BARNSTORMERS ERUPT IN FOURTH

Playoff Chase Remains Status Quo

The Lancaster Barnstormers built their biggest inning of the season, scoring nine runs in the bottom of the fourth en route to a 14-8 victory over the Long Island Ducks Tuesday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

With York and Southern Maryland both also winning, the Barnstormers retained their 1 ½ game lead over the Blue Crabs and their 2 ½ game edge on the Revolution.  Lancaster’s magic number with both teams dropped to four.  In addition, Lancaster sliced its magic number with Long Island to two.

Trailing, 6-1, heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Barnstormers would rally against Augie Voight (0-1).  Wilson Garcia opened the inning with a double to right center.  Trayvon Robinson and Joseph Carpenter followed with walks to load the bases.  The first two runs came on outs a sacrifice fly by Jack Conley and a grounder by Trace Loehr with Carpenter in motion.

Then, the inning got away from Voight.  Melvin Mercedes singled into right to cut the lead to 6-4.  Yeison Coca singled as did Andretty Cordero to make it 6-5.  Voight left after walking Ariel Sandoval to load the bags.  Tom Hackimer took over, and Garcia greeted him with a rare three-run single on a drive off the boards in right.  Garcia took second on the throw to the plate and scored the eighth run of the inning when Robinson singled into right.  Carpenter and Conley added base hits to produce the ninth marker of the inning.

Cordero’s second sac fly of the night in the bottom of the fifth stretched the lead to 11-6, but the Ducks fought back.  A homer by Castro in the seventh and an RBI double by Lew Ford in the eighth brought the Ducks back to within three before Conley capped the scoring with a booming three-run homer to left in the bottom of the eighth.

Long Island opened with a four-run first inning off Brent Teller (11-6).  The Ducks scored their first tally on a ground single through the right side by Carlos Castro.  Brantley Bell reached on a scratch single to plate the second run, and Joe DeCarlo, the eighth batter of the inning drove a double down the left field line to score two more for the 4-0 lead.  Scott Kelly lined out to left center for the final out.

The Barnstormers picked up a run in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly to center by Cordero.  An RBI single by Ford and ensuing double by Ruben Tejada in the top of the fourth stretched the Long Island advantage to 6-1.

Lancaster will host the Ducks again on Wednesday evening.  Nile Ball (7-6) will make the start for Lancaster against Robert Stock (9-3).  Fans may tune into FloBaseball, starting at 6:25.

NOTES:  Cordero extended his league leading RBI total to 114, four shy of his record from last season…He has 29 RBI against the Ducks…Mercedes scored three runs and is now at 97 for the year, six shy of the franchise record…In winning his 11^th, Teller tied Dominic DiSabatino and Ball for the most wins in a season since the pandemic…Conley had Lancaster’s fourth five-RBI game of the season…Long Island used up its bench after losing DH Sam Travis to the double-hook rule and LF Brantley Bell to a foot injury from a foul tip.ReplyReply allForward

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