahead grand slam off Tyler Thomas gave the Barnstormers a come-from-behind victory, as Gastonia lost the second game 4-3.

Gastonia dominated Lancaster in Game 1, winning 9-1.

Zach Jarrett hit two home runs – one in the second and one in the fourth – to give him 12 on the year, which is the most in the Atlantic League.

Both of Jarrett’s bombs were two-run shots, so including a run-scoring single he hit in the first inning, Jarrett had five RBIs in the game.

Jarrett’s RBI single produced the first of five runs scored in the first for the Honey Hunters against Lancaster starter Jake Lemoine.

Carlos Franco followed up Jarrett’s single with a two-run double hit to left-center field that split the outfielders and went to the wall.

Steven Sensley and Braxton Davidson each then had run-scoring base hits.

Gastonia scored five runs on six hits, and that’s all the team needed to defeat the Barnstormers.

Jarrett added in a couple homers after the first, and that was all the scoring for the Honey Hunters.

Alex Sanabia had a great outing for Gastonia, throwing five innings of one-run ball and once again not issuing a walk.

He’s now not allowed a batter to reach base via the free pass in three straight starts, and has walked just two while striking out 25 this season.

Sanabia’s goal each year is to have fewer walks than outings.

He’s allowed two walks in six games.

And he helped his team win Game 1 against the Barnstormers.

It looked like his team was also going to win the second game of the doubleheader, but everything changed with one swing – Proctor’s grand slam that he pulled over the right field wall.

The Honey Hunters led 3-0 after Curtis Terry hit his third homer of the year, a solo shot into the parking lot beyond left field, and Carlos Franco hit a ball 417 feet to dead center for a two-run shot.

Zack Godley was on the mound for Gastonia, and he was having a phenomenal performance through five frames.

The right hander pitched five scoreless innings, walking just one and striking out seven.

The sixth, however, was a different story.

Godley was facing the top of the order for the third time, and allowed a leadoff walk to Melvin Mercedes and a single to Andretty Cordero.

After recording his eighth strikeout of the game, Godley walked Trayvon Robinson to load the bases with one out.

Into the game came Tyler Thomas in relief, who has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the league in 2023.

He had only given up one earned run and had struck out 28 in 17.1 innings.

The southpaw was the obvious choice to put into the game in this situation, especially because the lefty Proctor was on deck.

Thomas got Joseph Carpenter to strike out swinging before he faced Proctor, who represented the go-ahead run with the bases juiced and two outs.

The lefty threw 11 pitches in the inning. He threw a slider once.

And the only slider Thomas threw was an 0-1 hanger that Proctor drilled to deep right.

When it landed it gave the Barnstormers a 4-3 lead, which they didn’t relinquish.

Gastonia now has a record of 19-8, and the Honey Hunters are a game and a half behind the High Point Rockers for first place in the South Division.

The two best teams in the Atlantic League will now meet for a three-game set.

The Honey Hunters are hosting the Rockers, and first pitch on Tuesday is at 6:35 p.m.

Gastonia blows late-inning lead for second straight game, loses to rival High Point 10-8

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Just like on Monday night against the Barnstormers, the Gastonia Honey Hunters couldn’t hold on while leading in the penultimate inning on Tuesday night against the Rockers.

The Honey Hunters entered the eighth leading 8-6, and ended up losing 10-8 because of Beau Taylor’s go-ahead three-run home run off David Richardson.

One swing of the bat was all it took for Gastonia to blow a lead for the second straight night.

Richardson entered the game with his team up by two against the first-place Rockers.

He allowed singles to Ben Aklinski and Ryan Grotjohn before Taylor came up to the plate representing the go-ahead run.

Taylor pulled the ball to deep right, admiring the ball as it sailed 382 feet from home plate. When it landed, it gave the Rockers a lead that they didn’t relinquish.

Gastonia’s offense did its part on Tuesday.

The Honey Hunters scored eight runs on 12 hits, and the team got out to an early lead for starter Ian McKinney.

J.C. Escarra and Carlos Franco each hit their eighth home run of the year in the first inning. Escarra pulled his homer to right, while Franco went the other way for an oppo taco.

Gastonia added to its lead in the third, when Cole Freeman led off the frame with a double, stole third and then scored on Escarra’s single.

After Franco walked, Curtis Terry hit a sharp liner down the left-field corner that scored two more runs.

The Honey Hunters led 5-0 after three.

High Point scored a run in the top of the fourth, but Gastonia answered right back with a Jack Reinheimer infield RBI single, scoring Scott Manea.

The Honey Hunters had a comfortable 6-1 lead heading into the sixth.

But the tables started to turn.

McKinney, who had only given up two baserunners through five, gave up four runs on four hits in the frame.

The big hit was a two-run homer by Michael Martinez, who collected four RBIs in the game.

Gastonia now only led 6-5, but got some breathing room thanks to an Escarra two-run single off the right-field wall.

High Point immediately had an answer, with Martinez picking up his fourth RBI on a groundout that plated John Daly.

The score was then 8-6 Honey Hunters, and that’s when High Point had its second four-run inning of the game.

The Taylor moonshot made it 9-8 Rockers, and then Michael Russell gave his team an insurance run by hitting it out of the park a few batters later.

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo stressed how the blown lead was even more impactful on Tuesday than it was Monday because of how well the offense played.

“It’s definitely deflating,” Gozzo said. “You score eight runs against that team… you like your chances. And you gotta give them credit. They fought back, they chipped away.”

The Rockers held on for the 10-8 comeback victory to take the first of the three-game set between the top two teams in the Atlantic League.

The Honey Hunters will try to even the series with the Rockers on Wednesday.

First pitch is at 6:35 p.m.

Honey Hunters rock High Point pitching, record 17 hits in 14-10 W

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters scored 10 runs in the first two innings, batting around the order in both frames, as they totalled 17 hits and beat the High Point Rockers 14-10 on Wednesday night.

The offensive explosion started early, and Gastonia never looked back after having a 10-0 lead through two.

The Honey Hunters put up a six-spot on seven hits in the first against Rockers starter Matt Solter.

Jack Reinheimer started off the game for the Gastonia offense with a single, and then also had a run-scoring single when he batted again in the inning.

There were also hits by J.C. Escarra, Curtis Terry, Steven Sensley, Scott Manea and Luis Curbelo – all in the opening frame.

The Honey Hunters have been known to score via the long ball this year, but on Wednesday night they scored by stringing hits together and battling against High Point pitching.

They added four more runs in the second, as Sensley hit a two-run triple off the left-center field wall, just beyond the leaping attempt of center fielder John Daly.

Daly jumped into the wall, while the ball caromed far enough for Sensley to make it to third.

Just like that, Sensley had three runs driven in after two at-bats.

After Manea worked a walk, Braxton Davidson hit an RBI double, scoring Sensley.

Curbelo then hit a groundout that plated Manea, giving the Honey Hunters their 10-0 lead after two.

Zach Mort got the start for Gastonia, coming off his only start of the year in which he threw six hitless innings against Lexington.

His stat line wasn’t the best, but in the grand scheme of things he gave his team exactly what it needed – five solid innings while maintaining the large lead.

Mort pitched five, giving up four runs on five hits.

He gave up two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, giving up home runs to Zander Wiel and Michael Russell.

Gastonia then responded in the bottom of the fifth with a couple runs of its own.

The 2-3-4 in the batting order did what they’ve been doing all season long – driving in runs.

Escarra and Zach Jarrett hit back-to-back doubles, and then Carlos Franco’s single plated Jarrett.

There are six hitters in the Atlantic League with at least 30 RBIs.

Escarra (31), Jarrett (30) and Franco (32) are three of them.

Mort exited the game with the Honey Hunters up 12-4.

The score became 13-4 after Gastonia’s only homer of the game, belonging to Reinheimer.

His third of the year was a deep drive to left off Taylor Guerrieri.

Reinheimer hit the ball, then watched from the plate to see whether it was going to stay fair or go foul. As soon as it hooked inside the foul pole, he made his way around the bases.

The Honey Hunters shortstop also scored Gastonia’s 14th run in the eighth inning.

He walked for the second time, reaching base for the fifth time on Wednesday.

He stole second base for the second time in the game.

And he scored for the third time, on Escarra’s RBI single.

Reinheimer now has 35 runs and 16 stolen bags, which both lead the league.

The next two highest run scorers? Jarrett with 30 and Escarra with 26.

High Point did threaten in the contest, scoring four runs off reliever Brian Eichhorn in the seventh and a couple off Jaime Schultz in the ninth – the only earned runs given up by the closer all year.

But the Rockers didn’t end up bringing the tying run to the plate, and the Honey Hunters hung on for the 14-10 victory to even the series at a game apiece.

Everyone in Gastonia’s lineup recorded at least one hit, with Reinheimer, Escarra, Jarrett and Sensley tallying three each.

The win came after one of the worst losses of the season for the Honey Hunters, blowing leads of 5-0, 6-1 and 8-5 to High Point the night prior.

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo said how important it was for his team to bounce back and show resiliency on Wednesday.

“After blowing a lead last night, where we felt like we jumped on them a little bit too, and they came back – that one hurt a little bit,” Gozzo said. “But that’s not gonna keep these guys from coming out the next day and being themselves and doing their thing. And they did. And they sustained it for nine innings.”

The Honey Hunters are now a game and a half behind the Rockers for first place in the South Division.

The rubber match between the two rivals is on Thursday at 6:35 p.m.

Perfect ‘Pen: Gastonia pitching retires 13 in a row to win series against rival High Point

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Perfect.

That’s exactly what the Honey Hunters bullpen was in four innings of work on Thursday night, as it helped shut the door on the Rockers in Gastonia’s 7-4 victory to win the series against High Point.

Gastonia pitching retired 13 straight Rockers, tallying seven consecutive strikeouts to end the ball game.

Gunnar Kines got his first start of the season for the Honey Hunters.

He went five innings, giving up four runs and exiting with his team holding just a 5-4 lead.

Sure enough, that lead was big enough for the ‘pen.

Ryan Williamson pitched the sixth and seventh, retiring all six batters he faced with ease.

The southpaw worked a seven-pitch sixth inning, getting a couple flyouts and a groundout to put down the bottom of the order quickly.

He then faced 9-1-2, retiring the side by getting two ground balls – both to Carlos Franco at third – and a strikeout of Michael Martinez, the hitter’s third K of the day.

Williamson needed just nine pitches to get through the seventh frame.

He passed the baton to David Richardson, who was coming off a rough outing on Tuesday night where he gave up four runs on four hits.

The big hit he allowed was the game-winning three-run homer off the bat of Beau Taylor.

Taylor was due up fourth in the inning against Richardson.

The two didn’t get a rematch though, as Richardson struck out the side – the batters all swinging at his curveball in the dirt.

Richardson had a game plan coming into the appearance, and he executed it to perfection.

“Focus. I wanted to attack,” Richardson said. “I know they’re an aggressive team, so I didn’t just wanna feed them fastballs. I know I have a good curveball, so I wanted to get ahead. And once I got ahead, I wanted to put them out.”

And put them out he did.

Richardson fooled John Nogowski, Zander Wiel and Ben Aklinski on his curve down in the zone to get them out on strikes.

Nogowski and Wiel are two of the most dangerous hitters in the Atlantic League, but they were no match for Richardson on Thursday.

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo then turned to lefty Tyler Thomas to get the final three outs.

Thomas had 31 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched coming into the game.

Make that 34 in 20.

Thomas got Taylor, Ryan Grotjohn and John Daly all to go down swinging to close out the contest.

That’s the first save of the year for the southpaw, who has an ERA of 0.90 and has pitched sensationally in 2023 for Gastonia.

The bullpen wouldn’t have had a game to close out, though, if it wasn't for the offense doing its part for the third night in a row against High Point.

Cole Freeman and Curtis Terry had huge nights, as the two have been swinging pretty hot bats recently for the Honey Hunters.

Freeman went 2-for-4 on Tuesday and stole a bag while coming in as the designated pinch runner on Wednesday.

He continued his great play against the Rockers on Thursday, going 3-for-3 and ending the night just a triple shy of the cycle.

Freeman started off the third inning with a double into left-center field, where Daly jumped and the ball went over his head and one-hopped the wall.

He then scored on Jack Reinheimer’s RBI single, which also hit off the left-center field fence.

After Reinheimer swiped his 17th base of the season, Zach Jarrett knocked him in with a two-bagger.

A couple batters later, Terry stepped up to the plate.

Gastonia’s first baseman went 2-for-3 with a home run on Monday and had another multi-hit night and knocked in a couple runs against High Point on Tuesday. He singled and came home to score one of six first-inning runs on Wednesday.

And Terry’s hot bat continued on Thursday.

He capped off a four-run fourth inning, with Jarrett on second after his double, by crushing a baseball beyond the left-center field wall for a two-run shot.

It was Terry’s fourth long ball of the year, and he wasn’t finished there.

The former Texas Ranger hit a run-scoring double in the fifth, as he drilled a ball to deep center and Daly wasn’t able to make what would’ve been an incredible running catch near the wall.

The double plated J.C. Escarra, and it gave the Honey Hunters some breathing room.

After a 5-0 lead became 5-4, Terry’s two-bagger made it 6-4 Gastonia.

Terry’s slugging percentage is now up to .425, and it was only at .330 on Friday, May 26.

He’s seven for his last 16, which is an average of .438, in the past four games.

Gozzo gave much praise to both Freeman and Terry, who have been picking it up at the plate as of late.

“They didn’t get off to the kind of starts that they wanted to, but they’ve worked real hard battling back,” Gozzo said. “They’re pros. They’re pros that have been around a while and understand and they keep working at it.”

Gastonia’s series win means that the Honey Hunters at 21-9 are now tied in the loss column with the Rockers, with High Point being a half game up at 22-9.

The season series is now tied 3-3 between the South Division rivals, with the teams not meeting until June 27 in Gastonia.

The Honey Hunters will now host the Lexington Counter Clocks, while High Point will head home to play Charleston.

The first game for both three-game weekend sets is on Friday at 6:35 p.m.

Franco records 2 of 3 Gastonia hits; Romano and company pitch Gastonia to 3-2 W over Lexington

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia offense that has been so dominant recently mustered just three hits on Friday night against Lexington.

And that’s all the Honey Hunters needed, as they beat the Counter Clocks 3-2 in the first of a three-game set at CaroMont Health Park.

Gastonia was coming off a series win against High Point, the team that had the lowest pitching ERA in the Atlantic League, and was explosive at the plate.

Tuesday: 8 runs on 12 hits

Wednesday: 14 runs on 17 hits

Thursday: 7 runs on 9 hits

However, the Honey Hunters just used the trio of base hits to defeat Lexington on Friday.

Two of the three came off the bat of Carlos Franco.

The first come in the third inning, when Gastonia’s third baseman capped off a two-run frame with an RBI single.

Cole Freeman started the inning by walking.

After stealing both second and third, increasing his swiping bag total to 12 on the year, Freeman was knocked in by a Zach Jarrett single hit to right-center field.

Franco plated J.C. Escarra, who walked for the second time in as many plate appearances, on a hard grounder through the right side of the field.

Franco then hit what ended up being a game-winning home run, which was a bomb to the oppisite field off Lexington starter Yeudy Garcia.

His ninth homer of the season gave Gastonia a 3-1 lead, and the final score of 3-2 made that long ball the difference.

A big reason why three hits is all it took was because of the Gastonia pitching staff.

Sal Romano got his second start for the Honey Hunters, as he started the year as a reliever and has taken up a role in the rotation after the departure of Marcus Walden (Seattle Mariners), Alex Sanabia (Mexican League) and Bryan Sammons (Detroit Tigers).

Romano was phenomenal, allowing just one run in five innings of work – a leadoff home run by Ronnie Dawson.

He got 11 ground ball outs in the 15 batters he retired.

“I was a little bit up at times, but I was able to really execute pitches when I needed to and get a lot of ground ball outs,” Romano said. “If I’m getting ground balls, that means my stuff is doing what it needs to do.”

Romano made just one other start, pitching three scoreless innings. He started his MLB career as a starter for the Cincinnati Reds before becoming a reliever over the past few years. He very much enjoys the starter role, one that he will occupy going forward with Gastonia.

“I think it’s just the routine of it,” Romano said. “My day is coming up. Pregame, and just being able to stretch out a little bit. And just realizing [that] you could be really relaxed starting. When you come out of the bullpen, you’re coming in to get important outs. It’s a different feeling.”

Romano feels good and the numbers have been showing that so far early on in his rotation role.

After going five innings of one-run ball, he handed a 2-1 lead over to Todd Van Steensel, Nick Wells, Ryan Conroy and Jaime Schultz.

The ‘pen took care of the job, giving up just one run combined – a Connor Owings run-scoring triple hit off the center-field wall in the seventh off Wells.

Van Steensel pitched a scoreless sixth, and he still hasn’t allowed a walk or run in his two outings.

Both Wells and Conroy made their Gastonia debuts, as the two relievers were activated on Thursday.

Wells was able to get out of a jam after allowing the run, and Conroy struck out three Counter Clocks in the eighth inning.

Schultz got save No. 8 on Friday, and he’s now tied with Lexington’s Garrett Schilling with the most in the league.

He allowed the tying run to reach base, but struck out Owings to end the ball game.

Gastonia improves to 22-9, while Lexington falls to 16-16 and are now 6.5 games behind the Honey Hunters in the South.

Game 2 between Gastonia and Lexington is on Saturday at 6:35 p.m.

Gastonia puts up 10 runs on 14 hits, destroys Lexington on Saturday

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters obliterated the Lexington Counter Clocks on Saturday night, winning 10-1 and recording double-digit hits for the fifth time in their past seven games.

The Honey Hunters scored 10 runs on 14 hits in yet another game where the Gastonia offense lights up opponent pitching.

Three of the 14 came off the bat of Zach Jarrett, the biggest one being a two-run home run in the fourth inning.

Jarrett’s 13th homer, which is tied for the most in the Atlantic League, capped off an eight-run performance by the Honey Hunters against Lexington starter Pat Ledet.

Ledet allowed the eight runs on 10 hits in just 3.2 innings of work.

While it has usually been the top of the order running the show for Gastonia in 2023, the entire batting order contributed against Ledet and the Counter Clocks pitching staff on Saturday.

Pedro Gonzalez, who was hitting eighth, hit his second homer of the season on a line drive that hooked inside the left-field foul pole.

The left fielder also hit a ball off the left-center field wall, and after the carom, ended up at third base while plating Luis Curbelo.

He went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk in the contest.

Curbelo also had a great night at the plate, hitting right in front of Gonzalez.

He knocked in runs in each of his first two at-bats, hitting an RBI two-bagger in the second and a two-run single in the third.

The Gastonia offense scored in five of the first six frames of the ball game, the biggest inning being a four-run third where the Honey Hunters totalled five hits.

As for the pitching, Zach Godley had by far his best outing of the season.

The right hander has had a trend of pitching really well until allowing a big inning.

Well if you expected a big inning against him on Thursday, you probably ended up disappointed.

Godley threw seven innings of one-run ball, striking out nine. He now has recorded 50 strikeouts, which is 10 more than anyone else has in the league.

All of Godley’s strikeouts were swinging, with seven of the put-away pitches being his knuckle curve.

Kelvin Gonzalez made his Gastonia pitching debut in relief of Godley, throwing a scoreless eighth inning after getting off to a bit of trouble.

After back-to-back base hits to start the frame, Gonzalez got Jesus Tavarez to ground into a 1-6-6-3 double play.

He grounded it off Gonzalez’s bare right hand, and the ball went to Jack Reinheimer at shortstop who stepped on second and threw it onto first.

Gonzalez then struck out Pete Yorgen to end the threat.

Ryan Williamson pitched a scoreless ninth and shut the door on a Lexington team that got out-hit, out-pitched and out-fielded on Saturday night.

Gastonia has now recorded at least 10 hits in five games over the past week, as the offense continues to roll.

Honey Hunters hitting coach Chuck Stewart credits the entire lineup, but points out how valuable the top four of Reinheimer, J.C. Escarra, Jarrett and Carlos Franco have been to this team.

“We got three or four guys that have been on fire, and I think that relaxes a lot of the other guys,” Stewart said. “And they’re putting the bat on the ball. I couldn’t be happier.”

Gastonia is now tied with High Point for first place in the South Division, with both teams owning a 23-9 record.

The Honey Hunters look to sweep the Counter Clocks, with Sunday’s game starting at 3:35 p.m.

Terry hits 3-run walkoff homer, McKinney perfect through 6 frames as Gastonia sweeps Lexington

Game story written by Noah Epstein

Curtis Terry came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, facing Lexington closer Garrett Schilling.

It was a tie game, with the winning run on second.

Terry drilled the first pitch he saw way past the 304-foot sign in left field, and when it landed the Gastonia Honey Hunters won 4-1 and swept the Lexington Counter Clocks.

Schilling threw a first-pitch curveball that hung up in the zone, and Terry took advantage of it to end the game.

“If [Schilling] threw anything over the plate, I was gonna swing,” Terry said about his approach to start the at-bat. “He threw a ball over the plate, it had some spin to it, and I saw it up a bit and swung.”

After Terry rounded the bases and was about to touch home, he channeled his inner Vince Carter and pretended to do a windmill slam dunk while being mobbed by all his teammates at the plate.

The slam dunk isn’t something Terry practiced or thought about before Sunday afternoon.

“Heat of the moment,” Terry said about his walkoff celebration. “And NBA finals [are] going on.”

If you’re wondering, Terry thinks the Nuggets are winning in five or six games.

Gastonia’s player/coach Ian McKinney was sensational on the mound against the Counter Clocks.

He threw seven innings of one-run ball, going six perfect innings to start things off.

That’s right – McKinney retired the first 18 Lexington batters he faced.

The southpaw struck out 11, which is the most any Gastonia pitcher has fanned in 2023. He broke his own game record for this year, striking out 10 on May 25.

McKinney used four different pitches for his 11 Ks: fastball (seven), slider (two), curveball (one) and changeup (one).

While some pitchers may try to be alone with their thoughts and separate themselves from teammates when throwing a perfect game, McKinney has the exact same routine no matter how his outing is going.

“I honestly try to just look at my little girl in the stands,” McKinney said. “I love watching her smile, so every inning I pretty much go up there and make her smile.”

McKinney became a father 10 months ago, and he loves interacting with his baby Eloise during Gastonia games.

“Priceless times,” McKinney said. “And I’m glad that her and my wife are able to be here right now. It’s definitely great.”

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo has certainly noticed how McKinney’s changed since becoming a dad, and he loves the exchanges the father and daughter share during games.

“It’s beautiful,” Gozzo said. “I gotta be honest with you, it’s beautiful. He’s got a whole different perspective I’m sure… I could just tell you the difference between Ian last year and this year. He’s just at ease with himself. His focus and concentration is way up there.”

After retiring the first 18 batters of the game, McKinney allowed a solo home run to Ronnie Dawson to lead off the seventh.

At this point, Lexington starter Steven Colon was scoreless through six innings, so the homer gave the Counter Clocks a 1-0 lead.

McKinney went from being perfect to being in line for the loss.

But after Joey Steele came on in relief of Colon after the stretch, Scott Manea hit a game-tying solo shot into left.

The game remained 1-1 into the bottom of the ninth.

Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco both worked walks, and that led to Lexington manager Barry Lyons deciding to bring in Schilling to face Terry.

One pitch later, Gastonia improved to 24-9 on the year while Lexington fell to 16-18.

Gastonia has a five-game winning streak after sweeping Lexington.

The Honey Hunters will now go on a six-game road trip, starting with the Charleston Dirty Birds on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.

The Counter Clocks will travel to Lancaster to take on the Barnstormers for three games. The first game of the series is on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Franco plays hero as Gastonia wins late-night affair against Charleston

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Tuesday night’s game between Gastonia and Charleston was scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

The Honey Hunters showed up to GoMart Ballpark at 7:47 p.m. because their bus broke down.

The contest was delayed to 7:35, then 8:20, and then finally the first pitch was thrown at 9 p.m.

In what was supposed to be a seven-inning late game, Carlos Franco hit a game-winning three-run homer in the top of the ninth to give Gastonia a resilient and impressive 4-1 victory over Charleston.

Franco’s 10th homer came on a day where his team had nearly 12 hours of travel, being stopped on the side of the road for most of Tuesday.

An understandably tired bunch got slightly over an hour to dress, warm up and take the field against a Charleston team that was certainly well-rested.

Zach Mort was dominant in his third start of the year for Gastonia, throwing five innings of one-run ball and striking out six batters.

His usage of a high fastball, curve with lots of break on it and slider low and away got Dirty Bird batters to chase all game long. Five of Mort’s strikeouts came on his filthy slider.

After the late-night affair was scoreless through three, Gastonia struck first in the top of the fourth.

Zach Jarrett worked a walk, Franco singled and Curtis Terry hit a sacrifice fly to left.

Just like on Sunday when Terry was the walkoff hero against Lexington, the first baseman swung at the first pitch he saw and pulled a fly ball. Although it wasn’t a home run, it still did the job and got the Honey Hunters on the board.

Charleston responded in the fifth frame against Mort.

After a Diego Goris walk, Jose Bermudez laid down a bunt softly up the third-base line. Gastonia catcher Scott Manea barehanded and threw a laser slightly high to Terry at first.

Bermudez was called out, despite Dirty Birds manager Billy Horn arguing the call.

Bobby Bradley was also arguing, despite not being involved in the play, and he got ejected from the game. That was a huge loss for Charleston, as Bradley has been its best slugger all year. His 12 home runs are two shy of the most in the Atlantic League.

After the ejection, Clayton Mehlbauer stroked a ball the opposite way off the right-field wall. Jarrett was giving chase, but the ball caromed enough for Mehlbauer to end up at third with an RBI triple.

The next batter was Yefri Perez, who hit a hard liner into left-center.

Gastonia center fielder Cole Freeman made a diving catch to his right and saved what would’ve been the go-ahead run for Charleston.

The game went to extras tied 1-1, as Ryan Conroy threw two perfect innings for the Honey Hunters, striking out four in a dominant performance.

Gastonia failed to score in the top of the eighth, so Gorris started the bottom of the inning at second representing the winning run.

On the mound? Bryan Blanton.

And in case you didn’t know, he isn’t just a dominant reliever. Blanton’s an athlete too.

Bermudez tried laying down a bunt, and Blanton ran to his right and made a diving catch on a Superman-like full-body extension.

The athlete then struck out two batters to send the game to the ninth inning.

Edison Suriel pitched the frame, with J.C. Escarra starting on second.

Jarrett walked, meaning there was no place to put Franco.

The lefty slugger went oppo, smashing a ball 391 feet over the left-field fence and giving his team a 4-1 lead.

Jaime Schultz then got his league-leading ninth save of the season, not allowing the runner on second to score and striking out a couple hitters.

Gastonia went from not being in any shape to play whatsoever to winning the game in extras.

Manager Goose Gozzo made sure to address his players after their tremendous effort on Tuesday night.

“I told everybody I love them and this team,” Gozzo said. “It is a true team. Players were still diving for plays and wanting to win really bad. Really proud of everybody.”

The Honey Hunters improved to 25-9, while the Dirty Birds fell to 9-24.

Game 2 between Gastonia and Charleston should start at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday. The key word there is “should.”

Five Dirty Birds have multi-hit games as Charleston dominates Gastonia 13-1

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia pitching allowed 13 runs on 15 hits, with five Charleston players recording multi-hit games, as the Honey Hunters got routed by the Dirty Birds 13-1 on Wednesday night.

Gunnar Kines made his second start of the season, and it was a rough one.

The southpaw threw five innings, and let up runs in each of the first four.

Kines surrendered seven runs on nine hits in the five innings, walking and striking out two. The scoring against the lefty was capped off by a Dwight Smith Jr solo homer in the fourth.

Smith had a phenomenal evening at the plate on Wednesday, after not playing the night prior.

He worked a walk in his first plate appearance, and became the first of several runners to reach base against Kines.

Smith then scored on Bobby Bradley’s RBI double to put Charleston up 1-0 in the first inning.

In Smith’s second at-bat against Kines, he hit a single that plated Justin O’Connor to give his team a 3-0 lead.

The third at-bat was the solo shot, which was a curveball that Smith pulled 389 feet to straight-away right field.

Smith’s fourth long ball of the season gave the Dirty Birds a 7-1 lead, and he also walked and scored one of three runs in the sixth.

Gastonia got its lone run courtesy of Curtis Terry, who followed up his double in his first at-bat with a solo dinger in his second.

Terry hit a high fly ball to deep left, Bradley jumped but it was out of his reach and just beyond the wall.

Through four innings, Terry was the only Huney Hunter with at least one hit – having a double and homer.

Terry’s sixth home run ended up being the only offense for Gastonia.

Smith responded with the home run to lead off the next inning, and the Dirty Birds never looked back from there.

Bradley hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, giving him a season total of 13 bombs and 32 RBIs.

Jalen Miller and Zachary Bridges hit back-to-back long balls off Kelvin Gonzalez in the eighth, their first and second homers of the year, respectively.

Smith, Bradley, Telvin Nash, Diego Goris and Jose Bermudez all had multi-hit nights for Charleston, combining for 10 of the team’s 15 on Wednesday.

Gastonia finally got its 10th loss of the year, snapping its six-game winning streak.

As for Charleston, it received its 10th win of 2023 in dominant fashion.

The rubber match is on Thursday at 6:35 p.m.

Escarra’s one-man show not enough, Gastonia drops 2/3 to last-place Charleston

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

J.C. Escarra hit two home runs on Thursday against the Dirty Birds.

They were both solo shots.

And they were the only two runs scored by the Honey Hunters, as Gastonia lost 4-2 and dropped two out of three against last-place Charleston.

Escarra’s first homer was a moonshot to right field, landing 393 feet away from home plate and tying the game at one in the fourth inning.

After Charleston scored three straight runs, Escarra hit his second to dead center in the eighth.

The Atlantic League Player of the Month in April/May started the series 0-for-8, but then got a hit in his final three at-bats, two of them long balls.

Escarra now has 10 homers and 33 RBIs on his season.

While his heroics have helped Gastonia win a ton of games in 2023, the two bombs hit by Escarra were the only runs scored by the Honey Hunters in a losing effort on Thursday.

Sal Romano got his third start of the year, and the score was 1-0 Charleston after he threw his first pitch.

Jalen Miller hit a high fly ball to left, Escarra leapt but it was out of his reach and landed just beyond the fence.

It was Miller’s second home run in as many at-bats, dating back to the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game. And those are the only two homers he’s hit this year.

After Escarra’s game-tying solo shot in the fourth, the Dirty Birds answered when Bobby Bradley led off the inning by hitting a high pop up to shallow left. Escarra came in, Carlos Franco and Jack Reinheimer went out, and the ball fell directly halfway between the two infielders. Bradley ended up sliding in safely at third base, since nobody was covering the bag.

Luis Roman’s grounder to first plated Bradley to give Charleston a 2-1 advantage.

Gastonia’s defensive miscues continued the inning after, as Jose Bermudez led off the frame with a sharp grounder right to Curtis Terry at first.

Terry played it on the backhand, but the ball went right through his glove and into right field. The first baseman went to his dugout after the E3 to retrieve a new mitt.

Yefri Perez then hit a ball deep to right-center field that one-hopped the wall, and he ended up at third with an RBI triple.

This was the fourth triple of the series for the Dirty Birds, and the third that scored a runner.

Miller’s RBI single scored Perez and gave his team a 4-1 lead in the fifth.

Gastonia threatened in the seventh frame, collecting three singles against reliever Victor Lopez to load the bases with two outs for Reinheimer.

The shortstop hit a sharp line drive to center right at Perez for the final out.

Escarra’s second homer cut it to a 4-2 game, and Gastonia threatened once more in the ninth.

Steven Sensley worked a pinch-hit walk, and Braxton Davidson reached base via the free pass as well.

The Honey Hunters had two on with one out, and Cole Freeman came to the plate as the go-ahead run.

Freeman had gotten a hit in his last two at-bats.

He hit a line drive, but right to Miller at second, who tossed to Diego Goris to double up Sensley and end the ball game.

Gastonia, who was leading Charleston in the standings by 15.5 games just a couple nights ago, dropped two straight to the Dirty Birds and lost the series.

The Honey Hunters remain in first place in the South Division, as the High Point Rockers also lost on Thursday night.

They now travel to Frederick, Maryland to take on the Question Marks in a weekend series. Gastonia is 9-0 on the year against Frederick, and it looks to continue its success.

First pitch on Friday is at 7 p.m.

Reinheimer steals home to secure Gastonia’s 5-4 win against Frederick

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia loaded the bases for the third time on Friday night against Frederick in the ninth inning.

The previous two times, the Honey Hunters left the runners stranded.

Pedro Gonzalez was at the plate in a 4-4 tie, facing a full count with two outs. Jack Reinheimer was on third base, representing the go-ahead run.

Frederick reliever Arnaldo Hernandez attempted an inside move to pick J.C. Escarra off at second, throwing over to the bag.

As soon as he threw over, Reinheimer broke for the plate, diving in safely and scoring what ended up being the winning run in Gastonia’s 5-4 victory over Frederick to remain undefeated against the Question Marks.

The Honey Hunter shortstop had not reached base since Tuesday against Charleston. He was one for his last 15 at the dish.

Reinheimer hit a one-out single in the ninth before swiping his 20th bag of the year and getting into scoring position. After advancing to third on an intentional walk issued to Carlos Franco, he made the quick decision to steal home on the pickoff attempt by Hernandez.

Reinheimer’s 21st stolen base and 38th run scored – both of which leads the Atlantic League – was the difference for the Honey Hunters Friday night in a back-and-forth affair.

Franco got the first hit for Gastonia in the third inning – an opposite-field three-run homer to give his team a 3-0 lead. It was his 11th long ball of the season, giving him the most RBIs in the league – 42.

Frederick answered right back in the bottom of the frame when Raudy Read hit a no-doubter to deep left. He dropped the bat and stared at the ball as it sailed off into the night.

Read’s bomb was a two-run shot, so Gastonia’s lead was cut to 3-2.

Zack Godley, who got the start for the Honey Hunters, allowed two runs through four innings, but did not have his best stuff. The current ALPB strikeout leader only fanned one batter and walked three, often getting behind counts and having to work back into them.

His line certainly looked better than how he was pitching through four.

But that changed for the worse in the fifth.

Godley opened the fifth frame allowing five straight hits to the Question Marks.

Luke Becker doubled, which was followed by singles from Craig Dedelow, José Marmolejos, Read and Jimmy Paredes.

The hit from Paredes loaded the bases and knocked Godley out of the game, after he allowed a couple runs and gave up the lead. Frederick now had a 4-3 advantage and the bases were loaded with nobody out.

But in came David Richardson, looking to pull a Houdini Act and escape the jam.

Richardson pulled the act to perfection.

He struck out both Leobaldo Cabrera (the league leader in home runs) and Kole Cottam, and then got Steven Brault to fly out to end the inning.

Richardson used his curveball a lot, fooling hitters on its massive movement from up in the zone to the dirt behind the plate.

The game remained 4-3 Frederick until the top of the eighth.

Franco led off the inning with a single, his third hit of the night and fourth time reaching base.

Cole Freeman pinch hit and bunted Franco over to second.

After a Steven Sensley strikeout, Scott Manea hit a two-out RBI double down the left-field line that plated Franco to tie the game.

This was Manea’s second game-tying hit of the week, as his seventh-inning solo homer on Sunday against Lexington made it a 1-1 game.

Friday’s game was 4-4 heading into the ninth, and Gastonia tacked on another run when Reinheimer stole home on Hernandez’s pickoff attempt.

The Gastonia bullpen was phenomenal, retiring 14 of the final 17 Frederick batters in the game.

Richardson pitched a 1-2-3 sixth after his Houdini Act the inning prior.

Ryan Conroy, Jaime Schultz and Bryan Blanton all pitched scoreless frames, with Blanton picking up his first save of the season.

Gastonia improved to 10-0 against Frederick this season, and look to stay undefeated on Saturday night.

Game 2 of the three-game weekend series is at 6 p.m.

5 homers power Gastonia to 12-7 win, now 11-0 against Frederick

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Five different Honey Hunter hitters launched home runs on Saturday night in Gastonia’s 12-7 win against the Frederick Question Marks.

The offensive explosion started early for Gastonia, with J.C. Escarra hitting his 11th homer of the year to give the Honey Hunters a 2-0 lead in the first. Escarra launched a deep 404-foot drive, well past spectator Craig Dedelow in right field.

The Hunters then added a couple more runs, courtesy of a Steven Sensley double and Scott Manea RBI groundout.

Gastonia scored four runs on four hits in the first against Frederick starter Dustin Beggs.

The Honey Hunters scored in each of the first four innings, scoring nine runs on 11 hits off of Beggs and chasing him out of the game before he could record an out in the fourth.

Frederick’s right hander allowed two more dingers after Escarra’s.

Curtis Terry, who has been swinging a hot bat of late and singled his first time up, hit a 409-foot moonshot to left-center field. It was a solo shot that gave Gastonia a 6-2 lead in the third.

The last homer against Beggs was hit by Zach Jarrett in the fourth.

Jarrett came into the game 0 for his last 15, and struck out in his first at-bat to become tied for the most Ks in the Atlantic League (44).

He snapped the 0-for-16 with a run-scoring single in the second, and then hit an opposite-field two-run blast in his next plate appearance.

Jarrett now has 14 homers, which ties him with Frederick’s Leobaldo Cabrera for the most in the league.

That long ball made it 9-2 Gastonia, as the Honey Hunters were in complete control throughout the game.

The team’s next two home runs came in the seventh frame against lefty reliever Brady Feigl.

Scott Manea and Jack Reinheimer each hit their fourth home run of the year off the southpaw – Manea’s to center and Reinheimer’s to left.

Reinheimer’s was a two-run blast, so Gastonia led 12-4 after it landed.

It was also his third hit of the game, as the shortstop ended up going 4-for-5 and fell a triple shy of the cycle.

The Honey Hunters scored their 12 runs on 16 hits, with four players having multi-hit nights: Reinheimer, Jarrett, Terry and Cole Freeman.

Everyone in the lineup recorded a hit, and Calvin Butler even got a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning. The single was Butler’s first base hit as a Honey Hunter.

Player/coach Ian McKinney started for Gastonia, and he did exactly what the team needed him to do – give them length and hold the large lead.

He went six innings, allowing four runs on five hits.

While it may not seem like a great stat line, McKinney pitched efficiently and helped out a Gastonia team that used five pitchers the night prior.

The lefty gave up solo homers in both the fifth and sixth innings, which was the best-case scenario if he were to get into any sort of trouble.

Both home runs were to lead off the inning, and then McKinney retired the next three hitters without any threat of a rally.

Ryan Williamson came on in relief, throwing two scoreless frames and not letting Frederick come back on Saturday night.

Gastonia is now 11-0 against Frederick this season, and the Honey Hunters look to sweep the Question Marks for the fourth time on Sunday.

First pitch is at 1 p.m.

Game Story coming soon.

KKKKKKKKKKines!!!! Southpaw’s dominant outing leads Gastonia to blank Southern Maryland 5-0

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gunnar Kines had his best outing of the season, going 6.2 scoreless innings and striking out 10, as he helped Gastonia blank Southern Maryland 5-0 on Tuesday night.

Kines was coming off a rough start, allowing seven runs in five innings on Wednesday against Charleston. The lefty gave up nine hits, walked two and struck out two. He got his first loss of the season in a poor outing.

The southpaw was a completely different pitcher on Tuesday.

Kines fooled hitters with his fastball and changeup, with a lot of his pitches located on the outer part of the plate.

“I was getting more ahead of these hitters,” Kines said about the difference from Wednesday’s start to Tuesday’s. “I was able to mix and match… I don’t throw 95, so I gotta be able to at least locate certain parts of the zone a little better than some other guys.”

Kines didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, and only got into one jam. He loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, and David Richardson came in and retired Philip Caulfield to keep Southern Maryland scoreless.

The lefty started the season as a reliever. After four relief appearances, he turned into a starter and just had his best outing of the season against the Blue Crabs.

Luis Curbelo got the scoring started for Gastonia, hitting an opposite-field two-run homer just over the leaping attempt of Braxton Lee in the second frame.

Curbelo’s second long ball of the year gave the Honey Hunters a 2-0 lead.

He went on to get three hits in the game, all off Southern Maryland starter Willie Rios.

Curbelo has quite the difference in his home/road splits.

The second baseman was hitting .240 with a .618 OPS before coming into Tuesday’s game, so those numbers increased.

He has a .159 average and .404 OPS in away games.

“I feel like I’ve always been a home guy,” Curbelo said. “I fall in love with the town, with the fans. And I like to have conversations, small talk with fans on-deck sometimes. It just feels good, it feels at home.”

Curbelo also made an outstanding defensive play on Tuesday.

The first batter Bryan Blanton faced in the eighth inning was Lee, who hit a sharp grounder up the middle. Curbelo dove to his right, fielded and threw from his knees in time. He’s been great defensively all season, and flashed the leather in addition to having a great night at the dish.

Carlos Franco continued his hot hitting, as he came into the game leading the league in OPS and went 3-for-3 with a couple doubles and a walk.

After his first two-bagger, Scott Manea brought him and Zach Jarrett home with a hard grounder up the middle with the infield in. That made it 4-0 Gastonia in the third.

The fifth Honey Hunter run came in the fourth, following Curbelo’s second hit of the evening.

Jack Reinheimer hit a deep drive to left-center off the wall. Curbelo was off to the races, and he scored all the way from first as Reinheimer cruised into second with his 13th double of the year.

Blanton pitched the last two frames, striking out a couple batters and putting the finishing touches on Gastonia’s shutout of Southern Maryland.

The Honey Hunters improved to 28-12, and remain in first place in the South.

The Blue Crabs fell to 23-16, and drop into second place in the North because York won on Tuesday night.

Game 2 of the series is on Wednesday at 11:35 a.m.

Déjà Vu All Over Again: Schultz blows 9th-inning lead, Hunters lose to Crabs 10-9

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Jaime Schultz entered the ninth inning on Wednesday in the exact same situation he faced on Sunday – Gastonia up by four runs.

Just like on Sunday against Frederick, Schultz wasn’t able to get the job done on Wednesday against Southern Maryland.

Gastonia’s closer allowed four runs without recording a single out, as the Blue Crabs came back to beat the Honey Hunters 10-9 after a six-run ninth.

Schultz, who’s 9-for-9 in save opportunities this season, has been dominant in high leverage scenarios this year until Sunday. He’s now made back-to-back appearances where he’s given up a four-run lead.

Gastonia led 8-4 after eight innings.

Schultz gave up a leadoff single to Braxton Lee, then walked a couple batters to load the bases with nobody out. He hit Isias Quiroz with the pitch, which brought in a run. The righty closer was then taken out of the game, as he was replaced by Todd Van Steensel.

Van Steensel, who hadn’t allowed a run in four outings with Gastonia, was roughed up by Southern Maryland on Wednesday. He gave up four straight hits, allowing five runs to score.

Just like that, Southern Maryland had a 10-8 lead.

The Blue Crabs ended strong, and that’s exactly how they started too.

Lee and K.C. Hobson hit back-to-back homers to right field in the third inning off Gastonia starter Sal Romano.

Ryan Haug’s RBI fielder’s choice and run-scoring single helped give Southern Maryland a 4-0 lead after two and a half frames.

The Honey Hunters then exploded for eight straight runs, hitting six home runs over the next seven innings.

The first three bombs were hit by the bottom of Gastonia’s order – Luis Curbelo, Braxton Davidson and Cole Freeman.

All were solo shots, so the deficit was cut to 4-3 after five.

Curbelo followed up his three-hit night on Tuesday with another multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with his second homer in as many contests. He continued his hot hitting at home.

The next three dingers were hit by two usual suspects – J.C. Escarra and Carlos Franco.

Escarra’s opposite-field solo homer in the sixth inning tied the game 4-4.

After Zach Jarrett singled, Franco also went oppo and gave Gastonia a 6-4 advantage.

Franco went 2-for-4 with his 13th long ball and 45th RBI of the year. His 1.158 OPS is the best in the Atlantic League.

Escarra also went yard in the bottom of the ninth, after his team surrendered the lead. His 14th of the season got the Honey Hunters to within one run, but they weren’t able to tie the game.

Although Blue Crabs starter Daryl Thompson didn’t have the best outing, allowing seven runs and 11 hits in 6.2 innings, he made history on Wednesday afternoon.

Thompson became the only pitcher in Atlantic League history to record 1,000 career strikeouts when he fanned Davidson in the seventh inning.

The 37-year-old player/coach has pitched for Southern Maryland for 11 years, recording 95 wins and now exactly 1,000 Ks.

In 25 years of ALPB history, only Thompson has accomplished the feat.

After recording the strikeout, he tossed the ball into the dugout so he could have it forever.

On what was already a magical day for Thompson and the team, Southern Maryland then scored six in the ninth to come back and tie the series at one game apiece.

The rubber match is on Thursday at 6:35 p.m.

Gastonia’s huge 5th and 6th innings helps team take rubber match against Southern Maryland, Hunters win 11-6

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters scored 11 straight runs from innings five to seven, as they beat Southern Maryland 11-6 in the rubber match of the series on Thursday night.

Southern Maryland had a 3-0 lead after four innings of play.

Blue Crabs starter Sandro Cabrera had thrown four scoreless frames, allowing only two hits.

But the Gastonia bats woke up in the fifth, and the Honey Hunters exploded for two, five and four runs over the next three innings, respectively.

Luis Curbelo was a catalyst of the comeback, as he hit a double in the fifth to set his team up with second and third with nobody out.

Steven Sensley then hit a sacrifice fly to right, and Cole Freeman followed up with a run-scoring single to make it a 3-2 game.

Curbelo then had the biggest hit of the evening in his next at-bat.

He hit a one-out, bases-clearing double down the left-field line to give the Honey Hunters a 5-3 lead.

Curbelo, who came into the game 5-for-8 in the series with two home runs, had a couple two-baggers and four RBIs on Thursday.

He continued his hot hitting at home.

Sensley followed up Curbelo’s double with a two-run homer, which capped off a five-run sixth inning and gave Gastonia a 7-3 advantage.

J.C. Escarra led off the seventh by crushing a ball 419 feet to dead center to make it 8-3.

That gave Escarra his league-leading 15th long ball of the season, and his 41st RBI.

Escarra hit two homers on Wednesday, and followed up with his third of the series Thursday. Both bombs he hit in the second game of the series were to the opposite

field, over the short wall in left. He’s hit balls all over the outfield this season, and makes sure to utilize the 304-foot sign in left when he can.

“As a left-handed hitter, my real power is center and right,” Escarra said. “But it’s nice having the short wall when you put a good swing on it. And in a big game, wind kind of blowing out, it works out.”

Gastonia’s left fielder didn’t need the short wall on Thursday, blasting the ball to center over the head of outfielder Jack Sundberg.

Scott Manea joined the hit party with an RBI single later in the seventh, once again cashing in with runners in scoring position. He came into the game hitting .333 with a .916 OPS in that scenario, and continued his clutch hitting.

Manea credited his teammates for making him feel more comfortable at the plate in clutch situations.

“We have a ton of amazing hitters in this lineup, so it really takes the pressure off of each and every one of us every night,” Manea said. “So runners on base, do what you can to find a good pitch to put a good swing on and know that the pressure’s off because the guy behind you can get the job done also.”

All 10 hitters who ended up coming to the plate for Gastonia reached base at least once, and the team totaled 10 hits in the win.

The Honey Hunters got a very solid outing from starter Zack Godley.

Although he struggled with the strike zone early on and gave up three early runs, Godley went six innings and faced the minimum in his final two frames.

He allowed two earned runs, as one was unearned, and struck out five batters in six innings of work.

Godley now leads the Atlantic League with 56 strikeouts recorded.

After taking two out of three from Southern Maryland, Gastonia will now host the Staten Island FerryHawks for the first time this year.

The weekend series begins on Friday at 6:35 p.m.

Jarrett’s 2 homers propel Gastonia to 5-4 win over Staten Island

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Zach Jarrett hit two home runs, each of them over 400 feet long, and helped Gastonia defeat Staten Island 5-4 on Friday night.

Jarrett first teed off in the opening frame, hitting a no-doubter to left to tie the game at 2.

Kevin Krause didn’t move a step in left field, as the ball sailed 407 feet and was hit 111 miles-per-hour off Jarrett’s bat.

Gastonia’s right fielder connected on a solo shot in the fifth inning to right-center, which traveled 437 feet.

Jarrett hit his 15th and 16th long balls of 2023, and now has the most home runs in the Atlantic League.

Honey Hunters manager Goose Gozzo stressed how great of a teammate and person Jarrett is, and how he gives it his all night in and night out.

“[Jarrett’s] a class act all the way around – defensively, offensively, human being, clubhouse guy, great teammate,” Gozzo said. “I saw him today outside picking up balls that were home runs in batting practice. Great kid, great character. I’m never worried about Zach Jarrett. He’s gonna give you 100 [percent] every single time.”

Jarrett’s second bomb gave Gastonia a 4-2 lead after five.

A big reason why the Honey Hunters had that lead was because of their starting pitcher.

Although Ian McKinney was slated to pitch on Friday, the player/coach was signed by the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization before the contest.

Ryan Conroy stepped in for his first start of the season, and he finished with a solid line.

The right-hander went four innings, giving up two runs on five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four.

Conroy has now fanned 12 hitters and hasn’t issued a walk all season.

Jaime Schultz came on for the fifth inning, even though he’s been used in the closer role all season.

Schultz was coming off two bad ninth-inning outings in a row, so he was put in for the middle innings.

“I just thought it was a really good time to give [Schultz] some low-leverage innings in the middle of the game so it’s not just only depending on him,” Gozzo said. “So kind of a little bit less pressure.”

Schultz responded by facing the minimum in the fifth and the sixth, striking out three hitters.

It was still 4-2 Gastonia after six, but Staten Island tied the game in the seventh.

Roldani Baldwin hit an opposite-field two-run shot off Todd Van Steensel to make it 4-4.

The FerryHawks continued to rally against Van Steensel, as Deibinson Romero singled and Garrett Keuber walked with one out.

Mikey Edelman then grounded it sharply to J.C. Escarra, who started at third base for the first time all year.

Escarra fell to the ground on the backhand to field it, got to his feet, stepped on third and threw across the diamond to complete a 5-5-3 inning-ending double play.

Just like McKinney, Escarra was also saying goodbye to Gastonia on Friday.

The Atlantic League Player of the Month in April/May signed with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League, so Friday night was Escarra’s last game as a Honey Hunter.

After the phenomenal double play, momentum was on Gastonia’s side.

Luis Curbelo led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and then a Jarrett double made it second and third with nobody out.

Curtis Terry hit an RBI groundout to short, which ended up being the game-winning run.

Sam Freeman threw a scoreless eighth, and Bryan Blanton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth frame to get his second save of the year.

The last out of the game was made by Romero, who lined it to the left of Escarra. The first-time third baseman ran to make the catch – the final play in his last game with the team in a poetic finish to his Honey Hunters career.

Gastonia became the first team in the Atlantic League to 30 wins, and it improved to a game and a half over High Point after the Rockers lost to Southern Maryland on Friday.

Game 2 between the Honey Hunters and FerryHawks is on Saturday at 6:35 p.m.

Curbelo chucks bat and Staten Island aside, Gastonia wins 7-5 on Saturday night

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

James Pazos came on in relief of Ryan Hartman in the sixth inning.

Gastonia had just taken a 4-2 lead after a Curtis Terry RBI double off the southpaw Hartman.

The first batter Pazos faced was Luis Curbelo, with Terry on second.

Curbelo blasted a ball well over the left-field wall, and before it landed he chucked his bat over-handed across home plate and pulled off an extremely entertaining pimp job.

Once the ball fell into the parking lot after being hit 106 miles-per-hour by Curbelo, Gastonia had a commanding 6-2 lead.

The Honey Hunters ended up beating Staten Island 7-5 on Saturday night, taking the first two games of the series.

Curbelo’s homer was his third long ball in the last five games, and it was part of a four-run sixth frame for Gastonia.

He played third base on Saturday, and got some practice throwing across the diamond when he launched his bat from the grass on the side of the lefty batters box to the grass on the opposite side of home plate.

“I guess I had a little Tim Anderson moment for myself,” Curbelo said. “I didn’t like my called strike three in my last at-bat, and I was kinda frustrated at that ‘cause I’ve been working on my strikeouts and keeping them low… So I got a good pitch to handle, and I just let myself have a moment and… kind of open up the game. So that felt really good.”

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo had no issue with Curbelo’s bat toss, recognizing that it was more about himself than it was about sending a message to Staten Island.

“As far as showing emotion after a home run like that, these guys battle every single day,” Gozzo said. “I don’t think he was doing it to show anybody up, I think he was just doing it because he was that excited.”

The Honey Hunters signed a couple of bats for the series, and both players made their mark on Saturday’s game.

Kevin Santa played shortstop and Alexis Olmeda caught in the contest.

Santa doubled to lead off the fourth, and was plated by Zach Jarrett’s two-bagger to score the first run of the game for Gastonia.

Jarrett then scored on Scott Manea’s go-ahead two-run homer to make it 3-2.

Olmeda capped off the four-run sixth with an RBI triple, scoring Steven Sensley.

Both Santa and Olmeda played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association for the past couple years, and now are back as teammates with Gastonia.

Zach Mort started for the Honey Hunters, and he had a solid outing.

The righty went five innings, allowing two runs, walking three and striking out six. He also allowed six stolen bases by the FerryHawks on Saturday.

Although it was Olmeda’s first time behind the plate for the team, Gozzo stressed that the stolen bases weren’t his fault. He credits them to Mort’s delivery.

“[Mort’s] a high leg-kick guy,” Gozzo said. “We didn’t give the catcher much of a chance to throw anybody out. Olmeda’s got a good arm. He seems to be releasing the ball pretty well. The jump was on the high leg-kick more than it was the catcher.”

After Mort allowed a leadoff walk in the sixth, David Richardson came in the game.

He threw a wild pitch, allowing Jack Elliott to advance from first all the way to third.

Richardson then retired the next three hitters, with Elliott stranded 90 feet away.

He also came out for the seventh, striking out the side – all on his filthy curveball.

Nick Wells entered in the ninth with Gastonia up 7-3. The lefty gave up four straight singles to start the frame, with a couple of them being grounders on the infield that were placed perfectly.

Wells got three more ground balls in the inning.

Unlike previously, this time they were right at infielders.

Santa made the first out from short.

Elliott then grounded it to Curbelo at third, who made the smart decision to come home for the tag play. If he went to first to get the easy out, it would make it a 7-6 game with the tying run on third. Instead, he kept the game 7-5 and the tying run was on first.

Roldani Baldwin then bounced it back to the mound, and Wells flipped it to Olmeda who applied the tag to end the game.

Gastonia will attempt to sweep Staten Island on Sunday at 3:35 p.m.

Jarrett’s 17th HR and stellar pitching leads Gastonia to sweep of Staten Island

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

For the third time in as many games this weekend, Staten Island got off to a lead in the first inning.

And for the third contest in a row, Gastonia answered back to beat the FerryHawks.

Zach Jarrett’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first was all the Honey Hunters needed to complete the sweep of Staten Island, as they won 5-1 on Sunday.

After Brandon Pugh scored his third first-inning run of the series, on Angel Aguilar’s RBI single, Jarrett launched a ball beyond the left-field wall.

His 17 home runs are the most by any player in the Atlantic League, moving past Frederick’s Leobaldo Cabrera. Jarrett also has 43 RBIs, only behind teammate Carlos Franco’s 45 for the most in the league.

Jarrett’s homer gave Gastonia a 2-1 lead, and the pitching staff took care of Staten Island for the rest of the game.

Gunnar Kines had his second straight great outing, allowing just one run on four hits in six innings. He started several hitters off with a curveball, before throwing a ton of changeups and mixing in his four-seamer.

Over his past two starts, Kines has allowed one run and struck out 13 batters in 12.2 innings pitched.

His ERA has decreased from 7.58 to 4.38 after the two starts, and Kines now has a record of 5-1.

Gastonia’s bullpen was perfect on Sunday afternoon.

Todd Van Steensel, Sam Freeman and Bryan Blanton all threw perfect frames in the seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

Van Steensel issued three elevated balls for outs, Freeman struck out two and Blanton fanned one.

Blanton, who’s been dominant all season long for the Honey Hunters, has stepped into the ninth-inning role over the past week while Jaime Schultz has struggled.

The right-hander now has a 1.23 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 11 walks.

With Yankees High-A Hudson Valley last year, Blanton had allowed 11.9 walks-per-nine innings. With Winnipeg of the American Association, he issued 8.3 BB/9.

Blanton has cut that number in half, as he’s given up just over four walks for every nine innings this year with Gastonia. His strikeouts-per-nine is also up to 14%, the highest it’s been since 2019.

Blanton missed the 2020 and 2021 seasons with back-to-back elbow surgeries, so the recovery process has included slowly but surely improving his control.

“Going into 2022, I was kind of trying to find out how to re-pitch again pretty much after missing two full years,” Blanton said. “And I think last year, I started off rough. I kind of found it in Winnipeg, and then this offseason I really focused on finding the strike zone more. And I think it was just the repetition of doing it every day was what really led to the walks being down this year.”

Blanton recorded his second save of the season on Friday, and closed out the weekend sweep of Staten Island on Sunday.

Scott Manea and Luis Curbelo both stayed hot, with Manea homering for the second consecutive game and Curbelo having back-to-back multi-hit games.

Kevin Santa had a couple hits as well, one of them being a hard-hit run-scoring double in the fifth inning. In his second game as a Honey Hunter, Santa recorded his first RBI and also stole his first bag.

The Honey Hunters improved to 32-13, which is their best win percentage (.711) so far this year). They remain in first place in the South by a game and a half.

Gastonia will now travel to Lancaster to face off against the Barnstormers, who are losers of six of their past seven.

The series starts on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Teller Time: Lancaster’s SP dominates Gastonia as Hunters get shut out

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia mustered up just three hits on Tuesday night, as the Honey Hunters were shut out by the Barnstormers 6-0.

Lancaster’s starter Brent Teller was phenomenal all game long.

He was fooling hitters, getting a lot of soft contact and never even allowed a runner to reach second base.

Teller threw seven scoreless innings, giving up just four baserunners – three hits and a walk – while striking out four.

The only three hits by Gastonia were singles by Scott Manea, Luis Curbelo and relief pitcher Ryan Williamson. Alexis Olmeda walked, and nobody else got on.

Sal Romano started the game for the Honey Hunters. After going into the fourth inning allowing one earned run, Romano hurt himself after throwing a pitch to Trayvon Robinson.

He exited the game, and in came Williamson.

The lefty was dealing until the seventh inning, when Kelly Dugan hit a two-run homer and the Barnstormers scored four runs in the frame.

Whether Lancaster tacked on more runs or not, Gastonia wasn’t able to put one across.

Jesus Liranzo struck out the side in the eight, and Andrew Lee pitched a perfect ninth.

The Honey Hunters had hit home runs in 27 straight games, tallying 62 over that mark. The last time they didn’t homer in a game was on May 18.

That streak has ended with the shutout, on a night where the bats never got going.

Gastonia also committed a couple costly errors.

Olmeda dropped a play-at-the-plate throw from Braxton Davidson in right field. Had he caught the ball, he might’ve been able to tag Andretty Cordero and Lancaster wouldn’t

have gotten off to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The play was ruled an error on the catcher.

An error was also charged to Kevin Santa, who’s low throw to first allowed Jake Hoover to score from second on an infield single in the seventh.

It was a sloppy game on all sides of the ball for Gastonia, who had its four-game win streak snapped.

The Honey Hunters fell to 32-14, and are now in first place by just a half game over High Point.

The Barnstormers improved to 18-25, and are still in fourth place in the North.

Game 2 of the series is on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Grand Gonzalez: Gastonia 9-hitter’s slam sparks rain-shortened W over Lancaster

Game Story written by Noah Epstein

Dominic DiSabatino was struggling to find the strike zone in the second inning on a rainy Wednesday night in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The righty starter walked three Gastonia batters, bringing up Pedro Gonzalez with the bases loaded and two outs.

DiSabatino got behind Gonzalez 3-0 before throwing a pitch over the plate.

On the 3-1 count, Gonzalez put a fastball right down the middle 440 feet over the center-field wall, crushing the ball 112 miles-per-hour off the bat.

When it landed, Gastonia had a 4-0 lead.

Gonzalez’s grand slam and five RBI night sparked the Honey Hunters to a 9-7 victory in seven innings over Lancaster.

Gastonia’s left fielder was hitting just .180 with a .601 OPS heading into Wednesday. He had a couple homers with four walks and 21 strikeouts.

Gonzalez’s poor offensive start to 2023 wasn’t apparent in his first action of the series against the Barnstormers, hitting a run-scoring double and scoring in the fourth inning in addition to his grand slam.

He worked two great at-bats against DiSabatino and won both battles to help his team bounce back from its poor performance from the night prior.

But everytime the Honey Hunters scored, the Barnstormers seemed to have an answer against Zack Godley and the Gastonia defense.

Wilson Garcia’s solo home run in the second was the response to Gonzalez’s grand slam.

And Lancaster bounced back from allowing three in the top of the fourth with three of its own in the bottom of the frame.

Ariel Sandoval, who went 3-for-3 with a walk in the game, connected on a solo shot off Godley to start the inning off.

After back-to-back singles by Trayvon Robinson and Garcia, Jack Conley hit a slow grounder to third. Luis Curbelo charged, fielded and bobbled the transfer, which allowed Robinson to score. Yeison Coca then hit an RBI groundout. The play was ruled an E5 on Curbelo, the first of two costly errors for Gastonia.

The second error was in the fifth, when the bases were loaded with Barnstormers with one out in an 8-4 Gastonia lead.

Garcia grounded it right to Curtis Terry at first. He threw to home to get the out at the plate. Catcher Scott Manea threw it to first for the double play, but his throw airmailed Terry and went all the way into the stands.

The throw allowed two runs to score, which made it an 8-6 game.

The Honey Hunters then got a bit of breathing room when Terry hit an RBI single on the first pitch out of the hand of Cole Aker in relief. The base hit plated Kevin Santa, who tripled, walked, stole and scored a couple runs on Wednesday night.

Both Gastonia errors could be attributed to the downpour of rain throughout the evening.

After the sixth inning, the umpire crew got together with managers Goose Gozzo and Ross Peeples to discuss whether or not to continue. When the crew decided to call the game, Peeples and the dugout started screaming at the umps in frustration, as the Barnstormers were trailing 9-7.

The umpires then changed their minds and decided to resume play in the top of the seventh. After two batters, they then called for a 30-minute rain delay.

During the delay, a final verdict was reached – game over.

Gastonia improved to 33-14 and remained in first place in the South.

Lancaster fell to 18-26 and are 7.5 games back of first in the North.

The two teams will play a doubleheader on Thursday to make up for a rainout from when they played in Gastonia.

The Barnstormers will be the home team for Game 1, and the Honey Hunters will be home for Game 2.

The first game is at 11 a.m.

FerryHawks MORTified on Friday night, Gastonia’s starter throws 7 scoreless in 7-1 win

Game story written by Noah Epstein

Zach Mort was absolutely sensational on Friday night, retiring the first 15 batters he faced, throwing seven scoreless innings and striking out 11 against Staten Island.

Mort led the Gastonia Honey Hunters to a 7-1 victory over the FerryHawks in the first of a three-game set.

The right-hander had his best start of the season, as his control couldn’t have been better. He started off most at-bats with a first-pitch strike, usually the pitch being a curveball over the plate.

Mort used his curveball as the put-out pitch on five of his 11 strikeouts, and he didn’t walk a batter on Friday.

He was perfect through five frames, retiring the first 15 FerryHawks he faced.

Deibinson Romero broke up the perfect game with a single to lead off the sixth inning, but then got thrown out stealing. Because the single was erased, Mort ended up facing the minimum through 16 batters.

Mort allowed three hits in his last two innings pitched, and came out after throwing seven frames of scoreless ball.

While Mort was dealing for Gastonia, so was Ryan Hartman for Staten Island.

The southpaw was making his third start, and came into the game with a 9.58 ERA.

But Hartman was phenomenal all game long.

He threw seven innings of one-run ball, not walking a batter either and striking out four.

The lone run scored by either team through seven frames was a Pedro Gonzalez solo shot to left-center.

Gonzalez’s homer was hit 444 feet, 111 miles-per-hour off the bat.

He got on base four times on Friday night, ending the game just a triple shy of the cycle.

Gonzalez doubled to lead off the sixth, and was stranded by the top of Gastonia’s order.

He walked in the eighth to set up first and second with one out for Cole Freeman, with Gastonia still leading 1-0.

Freeman hit a sharp liner into left field, and it got all the way to the wall. Steven Sensley and Gonzalez scored, and Freeman got to third on a two-run triple.

Gonzalez’s next hit came in the ninth inning, as his two-RBI double gave the Honey Hunters a 6-1 lead.

He went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, a walk and two runs scored on Friday.

The one run scored by Staten Island was a Jack Elliott homer off Nick Wells.

Wells came on in relief of Mort, and gave up the long ball to the first batter he faced. He then struck out the next three hitters.

Jaime Schultz struck out the side in the ninth to wrap up Gastonia’s 7-1 win.

The Honey Hunters pitching staff was exceptional, recording a combined 17 strikeouts and not walking a batter.

Gastonia improved to 35-15, and have sole possession of first place in the South since High Point lost on Friday.

Staten Island fell to 15-32, and are still in last place in the North.

Game 2 of the series is on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Franco’s two moonshots power Gastonia past Staten Island 12-3

Game story written by Noah Epstein

Zach Jarrett and Carlos Franco each got three hits and combined for eight RBIs on Saturday night, leading Gastonia to a 12-3 rout over Staten Island.

Gastonia’s three and four hitters dominated FerryHawks pitching throughout the middle game of the three-game set.

Jarrett got a base hit in each of his first three plate appearances, while Franco tallied one on each of his last three.

After hitting a single his first time up, Jarrett capped off a four-run second inning with an RBI double, scoring Kevin Santa.

The other runs were plated on a Cole Freeman three-run homer to left.

Jarrett’s next knock came in the fourth, when Gastonia’s right fielder hit a two-run single to give the Honey Hunters a 7-1 lead.

The next batter in the fourth was Franco, who connected on his first hit of the game – a two-run bomb to deep right-center field. 412 feet later, Franco has given Gastonia a commanding 9-1 advantage after another four-run frame.

Franco made it 10-1 in the sixth with a single plating Freeman.

Gastonia’s lefty slugger tacked on a couple more in the eighth, drilling a ball 435 feet to dead center field.

Both Franco’s homers were at least 110 miles-per-hour off the bat, and they were both well over 400 feet.

Franco now has 15 long balls and 51 RBIs. He leads the Atlantic League in runs driven in, as well as OPS (on-base plus slugging) and batting average.

Gunnar Kines had his third great start in a row, throwing five innings of one-run ball. He wasn’t extremely sharp at the beginning of the game, but settled in and gave his team 15 outs while the bats got going.

Kines is now 6-1 with a 4.42 ERA, which is much better than his 7.58 ERA just a few weeks ago. Over his past three starts, he’s allowed two runs in 17.2 innings pitched.

Luis Curbelo hit his fifth home run of the year, but his first one on the road.

He came into the series hitting just .151 with a .376 OPS in away games, but hit a solo shot in the third inning to keep the hit parade going for Gastonia.

The Honey Hunters scored 12 runs on 14 hits and dominated Staten Island pitchers Ofelky Peralta, Blake Loubier and John Esposito.

They improved to 36-15, which is still the best record in the league.

The FerryHawks fell to 15-33, which is still the worst record in the ALPB.

Gastonia tries to sweep Staten Island for the second time in a week on Sunday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.

FerryHawks put up 6 runs in 5th, Gastonia unable to sweep Staten Island on Sunday

Game story written by Noah Epstein

Ryan Williamson was dominant through four innings on Sunday afternoon in his first start of the season for Gastonia.

He hadn’t allowed a run and struck out seven Staten Island hitters.

Williamson’s dominance didn’t continue into the fifth, as the FerryHawks scored six runs on four hits in the frame and went on to salvage the series, winning 7-2.

Gastonia’s southpaw retired Luis Castro to start off the fifth.

He had thrown 4.1 innings of scoreless ball and his team had a 1-0 lead over Staten Island.

Williamson then allowed back-to-back singles followed by two straight walks, bringing home the tying run.

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo pulled Williamson and brought in lefty Sam Freeman with the bases loaded and still only one out.

Freeman walked in a run and then gave up a bases-clearing double to Angel Aguilar. Kevin Krause followed that up with an RBI single.

Krause went 3-for-3 on Sunday with a pair of run-scoring singles.

After the first out of the inning, seven straight FerryHawks hitters reached base and six of them came home.

Staten Island trailed 1-0, but took a 6-1 lead after five.

Ivan Piñeyro started on the hill for the FerryHawks, and he threw five innings of one-run ball. He kept it a 1-0 Gastonia lead, and finished his outing before the six-run frame.

Staten Island used four more pitchers after Piñero, and allowed just one more run by a Honey Hunters offense that put up 12 the night prior.

The first Gastonia run was a Zach Jarrett RBI single, plating Cole Freeman in the third inning.

Freeman’s run-scoring single made it a 6-2 game in the seventh. His base hit scored Alexis Olmeda, who walked to get on.

Gastonia fell to 36-16 and are now tied for first place in the South with High Point.

The two teams now meet up for the biggest series of the year, with the winner of the three-game set acquiring sole possession for the No. 1 spot in the division.

The first game between the Honey Hunters and Rockers is on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. in Gastonia.

Gastonia slides back into first with big 8-3 W over High Point

Game story written by Noah Epstein

The Gastonia Honey Hunters re-took sole possession of first place from the High Point Rockers on Tuesday night, the Honey Hunters beat their rival 8-3.

In the biggest series of the year for the two teams with 36-16 records in the Atlantic League, it was the Honey Hunters who took Game 1.

After High Point got off to a 1-0 lead in the second, Gastonia responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame.

Curtis Terry hit a 404-foot bomb to left-center, tying the game 1-1, before Cole Freeman and Kevin Santa hit a pair of RBI singles. The scoring came against Jheyson Manzueta, who was making his season debut with the Rockers.

But High Point had an answer to the three-run inning.

After Beau Taylor walked, Daikan Yoh hit a ball 403 feet to the same area Terry hit his dinger. Yoh hit it 108 miles-per-hour off his bat and when it landed the game was all tied up.

Braxton Davidson came to the plate facing Austin Ross in the bottom of the sixth, with the game still 3-3.

Davidson: .152 batting average and the No. 9 hitter.

Ross: 1.17 ERA and no home runs allowed in 23 innings pitched.

Naturally, Davidson took Ross deep and hit what eventually was the game-winning two-run homer.

The Gastonia pitching staff took care of High Point for the rest of the contest.

After giving up the long ball to Yoh, Gastonia starter Zack Godley ended his start strongly, pitching scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth.

Godley went six innings, allowing three runs and striking out eight. He re-took the lead for strikeouts recorded in the Atlantic League with 68 on the year.

After Godley, the bullpen was nails.

David Richardson and Jaime Schultz combined for three scoreless innings to close out the game.

Richardson struck out four batters in two frames, using his nasty curveball as the put-out pitch for all four.

Gastonia manager Goose Gozzo talked about how Richardson’s curveball is one of the nastiest pitches out of any reliever on the team.

“It’s gotta be up there,” Gozzo said. “The amount of swing and misses that he gets on that pitch – and sometimes they’re in the zone, sometimes they’re not.”

Richardson often throws a curveball for a first-pitch strike, and then will get hitters to chase one in the dirt because they may be committing to the fastball.

“He gets a lot of swing and misses on bad pitches, a lot of chase, so that’s what makes it effective. And he can ride that fastball up,” Gozzo said.

Schultz then came in for the ninth, but it wasn’t a save situation because Gastonia’s offense tacked on a few more against the Rockers bullpen.

Terry and Steven Sensley both hit run-scoring singles in the seventh and Scott Manea hit an RBI groundout plating Zach Jarrett in the eighth.

Schultz closed out the 8-3 win, reaching 95 miles-per-hour on the radar gun on one of his pitches in the process.

Schultz mentioned “hitting a five” in the clubhouse to his teammates, and was clearly proud of his fastball on Tuesday.

“Trying to get that velo back every day,” Schultz said.

Gastonia improved to 37-16 and is now a game above High Point in the South.

Each team has 10 games left before the first half of the season comes to an end on July 7. The winner of the division halfway through the year clinches a playoff spot.

Game 2 between the Honey Hunters and Rockers is on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.

Hunters take crucial series from Rockers on 3-hitter

Game story written by Noah Epstein

Gastonia recorded six straight hits off High Point starter Matt Solter in the bottom of the third inning, which led to a six-run frame and helped the Honey Hunters win 7-3 on Wednesday night.

The win secured the series for Gastonia, as the Honey Hunters are now two games above the Rockers for first place in the South.

Solter had retired the first six batters he faced, and also had a 3-0 lead heading into the third.

He had the early advantage because Gastonia starter Sam Gaviglio allowed three runs on two hits and three walks in the second, as High Point struck first and was looking to even up the series at a game apiece.

Solter was facing the bottom of the Honey Hunters order.

Here’s how it went:

7. Steven Sensley – Double

8. Luis Curbelo – RBI Single

9. Braxton Davidson – RBI Single

1. Cole Freeman – Single

2. Kevin Santa – Single

The next hitter was Zach Jarrett, with the bases loaded and nobody out in a 3-2 Gastonia deficit.

Jarrett hit a sharp liner into right-center, bouncing and going right past the running attempt of Michael Martinez in right. The ball went all the way to the wall, allowing all three runners on base to score and Jarrett to end up at third.

“Just trying to get something up in the zone that I can try to drive to the outfield, especially with no outs there,” Jarrett said about his mindset heading into the at-bat. “Something on the ground isn’t gonna do much for us. Just trying to stay disciplined, not trying to help the pitcher out or help the defense out in any way. I was fortunate to get a pitch to do that with, and I was able to cash in.”

Jarrett’s bases-clearing triple gave the Honey Hunters a 5-3 lead, and that’s all they ended up needing.

Carlos Franco tacked on a run with an RBI groundout, and Sensley hit a solo home run in the following inning to make it 7-3.

The Gastonia bullpen was phenomenal on Wednesday, throwing a combined six innings of scoreless, one-hit ball.

Sam Freeman came on in relief of Gaviglio, and he pitched two scoreless frames. Ryan Conroy and Jake Miednik then pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Bryan Blanton got the call for the eighth, retiring the side in order. He then went back out for the ninth and put a couple runners on, but finished off the 7-3 victory.

Jarrett’s been impressed with the bullpen this season, and he recognizes how important it has been to the team’s success.

“It’s huge,” Jarrett said. “It’s been crazy this year because we’ve had so many guys get picked up… Whenever the guys get here, they’re stepping up and doing their thing, which is awesome to watch. It does give you confidence as hitters, and obviously on defense, that they’re gonna go out there and throw strikes and get the job done.”

The Honey Hunters pitching staff allowed just three High Point hits, which is the offense’s lowest amount recorded on the year. The Rockers have seven hits through the first two games of the series.

Gastonia improved to 38-16 after its second win in as many days against the Rockers, who fell to 36-18.

The Honey Hunters will go for the sweep on Thursday at 6:35 p.m.