With the second half of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball season looming, one of the most important series of the first half is going on right now.

Gastonia Baseball Club and the High Point Rockers — who are each jostling for the top spot in the South Division just a few weeks before the second half of the 2024 campaign begins — are currently duking it out in a vital three-game stretch with a potential first-half division crown (and a postseason spot) on the line. The two remaining matchups in the series (at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday and Thursday) will be streamed live and exclusively on FloBaseball. 

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It’s a spiritual rematch of last season’s South Division Championship Series between the Gastonia Honey Hunters and High Point, with the current Gastonia club not related to the now-defunct Honey Hunters. As of this writing, Gastonia (33-15 overall) holds a two-game lead in the South on the Rockers (31-17) with 14 games remaining until the second half of the regular season starts July 5.

Gastonia crucially captured Game 1 of the series Tuesday night, winning 7-6 in 10 innings in front of home fans at CaroMont Health Park as designated hitter Dean Miller was the hero with a walk-off base hit. A full replay of Tuesday’s game is available to stream on FloBaseball.

Gastonia Baseball Club Scores

• June 5: Gastonia Baseball Club 6, Staten Island FerryHawks 5
• June 6: Gastonia Baseball Club 8, Staten Island FerryHawks 7
• June 7: Gastonia Baseball Club 9, Long Island Ducks 3
• June 8: Gastonia Baseball Club 6, Long Island Ducks 4
• June 9: Gastonia Baseball Club 12, Long Island Ducks 5
• June 11: Gastonia Baseball Club 14, Lexington Legends 6
• June 12: Gastonia Baseball Club 11, Lexington Legends 3
• June 13: Gastonia Baseball Club 5, Lexington Legends 6
• June 14: Gastonia Baseball Club 6, Lexington Legends 8
• June 15: Gastonia Baseball Club 5, Lexington Legends 4
• June 16: Gastonia Baseball Club 12, Lexington Legends 7
• June 18: Gastonia Baseball Club 7, High Point Rockers 6

High Point Rockers Scores

• June 5: High Point Rockers 7, Long Island Ducks 2
• June 6: High Point Rockers 1, Long Island Ducks 3
• June 7: High Point Rockers 3, Staten Island FerryHawks 4
• June 8: High Point Rockers 8, Staten Island FerryHawks 4
• June 9: High Point Rockers 6, Staten Island FerryHawks 0
• June 12: High Point Rockers 4, Staten Island FerryHawks 3
• June 12: High Point Rockers 4, Staten Island FerryHawks 2
• June 13: High Point Rockers 15, Staten Island FerryHawks 5
• June 14: High Point Rockers 2, Lancaster Stormers 0
• June 15: High Point Rockers 3, Lancaster Stormers 1
• June 16: High Point Rockers 5, Lancaster Stormers 2
• June 18: High Point Rockers 6, Gastonia Baseball Club 7

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Atlantic League Players to Watch

Marc Flores, INF, Gastonia Baseball Club

Flores has been a member of Gastonia for less than a week (he was signed last Thursday), but he burst onto the scene early on in his stint with the team and has the potential to be the high-efficiency type of hitter that Gastonia needed. 

A former MLB Draft pick of the Chicago White Sox and a veteran of independent and foreign-league baseball, the 32-year-old Californian played in Mexico and Venezuela from 2018-23 but decided to come back stateside for the 2024 season, signing with Gastonia as a free agent for his first American club since being with the now-defunct Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League in 2017. 

Flores has a small sample size (five appearances as of the conclusion of Tuesday’s games) with Gastonia, but if you’re a fan of the team, it’s hard not to be encouraged with the type of numbers he’s putting up so far. He’s already up to three home runs and six RBIs in 21 at-bats, batting .333 with five runs to boot, and smashed his second homer in as many games in Gastonia’s Tuesday night victory to help snap High Point’s eight-game winning streak in the series opener. 

Though Gastonia is a solid hitting team (.264 team average, tied-third in the ALPB) overall, it does not currently have a qualified player batting over .300. Flores is on pace to change that and give Gastonia a high-contact option in the lineup.

Ben Aklinski, OF, High Point Rockers

A well-known name to those who have followed the Atlantic League for some time now, Aklinski finished second in the league in RBIs in both 2021 and 2023, in which the former Philadelphia Phillies draft pick crossed the 100-RBIs barrier in each of those seasons. 

Last year was Aklinski’s best in indy ball yet in what was his second season with High Point, smacking 24 homers with 102 RBIs and 31 stolen bases to earn a well-deserved ALPB Postseason All-Star Team selection. There’s been little slump in power for the 28-year-old this summer, either; Aklinski is up to 10 long bombs and 41 RBIs on the year, accounting for a homer and four RBIs by himself in High Point’s narrow defeat to Gastonia on Tuesday night to put him fourth in the ALPB as of this writing in the latter category. 

Together with fellow big bat Zander Wiel (11 homers), the duo makes up one of the best one-two power punches in the entirety of the ALPB as they’ve each been big reasons behind High Point’s rise back up into contention in the South Division. And if the Rockers are able to catch up to and pass Gastonia soon, don’t be surprised if an Aklinski surge at the plate is a major reason why.

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