Leobaldo Cabrera came up big for the Spire City Ghost Hounds, tying the game with a home run in the seventh and putting them ahead for good with a single in the eighth. The Ghost Hounds thus avoided the sweep at the hands of the High Point Rockers with a 7-6 victory on Sunday at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Field.
High Point outfielder Ben Aklinski opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the first inning, for a 2-0 advantage.
Outfielder Steven Brault knocked in the Ghost Hounds’ first run of the game with a solo home run, cutting the deficit in half.
In the third inning, it was again Aklinski, who drove in another run with a double. Two batters later, outfielder/infielder Ryan Grotjohn slugged a two-run longball of his own, putting the Rockers up 5-1. It was the sixth home run that Grotjohn has hit against Spire City this season.
The Ghost Hounds got a pair back in the bottom of the third on a pair of solo home runs by infielder Osvaldo Abreu and outfielder Craig Dedelow, who became the Atlantic League’s first on the season to reach the 20 HR/30 SB mark. Through three, Spire City had three hits, all of which were solo shots.
Outfielder Chris Shaw then tied the game in the fourth with a two-run single.
Aklinski struck again in the fifth with a solo dinger, making it 6-5, with the outfielder driving in four of the RBI for the Rockers.
Outfielder Leobaldo Cabrera led off the bottom of the seventh with a game tying homer to left field. In the eighth, Cabrera singled in infielder Osvaldo Abreu, who had doubled earlier in the inning, to put Spire City up by one.
Dovydas Neverauskas, a Lithuanian pitcher with major league experience with the Pittsburgh Pirates, fired a scoreless ninth to record his fifth save of the season to secure the win.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 