Center Fielder Drives in Three in 6-2 Victory
Nick Lucky keyed a four-run first with a bases loaded single and knocked home an insurance run in the top of the ninth as the Lancaster Stormers defeated the Lexington Legends, 6-2, Thursday evening at Legends Field.
Lancaster’s first seven batters of the night recorded positive results. Jeremy Arocho led off with a walk and stole second. Jake Thompson extended his hitting streak to eight games with an RBI single into right center. He was chased to second on Tyler Miller’s single through the left side. Joe DeLuca’s sinking liner to center was trapped by Xane Washington to load the bases.
Lucky then came through with his base hit to left center, his third straight hit with the bases loaded this season, as the Stormers jumped ahead to 3-0. Tyler Robertson sacrificed the runners ahead, and Scott Kelly skipped a base hit under the glove of third baseman Brenden Dixon for a 4-0 cushion.
A fifth run scored in the third inning on DeLuca’s leadoff double into the right field corner, an infield out and Robertson’s sac fly to the left field corner.
Lucky doubled home Thompson in the ninth, securing the win and busting an 0-for-8 drought with runners in scoring position for the Stormers.
Starter Quinton Martinez exceeded 80 pitches in four innings, throwing two-hit shutout baseball. Ronnie Voacolo took over in the fifth and yielded Dixon’s third homer in as many games.
In the sixth, Weston Eberly’s fly ball to center was lost in the twilight by Lucky, resulting in a double. Ronnie Dawson singled into right, and Andy Atwood chased a run home with a force play grounder to short.
In the seventh, Matt Stil, appearing for the first time in a week, issued two walks around a pair of pop ups to second. Andrew Schultz (2-0) came in to face the tying run and struck out Jackson Feltner looking at a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.
Schultz hit Eberly leading off the eighth, but he and Billy Sullivan combined to retire the final six Legends batters to preserve the win.
Noah Bremer (0-1) will make the start for Lancaster on Friday night against right-hander Connor Wilford (1-0). Fans may tune into HTN at 6:50.
NOTES: Thompson extended his hitting streak to eight games…Lucky tied Miller for the team RBI lead with 15 in 15 games…Thompson has driven home 14…Schultz has fanned 12 batters in 6.2 innings of work…Scott Kelly was hit by a pitch for the 99th time in the Atlantic League and fifth time this year…He was 2-for-3 with an RBI on his 35th birthday.