De La Rosa joins 20-40 club in series win over Blue Crabs
AtL Gastonia Ghost Peppers

De La Rosa joins 20-40 club in series win over Blue Crabs

Published on September 7, 2025 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Gastonia Ghost Peppers News Release


GASTONIA, N.C. - Eric De La Rosa started off a five-run fifth for Gastonia with a solo shot, joining the 20-40 club as the Ghost Peppers won Sunday's rubber match over Southern Maryland, 8-5.

De La Rosa entered Sunday with 19 homers and 42 stolen bases. With his 407-foot moonshot to left field in the fifth inning, the right fielder became the first player in Gastonia franchise history to reach the 20-40 plateau.

Gastonia entered the fifth trailing the Blue Crabs 2-0.

De La Rosa was the first of five consecutive baserunners for the Peppers in the inning - all of them being knocks. Aaron McKeithan singled and Jack Reinheimer doubled to left before Shed Long Jr. brought them both in with a bloop single to center.

Justin Wylie then connected on his team-leading 25th homer of the year, putting the Ghost Peppers up 5-2.

The Crabs answered immediately, hitting two homers in the next half-inning. Sam Dexter led off the sixth with a solo shot off Jake Miednik and Jackson Loftin crushed his third homer of the weekend, a two-run bomb to tie the game at 5.

Kyle Virbitsky worked a great performance outside of the fifth inning, going seven innings and setting down eight straight Gastonia hitters to end his outing. Brandon McCabe came on for the eighth, and the Peppers offense broke out.

Wylie singled to lead off the eighth inning, Cole Roederer walked and Dalton Guthrie knocked in Wylie with a single. Narciso Crook and McKeithan each tacked on RBIs with ground balls to short, and the Ghost Peppers managed to take an 8-5 lead to the ninth.

Sam Bordner picked up his second save with Gastonia, stranding two Crabs and getting Alejandro De Aza to foul out to Roederer in foul territory to end the contest.

Gastonia won the rubber match, clinching the second-half tiebreaker over Southern Maryland in the process. The magic number for the Peppers is down to seven with nine games remaining in 2025. Gastonia heads on the road to face off against Charleston for six games in as many days, with first pitch on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.

Check out the Gastonia Ghost Peppers Statistics

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Atlantic League Stories from September 7, 2025


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