Lancaster Drops Fourth Straight

Two guys who started the night batting below .200 were never retired.

Nick Heath (.197) and Angel Garced (.160) combined to go 6-for-6 with three walks to lead the Charleston Dirty Birds to an 8-4 win over the Lancaster Barnstormers Friday evening at Appalachian Power Park.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Barnstormers on their current road trip and, with Southern Maryland winning at home, cut the North lead to 1 ½ games.

All four Lancaster runs scored in the top of the sixth.  With the ‘Stormers down, 2-0, Andretty Cordero reached on an error by second baseman Scott Kelly.  Trayvon Robinson followed with a single to right center.  Both scored when Jacob Barfield launched a double into the left center gap.  Ariel Sandoval singled home the lead run on a base hit to center and stole second.  Anthony Peroni drilled a single into left center than Devon Torrence barely missed catching.

That sequence chased starter Michael Gunn from the game.  Dondrei Hubbard grounded into a force to get a fourth run home for a 4-2 advantage, but Lancaster could do no more against Nate Peden (3-1, 3-4).

Charleston recovered all the runs in the bottom of the inning.  Dominic DiSabatino struck out two of the first three batters, and Lancaster barely missed getting Torrence on a steal attempt.  Yovan Gonzalez grounded a single up the middle to cut the lead to 4-3.  DiSabatino walked Garced before departing.  Scott Kelly greeted Cam Booser with a ground ball on the left side that took a low skip under the glove of third baseman Andretty Cordero as the tying run scored.  Garced and Kelly moved up on Robinson’s throw home.  Both scored on Heath’s ground single up the middle, his third hit of the night.

Heath put the game away with a two-run triple to left center in the eighth inning following a dropped throw and single by Garced.  The center fielder drove in five runs total.

Lancaster will take on the Dirty Birds again on Saturday.  Brooks Hall (2-1) will mark his return, taking on left-hander Denson Hull (2-7).  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube channel, starting at 6:30.

NOTES:  Sandoval extended a hitting streak to 14 games with a pair of singles…Peroni’s hitting streak stands at eight…Lancaster has lost its last three to Charleston…Former Lancaster reliever Ricardo Gomez closed out the game for Charleston…It was his 377^th Atlantic League appearance with five different teams….He broke Ross Peeples’ career mark of 374 several days ago.