Charleston erupts for 16 runs to split series with Hagerstown

Charleston turned Meritus Park into a showcase of its offensive ceiling, unloading 16 runs on Hagerstown in a 16-9 win that evened the six-game set at three games apiece. Carlos De La Cruz set the tone early with a three-run homer in the first inning, and the Dirty Birds kept forcing Hagerstown to chase the game from there.

That opening blast helped Charleston build a 6-0 cushion through three innings, but the Flying Boxcars answered with the kind of rally that kept the afternoon unstable. Tyler Dearden homered to get Hagerstown on the board, then Baron Radcliff and Jordan Peyton followed with an RBI single and a two-run double to pull the Boxcars back into range. For a stretch, it looked like another high-wire Atlantic League game between two clubs that had already spent the series trading punches.

Charleston slammed the door in the fifth. The Dirty Birds scored six times in the inning despite collecting only two hits, a burst that underlined how quickly the lineup can tilt a game once it starts stacking traffic. Narciso Crook drove the biggest swing, lining a three-run triple on the way to a four-hit, six-RBI afternoon that stood as the best individual line in the game. By then, Charleston had turned a tight contest into a deep cushion and essentially decided the series.

The outburst also fit the shape of the week. Charleston had already won the series opener on June 17, 7-6, when it hit three first-inning home runs, a reminder that the Dirty Birds were dangerous from the first pitch when the order was locked in. On Sunday, the same identity reappeared in a different form: power early, pressure in the middle innings, and enough damage to survive whatever Hagerstown found late.

The Boxcars still found one more surge. Darick Hall hammered an eighth-inning homer that traveled 444 feet, and Christhian Rodriguez added another blast to spark a three-run frame. Hagerstown kept battling into the ninth, too, but Charleston had already done enough to secure the split in a matchup between the Atlantic League South Division and North Division clubs.

The game also carried a personal ending. Before his final at-bat, Hagerstown right fielder Tyler Dearden announced his retirement and drew an ovation from the crowd. The 27-year-old finished 2-for-3 with a double and a home run at that point, then added an RBI hit in the ninth, closing a career that included a 2017 draft by the Boston Red Sox and a contract purchase by the Minnesota Twins organization in 2024. In a league built to spotlight big nights and big swings, Charleston’s 16-run eruption left the loudest message of all: when its lineup dictates the game, it can overwhelm almost anything in front of it.