Sunday, April 28 proved to be a historic day for the High Point Rockers baseball team: It was the first time in history that the team ever lost a game. Until then the Rockers had a perfect record.
Of course, one reason for that sterling record prior to Sunday was that the team had only played two games in its existence.
The city of High Point is looking forward with great anticipation to the Rockers’ home opener in BB&T Point stadium on Thursday, May 2; however, the team actually began its season on Friday, April 26 on the road. On Sunday, in Lancaster Pennsylvania, the Rockers – despite scoring in their first at-bat of the game and despite bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the final inning – lost for the first time this season, and first time ever, falling 8-5 to the Lancaster Barnstormers at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
The Rockers did, however, win the three-game series against the Barnstormers; the High Point team took the first two games in the series that opened the season for both teams.
The game that most fans want to see the Rockers win is coming up on May 2 – the very high-profile home opener that will inaugurate the new $36-million stadium. A huge turnout is a certainty and team backers who have worked like crazy to make the stadium a reality would like nothing more than a win to cap off that big night for High Point. The Atlantic League schedulers didn’t make that an easy task, however. That night, the Rockers will play the Sugar Land Skeeters, the 2018 league champions.
It’s a well known practice in college football that homecoming games are usually against a team that the home team is very likely to beat – and its too bad High Point couldn’t use that same strategy to virtually assure a victory for the fans on May 2.
Regardless, there’s more baseball to be played before the home opener. High Point will now continue its road trip with a three-game series this week against the Somerset Patriots in Somerset, New Jersey. If High Point Rockers fans want to see their brand new team in action, all three of those games will be broadcast on the Somerset Patriots’ website.