HALTON HAMMERS ‘STORMERS TO WIN

Outfielder Blasts Two Homers in 6-3 Triumph over Southern Maryland

The first lead that Sean Halton gave Lancaster with a home run on Wednesday evening did not hold. So he did it again.

Halton slammed a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to snap a 3-3 tie and send the Barnstormers to a 6-3 victory over the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The left fielder had clubbed a one-out solo homer to left in the sixth for a 3-2 lead.

Terry Doyle kept that lead into the eighth. The right-hander was on a streak of nine consecutive outs when Eric Garcia worked out a walk on a full count pitch with two outs. Doyle came out for Pete Andrelczyk (6-2). Garcia swiped second before riding home on Gary Brown’s single punched into center field, tying the score.

K.C. Hobson and Josh Bell opened the bottom of the eighth with singles off Robert Carson (1-5). Right-hander Navery Moore was summoned from the bullpen. Halton took Moore’s second pitch two-thirds of the way up the left field hillside for his league leading 19th home run of the season.

From there, Cory Burns, who is perfect at home, nailed down his 19th save of the year with two strikeouts after Angel Sanchez banged out his fourth single of the night.

Yusuke Kajimoto gave Lancaster a 1-0 lead in the third with a ground single into right that scored Kevin Ahrens from third.

Doyle stranded six Blue Crabs runners on base over the first three innings but could not get out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth. Following singles by Sanchez, Bryant Nelson and Jamar Walton that loaded the bases, Doyle coaxed an infield pop up out of Gustavo Molina. The right-hander could not get through Zach Wilson, who lined a single over Ahrens’ head at short to drive in two.

The series concludes on Thursday evening with left-hander Anthony Fernandez (1-1) taking the hill for Lancaster against right-hander Brian Grening (6-4). Fans may tune into Blue Ridge Cable 11 or the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, beginning at 7:00.

NOTES: Halton’s two-homer game was his third of the year…He has nine homers in his last 17 games…Every Barnstormer in the lineup had a base hit, but Halton was the only player with two…Doyle worked six or more innings for the 13th time in his last 14 starts…The Barnstormers clinched a tie in the season series, going up, 10-9…Southern Maryland has not won the season set against Lancaster in any of the nine seasons they have met.