McGOWAN, PHIPPS LEAD SUGAR LAND TO SWEEP

Barnstormers Drop 6-3 Decision in Series Finale

Denis Phipps homered twice, and Kevin McGowan fired six shutout innings early Wednesday to lead the Sugar Land Skeeters to a 6-3 win over the Lancaster Barnstormers, completing a series sweep at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Phipps reached John Anderson (2-1) for a one-out blast to right center in the fourth inning.  Two frames later, the Sugar Land left fielder greeted lefty reliever Matt Marksberry with a drive that landed just shy of the upper walkway in left field, capping the Skeeters’ scoring for the day.

Despite the Phipps heroics, it was a seemingly innocent beginning to the third inning which ignited the Skeeters.

Alvaro Rondon, leading off against Anderson, fell behind in the count.  The Sugar Land shortstop battled through a number of two strike foul balls before legging out a double on a liner to right center.  C. J. McElroy followed with his own double to the same gap, staking McGowan to a 1-0 lead.  Chris Colabello drove home a second run with a sac fly to left later in the inning.

Between the Phipps clouts, Jared Mitchell, who drove in six runs Tuesday night, doubled home a pair in the fifth inning.

McGowan limited the Barnstormers to only two hits and a walk through six innings, but the game started to swing in Lancaster’s favor in the seventh.

Joe Terdoslavich and Josh Bell drew walks from Kevin Comer around a single by K.C. Hobson to load the bases with nobody out.  One run scored on a force play grounder by Parker Morin.  Devon Torrence drove in a second with a two-out single to center to narrow the gap to 6-2.

The Barnstormers were again in business in the eighth inning as Dan Gamache walked on four pitches, and Caleb Gindl dropped down a perfect bunt.  Both runner moved ahead on a wild pitch from James Dykstra.

With the count 3-2 on Terdoslavich, Dykstra was pulled with an injury.  Matt West took over and retired three straight hitters without a ball put into fair territory.  The Barnstormers managed to score Gamache on a wild pitch to trim the lead to three.

Morin led off the ninth with a single, but the Barnstormers never brought the tying run to the plate against Felipe Paulino, who earned his third save.

Lancaster heads to Somerset to open a four-game series on Thursday evening.  Lefty Jared Lakind will make the start for the Barnstormers against right-hander Liam O’Sullivan.  Fans may tune into the Barnstomrers YouTube Channel, starting at 6:15.

NOTES:  The Barnstormers have lost six consecutive games at home…Sugar Land has 16 extra base hits in the last two games with three mutli-homer games…Hobson has hit safely in eight of nine…Torrence’s RBI in the eighth was his first.