The Lancaster Barnstormers made the most of a weather-shortened game against the Long Island Ducks late Sunday at Bethpage Ballpark.
With permission from the Atlantic League to shorten the game to seven innings due to excessive heat, the Lancaster Barnstormers banged out a dozen hits to take an 8-4 victory over the Long Island Ducks in the series finale on Long Island.
Greg Golson and Destin Hood led the attack with three hits apiece while Andrew Aplin and Joe Terdoslavich chimed in with two each.
The game got off to a grim start for the Barnstormers, who went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning. Within three batters in the bottom of the first, John Anderson and the Lancaster squad found themselves down, 2-0. Ezequiel Carrera led off with a walk and scored when D’Arby Myers ripped a double inside the third base bag. Myers stole third and scored when T.J. Rivera found third base with his smash which kicked into left field for a single.
Anderson quieted things down and did not allow another hit over his four innings of work. Lancaster bounced back in the third inning. Golson started the rally with a one-out single into center field. One out later, Caleb Gindl walked. Joe Terdoslavich put the tying runs off Kevin McAvoy (0-3) on the board with a long double over Carrera’s head in center.
Hood drove a home run to left center to lead off the fourth inning. Lancaster would add another run on Anderson De La Rosa’s single to left, a wild pitch, and Golson’s second hit of the game.
McAvoy was greeted by four consecutive hits in the fifth inning to chase him from the contest. Gindl doubled and moved to third on a single to right by Terdoslavich. Aplin made it 5-2 with a ground single into right. After a wild pitch advanced the runners into scoring position, Hood singled past shortstop for a 7-2 lead, more than Rivera’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth could overcome.
Scott Shuman (1-1) pitched a perfect sixth inning for the win.
Lancaster is off on Monday and will open a three-game series against the Somerset Patriots on Tuesday. Nate Reed (0-1) will make the start against Somerset lefty Thomas Dorminy. Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel or Blue Ridge 11, beginning at 7:00.
NOTES: Terdoslavich has hit safely in five straight (10-for-17)…Aplin was 6-for-10 in the series at Long Island…Darian Sandford stole two bases as a pinch runner for Hood in the seventh and is now the seventh leading base stealer in Atlantic League history…Hood doubled his hit total on the season…Both of his homers are on the road.