EARLY SLIPS DEFEAT BARNSTORMERS

Charleston Gains Series Sweep

The night started off in a bad way, and the Lancaster Barnstormers never quite recovered.

Charleston’s first four batters either walked or were hit by a pitch, leading to three runs as the Dirty Birds defeated the host Barnstormers, 9-5, in the finale of a six-game series at Clipper Magazine Stadium.  Each team picked up three wins over the course of the week.

Augie Sylk (4-8) came out on a medical exit during the fourth batter.  Bret Clarke allowed two runs on ground balls before finally getting out of the inning, and the right-hander kept Lancaster in the game until the fourth.  The Barnstormers got one run back in the bottom of the fourth when Melvin Mercedes lined a homer off the tents in right field to extend his hitting streak to 18 games.

Clarke faded in the fifth.  Scott Kelly led off with a single into center, and Alfredo Gonzalez lined an RBI double off the wall in right center.  One out later, Diego Goris continued the attack with a single to left to make it 5-1.  Following a force out, Yovan Gonzalez lined a two-run homer onto the right field deck for a 7-1 lead.

A sac fly by Kelly and RBI single by Alfredo Gonzalez in the eighth pushed the lead to 9-1.

Andretty Cordero slugged a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, and Trace Loehr followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 9-5, but the Barnstormers left the bases loaded later in the inning as Devon Torrence rolled into a 3-1 ground out.

Gavin Weyman (1-0) pitched the middle three innings to earn the win after pitching coach Joe Testa tossed three shutout innings to start the game.

Lancaster heads to York to open a three-game series on Friday with a special start time of 10:00 PM.  Cameron Gann (5-6) will make the start for Lancaster against right-hander Jorge Martinez (7-4).  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube channel, starting at 9:55.

NOTES:  Mercedes is now within two games of the franchise record hitting streak…Alfredo Gonzalez finished the series with five homers and 16 RBI…Cordero extended his hitting streak to seven and now leads the league with 107 hits…He has 71 RBI for the year, 32 away from Aaron Herr’s club record.