BARNSTORMERS FALL IN 10

Successful Opening Trip Ends in Loss

It was clear that Travis Scott won the game.

It was not clear by how much.

Scott belted a deep drive to right center with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning to snap a 7-7 tie and send the Sugar Land Skeeters to a series-ending win over the Lancaster Barnstormers.

Originally, it was ruled that Scott had launched a grand slam for his first home run of the season and an 11-7 Skeeters win.  Replays, however, showed that the ball short hopped the fence in right center for an RBI single with the Skeeters capturing an 8-7 decision.

Ricky Hague led off the 10th with a single off Al Yevoli (0-1).  Josh Prince moved Hague ahead with a bunt, and the Barnstormers opted to walk Jeff Dominguez intentionally.  A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, again inducing an intentional base on balls.  Scott worked the count to 3-1 before his game-winning blast.

The game was tied for much of the night.  Sugar Land raced out to a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the first on five consecutive hits, the fourth of which was a line drive by Kent Matthes off the ankle of starter Bryan Evans, knocking the right-hander out of the game.

Lancaster answered in the second with an RBI single by Chase Patterson, who went 3-for-4 and a three-run homer by Jeff Kobernus.  Matthes tied the game in the bottom of the first with his second RBI infield hit of the night.

The Barnstormers grabbed their third lead of the night as Travis Witherspoon tripled home Michael Crouse and scored on Patterson’s double to left with no one out in the sixth.  However, Lancaster left the bases loaded in that inning and again in the eighth, failing to score again.

A double by Prince and single by Jeff Dominguez put the Skeeters, who left the bases loaded in the fifth, in position to tie the game, but Matt Reynolds held the lead, getting Delwyn Young to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.  However, the Skeeters drew even in the seventh on Johan Limonta’s RBI single to right center off Pete Andrelczyk, following a walk and a passed ball.

The Barnstormers fly home on Thursday morning to face the Somerset Patriots in the opener of a four-game series and the beginning of the 70-game home schedule at Clipper Magazine Stadium.  Right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx will take the hill for the Barnstormers against lefty Jeremy Horst.  The game will be aired on Blue Ridge Cable 11 and will be available through the Barnstormers YouTube Channel.

NOTES:  Kobernus drove in 10 runs on the road trip to lead the league…He has hit safely in all seven games and is 7-for-10 with runners in scoring position…Caleb Gindl has hit safely in all six of his starts…Lancaster played error free on the seven games of the road trip, save for two throwing errors from the mound…The Barnstormers reached double figures in hits in five of the first seven games, totaling 84 hits on the road trip.