BARNSTORMERS GO FOR SUNDAY STROLL

The Lancaster Barnstormers waited, watched and walked their way to victory on Sunday afternoon.

Southern Maryland’s pitching staff combined to walk 11 Lancaster batters and hit three others as the Barnstormers took the rubber game of a series, 10-3, at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The Barnstormers’ first run of the day was set up on consecutive walks issued by Tommy Thorpe (0-2) to start the second.  That eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Devon Torrence.

In the next inning, Thorpe hit Joe Terdoslavich in the back foot with two outs.  The Barnstormers used that as the first piece in a game-tying rally.  K.C. Hobson drove home Terdoslavich with a wind blown double to center.  Anderson De La Rosa evened the game with a ground single up the middle.

Darian Sandford walked, stole second, took third on blown coverage and scored on a single by Michael Martinez in the fourth as the Barnstormers went ahead to stay.

However, the mother lode of bases on balls came in the fifth when reliever El’ Hajj Muhammad put five men on board with walks around Greg Golson’s second hit of the afternoon.  Lancaster parlayed all of that into just two runs having run into an out on the bases in the process.  Muhammad walked Terdoslavich and hit De La Rosa and Golson back-to-back in the sixth, creating more problems for himself.  Zach Shank lined a two-run single into left center, largely putting the game out of reach.

Jared Lakind (3-2) was the beneficiary of the support.  The Lancaster lefty yielded seven singles over the first three innings, including two each by Kent Blackstone, Jon Griffin and Cory Vaughn.  The latter two of that trio each singled home a tally in the third to give the Blue Crabs a 3-1 edge.

The left-hander settled down after those first three innings.  He lasted six, giving up eight hits total.  Lakind walked three and struck out four before giving way to the bullpen.

Lancaster opens a four-game series at BB&T Point in High Point, NC on Monday evening.  The Barnstormers will have lefty Buddy Baumann (2-7) on the hill matched up against right-hander Joe Van Meter.  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, starting at 6:15.

NOTES:  The Barnstormers stranded a season-high 12…Golson had his first three-hit game, and Torrence drove in three runs for the first time…Golson has hit safely in six straight (9-20)…Sandford stole three bases for a league-leading 27…Lakind’s quality start was his fourth…The Barnstormers gave up exactly three runs for the fourth straight game.