DE LA ROSA, SANDFORD LEAD STORMERS TO VICTORY

Lancaster Takes Down Somerset, 11-6

The Lancaster Barnstormers showed again on Wednesday night that you don’t need to hit home runs to score.

Darian Sandford drove in three runs with a single and a triple, and Anderson De La Rosa knocked home two with a double as the ‘Stormers defeated the Somerset Patriots, 11-6, in the second game of a four-game series at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

With the win, Lancaster (20-8) remained two games ahead of Sugar Land in the Freedom Division.

Joey Terdoslavich gave the Barnstormers an early 2-1 lead with an RBI triple into the right field corner after a balk allowed Lancaster to produce its first run of the night.

Then, in the bottom of the second, De La Rosa singled to left and came all the way around to score when starter Kyle Davies (0-2) made a wild throw on Rico Noel’s dribbler up the third base line.  Sandford then ripped a screamer past the drawn-in second baseman Justin Trapp for an RBI single and a 4-1 lead.

The Barnstormers pulled away in the fourth.  De La Rosa’s long double to left scored Grant Desme and Vladimir Frias who had singled to start the inning.  Noel singled De La Rosa to third and stole second.  Sandford walked to load the bases.

Patriots’ reliever Vince Molesky did his job, but his defense faltered, committing two errors to allow three additional runs to score as the Barnstormers broke ahead, 9-2.

A bad throw brought Somerset one run closer in the seventh, and Alex Castellanos belted a long three-run homer in the eighth to cut the Lancaster lead to 9-6.  Sandford took care of the need for a closing appearance by Matt Reynolds with a two-run triple, barely fair, down the right field line.

Steve Johnson (3-1) allowed four hits and two runs over six innings to earn the win.  The former Oriole walked two and struck out six. Adam Weisenburger reached him for a solo home run in the fourth inning.

The two clubs meet for a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 on Thursday morning.  Lancaster will send Brooks Hall (2-1) and Tommy Shirley (3-1) to the hill against Cory Riordan (2-1) and Rick Teasley (0-2).  Fans may tune into the Blue Ridge Cable 11 telecast of the opener at 11:00 AM.  Game two will be carried only on the Barnstormers YouTube Channel.  Somerset will bat as the home team in the second game, a makeup from May 12 at TD Bank Park.

NOTES:  Barnstormers starting pitchers have won 18 games this season…De La Rosa has seven hits in his last eight at bats and is 13-for-28 over his last eight games…Ryan Casteel’s hitting streak ended at nine…Noel went 2-for-3, boosting his league leading average to .423…The club stole two more bases and now has 59 in 28 games…The Barnstormers have gone 53 2/3 innings since their last home run.