Gastonia erupts for eight runs in seventh, beats Staten Island 11-4

Gastonia was still trailing 3-2 when the seventh inning began, and what had been a tight, well-pitched game unraveled fast. The Ghost Peppers strung together eight runs on seven hits in the frame, seized an 11-3 lead and went on to beat Staten Island 11-4 at CaroMont Health Park.

For six innings, the game looked like it might stay on the rails. Ethan Lindow worked 6.1 innings for Gastonia and allowed three runs, while Charlie Adamson gave Staten Island a strong start of his own. The Ferry Hawks opened a 3-0 lead with home runs from Brandon Wagner and Lamar Briggs, but Gastonia chipped away instead of letting the game get away.

Chandler Seagle put the Ghost Peppers on the board with an RBI single, then Bryson Brigman and Grant Lavigne delivered the two-run burst in the sixth that pulled Gastonia even. That set up the inning that changed everything, and it came as soon as Staten Island turned to the bullpen.

Chris Proctor opened the seventh with a leadoff triple, a swing that announced the inning had shifted for good. Seagle followed with a double that gave Gastonia its first lead, and the lineup kept rotating through with RBI singles as the pressure never let up. Jace Rinehart finished the outburst with a two-run double down the third-base line, the kind of hit that turned a close game into a rout in a matter of minutes.

The finish pushed Gastonia to 31-21 and extended its winning streak to six straight. More than the margin, though, the seventh inning offered a glimpse of what has made the Ghost Peppers dangerous over this stretch: depth through the order, traffic on the bases and the ability to bury a team once the bullpen door opens. That is the kind of late-game punch that can travel deep into a first-half race.

Nate Peden, Jake Rice and McKinley Moore handled the final innings on the mound for Gastonia. The win left the Ghost Peppers in second place in the South Division, five games behind the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, with 11 games left in the first half. Proctor’s leadoff triple also came on the heels of his recognition as the Atlantic League Player of the Week for June 16-21, another sign that the seventh-inning surge was built around the right players at the right time.