The Atlantic League Bullpen, July 5, 2022
July 5, 2022 - Atlantic League (AtL) News Release
Pennant Races: Gastonia claimed its first playoff berth in franchise history with a 4-0 win over the Wild Health Genomes on 6/28... With the second half of the Championship season starting this week, both Southern Maryland and Gastonia are assured playoff spots.
Best Halves: Southern Maryland, with a 48-18 record, posted a .727 winning percentage for the first half, the best half-season mark by any club in league history... The 2015 Somerset Patriots held the previous mark of .714 (50-20).
Player Transfers: Keyvius Sampson from Lexington to the Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Mid-Week Series Standouts: High Point's Giovanny Alfonzo hit .571 (4-for-7) vs. Charleston in the mid-week series... GAS's Joseph Rosa hit three HR in his two games vs. Kentucky... SI's Alfredo Reyes had six hits vs. LI.
Weekend Series Standouts: LAN's Melvin Mercedes went 6-for-11 vs. SI... LEX's Courtney Hawkins and YRK's Carlos Franco each drove in seven runs on the weekend... YRK's Yefri Perez was 7-for-14 vs. Long Island... Kentucky's Tim Peterson picked up saves in back-to-back games at Charleston on 7/2 and 7/3.
Best of the Week: Lexington's Isaias Tejeda hit six home runs, had 28 total bases and drove in 15 runs in eight games including three games of four RBI... Manuel Geraldo (LEX) gathered 14 hits in seven games including three 3-hit contests... Lancaster's Nile Ball fanned 18 hitters over 15 innings in a pair of starts while holding opponents to a .096 average... SMD's Mat Latos and KY's Tim Peterson each picked up three saves during the week.
Long At-Bats: LAN's Anthony Peroni saw 11 pitches from LEX's Thomas Dorminy before grounding out on 6/29... Henry Martinez of Gastonia got Isaias Tejeda of Lexington to pop out after 11 pitches (7/3)... Courtney Hawkins induced Edubray Ramos to walk him on 11 pitches on 7/4.
Team Pitching: Lancaster's pitching staff combined to strikeout 15 Genomes in an 11-inning game on 6/28... SMD held York to three hits in a 2-0 win on 6/28... SMD pitchers fanned 15 vs. York on 6/29.
Batting Masters: Lexington's Brandon Phillips homered on his 41st birthday against Lancaster on 6/28... Cesar Cuevas had three hits including the game-winner in Lexington's 10-inning win over Lancaster on 6/29... The home run race was in full swing on 7/1 as LAN's Kelly Dugan hit his 22nd of the year but LEX's Courtney Hawkins hit No. 22 and 23 that night while YRK's Carlos Franco hit No. 21 and 22... Isaias Tejeda of Lexington had two homers and four RBI vs. Lancaster 6/29... Gastonia's Joseph Rosa had four hits vs. Lexington (7/1)... Courtney Hawkins had both of Lexington's hits in a 2-1 win over Kentucky on 7/4... High Point's Jay Gonzalez drove in five runs in an 8-1 win at Gastonia (7/4).
Pitching Gems: Long Island's Stephen Tarpley fanned eight in six shutout innings vs. Staten Island on 6/28... LAN's Nile Ball struck out 10 Legends in seven innings (6/28) then fanned eight in eight innings vs. SI on 7/3... High Point's Ivan Pineyro fanned eight in six innings vs. CWV on 6/29... Daryl Thompson fanned 11 York batters in seven innings on 6/29.
Walk-Offs: Cesar Cuevas of Lexington got the walk-off hit in the 11th inning of a win at Lancaster on 6/29... Engel Beltre singled in the 11th inning to walk-off Kentucky 2-1 on 7/1... Vladimir Frias singled home the winning run as Long Island walked off York 7-6 on 7/3... A Carlos Castro single for Kentucky walked off Lexington 6-5 on 7/4.
Off-Field: Lancaster played their weekend series vs. Staten Island as the Lebanon Ironmasters... Long Island drew an over-capacity crowd of 6,335 vs. York on 7/1...
League Leaders: SMD's David Harris hit .415 in June to take the overall league batting average top position at .346... The league HR race couldn't get much tighter as Courney Hawkins (LEX) leads with 24 followed by LAN's Kelly Dugan and YRK's Carlos Franco at 23... Franco now has 72 RBI, eight more than Dugan with 64... GAS's Sam Bordner and SMD's McKenzie Mills each has reached eight wins... SMD's Mitch Lambson leads the league with 84 strikeouts... SMD's Ryan Haug leads with 23 HBP including five games of two or more HBP.
Records: With a league-high 92.2 innings this year, SMD's Daryl Thompson is on the verge of his eighth ALPB season of 100 or more innings... Only three other league pitchers have even reached six 100-inning seasons.
Out of the norm: Lancaster coaxed 11 walks out of the Lexington pitching staff on 6/30... Staten Island's Dilson Herrera hit an inside-the-park home run... High Point started Chris Rollins on the mound on 7/3, nine years after he last pitched in an ALPB game for Camden in 2013...
Atlantic League Stories from July 5, 2022
- Gastonia Tops Rockers as Weather Ends Game Early - High Point Rockers
- Early Offense Leads Staten Island Past Long Island - Long Island Ducks
- ALPB Names Carlos Franco Player of the Month - York Revolution
- The Atlantic League Bullpen, July 5, 2022 - AtL
- Atlantic League Names Players of the Month for June - AtL
- Three Unused Ticket Days Announced - Long Island Ducks
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