York evens series with Flying Boxcars after split doubleheader

York left Meritus Park with the six-game series tied 3-3 after answering a 5-4 walk-off defeat with a 2-1 nightcap win behind Chris Vallimont and a 9-1 rout in the opener of Sunday’s doubleheader.

The bounce-back began after rain pushed a May 21 game out of the schedule and turned the trip into a compressed run of twinbills in Hagerstown. York absorbed the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader on May 23, falling 5-4 when the Flying Boxcars walked it off, but the Revolution settled in quickly enough to salvage the second game, where Vallimont helped lock down a 2-1 win and keep the series from slipping away.

That response carried straight into the next day. York came out of the gate Sunday at Meritus Park and pounded Hagerstown 9-1 in the first game, a margin that flipped the tone of the matchup after the narrow Saturday loss. The Flying Boxcars answered in the nightcap, edging the Revolution 2-1 in extra innings, but by then York had already done the work that mattered most for the series ledger.

The split fit the way these clubs have been playing each other for more than two seasons. Hagerstown opened the Atlantic League rivalry with a no-hitter in the 2024 season opener, and York has had to keep answering in short bursts ever since. A May 8, 2025 rubber-match win for the Revolution, an 11-7 victory that gave York its third series win in four tries to start that season, was another reminder that this matchup tends to swing on one game or one inning rather than long stretches of dominance.

This late-May set was no different. York gave up the opener, steadied behind Vallimont, then broke the next day open with a nine-run performance that restored balance before Hagerstown salvaged the finale in extras. The result left neither club with much separation, only another tight chapter in a rivalry built on close finishes and quick reversals.