David Hess Returns to Baseball in Rockers 5-2 Defeat at Lancaster
July 18, 2025 - Atlantic League (AtL)
High Point Rockers News Release
LANCASTER, Pa. - The Lancaster Stormers opened a three-game series with the High Point Rockers on Friday night with a 5-2 win at Penn Medicine Park.
The Rockers are now 46-27 on the season and 5-5 in the second half.
The Rockers were led by first baseman Braxton Davidson who led off the fifth inning with a solo homer, his eighth of the year. Later in the fifth, D.J. Burt singled, stole second and scored on a single by Nolan Watson. Davidson and Watson each finished with a pair of hits.
Lancaster scored a pair of runs in the first to go up 2-0. Rockers starter Fin Del Bonta-Smith (L, 0-1) yielded singles to Nick Ward and Yeison Coca before a sac fly from Ariel Sandoval scored Ward. Nick Lucky then reached on an error, allowing Coca to score for the second run of the inning.
Del Bonta-Smith allowed four hits and four runs, three earned, over 4.1 innings with one strikeout.
The Stormers added three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Evan Alexander hit a two-run homer before the Rockers turned to Gabe Klobosits out of the bullpen. Klobosits allowed three hits, the third an RBI single from Nick Lucky to put the Stormers up 5-2.
A pair of High Point relievers made their debuts on Friday night. Former Baltimore Orioles starter and two-time cancer survivor David Hess pitched the sixth and seventh innings and allowed just a single walk without a hit and two strikeouts. It marked Hess' first appearance in a game since 2022.
Also debuting was Scott Rouse, a former pitcher at Radford and the University of Kentucky. Rouse also pitched a scoreless inning while walking one.
Lancaster starter Michael McAvene (W, 3-1) hurled seven innings, scattering six hits while allowing two runs and no walks with five strikeouts. Scott Engler (S, 1) allowed a hit in the ninth to Ben Aklinski but struck out two in earning his first save of the season.
Game two of the series is slated for a 6:45 p.m. start on Saturday night at Penn Medicine Park. Rockers fans can catch the action on FLOBSASEBASLL.TV and on the MixLR app.
High Point returns home on Tuesday, July 22 to start a six-game homestand with the Charleston Dirty Birds followed by three games with the Gastonia Ghost Peppers.
Atlantic League Stories from July 18, 2025
- Crabs Fall, 11-1, In Series Opener Against Legends - Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
- Pitching Brilliance Continues - Lancaster Stormers
- David Hess Returns to Baseball in Rockers 5-2 Defeat at Lancaster - High Point Rockers
- Dipoto Dominates Dirty Birds with 12-Strikeout Masterpiece - Long Island Ducks
- Lexington Cruises to a Series Sweep with an 8-3 Win over Gastonia - Lexington Legends
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