Laio sets Legends record with 21st win in 9-7 victory over Gastonia

Nic Laio took sole possession of the Lexington Legends’ franchise wins record Tuesday night, and he did it in a game that looked a lot like the body of work that has carried him there. Lexington held off the Gastonia Ghost Peppers 9-7 at CaroMont Health Park in Gastonia, North Carolina, as Laio earned his 21st career victory and moved past the tie for fifth place he had occupied only a week earlier.

The Legends built the lead fast and never let Gastonia fully settle in. Eric Rataczak, activated by Lexington that day, put the game in motion with a three-run homer in the first inning, his first home run of the 2026 season. Juan Gonzalez added an RBI double in the same frame, giving the Legends a four-run opening inning and an early cushion before Gastonia answered with a run.

Lexington pressed again in the third. Gonzalez lined a two-run double and Andy Atwood followed with a sacrifice fly, pushing the lead to 7-1. Xane Washington, reinstated to the active list before the game, added another sacrifice fly in the fourth, and a Gastonia miscue in the fifth stretched the margin to 9-3. Lexington did all of that while collecting just nine hits, but the Legends also drew seven walks and took advantage of two errors.

Laio’s line was not spotless, but it was enough to make history. He worked five innings, allowed three runs on nine hits and struck out three. That matched the sort of durable, efficient outing he delivered in Lexington’s season opener on April 21 at Charleston, when he threw five scoreless innings in a 6-4 road win. It also came one week after his 20th career victory, when he became only the sixth pitcher in franchise history to reach that mark.

Gastonia made the night tense with a three-run sixth and another run in the seventh, trimming the deficit to two and forcing Lexington to finish the job late. Connor Cooke steadied the game with 1.2 innings, John Armstrong handled a scoreless eighth and Carson Lambert closed with a perfect ninth for his sixth save. Juan Gonzalez finished with three hits and two doubles, while Rataczak drove in three runs.

The win added another chapter to a June stretch that had already featured two high-scoring Lexington victories over Gastonia, 15-13 on June 9 and 8-6 on June 10. This one belonged to Laio, though, and it left him alone at the top of the Legends’ win list.