Blue Crabs rally past Rockers 9-2 behind balanced attack

Southern Maryland turned a 2-0 deficit into a 9-2 opener Tuesday night at Regency Furniture Stadium, answering High Point’s quick start with nine straight runs and a lineup surge that put the first game of the six-game set firmly in the Blue Crabs’ hands. Jackson Loftin, Danny Bautista Jr. and Ryan McCarthy each finished with three hits as Southern Maryland opened the series with the kind of sustained pressure that can make a short series tilt fast.

The Rockers struck first, but the Blue Crabs flipped the game in the middle innings and never gave the lead back. Loftin’s RBI single in the third got Southern Maryland on the board, then McCarthy drove in another run with an RBI single in the fourth to push the Blue Crabs in front 4-2. From there, the lineup kept stacking productive at-bats instead of waiting for one big swing.

McCarthy added the extra-base damage later, launching a solo homer in the seventh. Phillip Sikes followed with an RBI double, Loftin came through again with another RBI single, and Viandel Pena finished the burst with a two-run single in the eighth that stretched the margin to 9-2. The sequence exposed a High Point staff that could not slow the top and middle of the order once Southern Maryland started putting runners on base.

Kyle Virbitsky gave the offense room to work. After a rough opening two innings, he settled in and finished with two runs allowed on six hits and two walks over five innings, striking out seven for his best total since a May 2 outing against High Point. Rafi Vazquez then covered two scoreless innings to shut the door while the offense widened the gap, a combination that kept the Rockers from finding any late answer.

The win pushed Southern Maryland deeper into first-half control in the South Division, where the Blue Crabs have spent much of the season near the top of the Atlantic League standings. It also set up Wednesday’s 6:35 p.m. meeting at Regency Furniture Stadium with a clear blueprint for the rest of the week: when High Point gets the first punch, Southern Maryland has already shown it can answer with patient at-bats, traffic on the bases and a late surge that turns a close game into a statement.