MESA’S BIG NIGHT DOWNS ‘STORMERS

York Left Fielder Drives Home Five

The man known as the Baby Shark in York grew up into a full-fledged Great White on Saturday night.

Melky Mesa went 3-for-5 with a homer, triple and five RBI to lead the York Revolution to an 11-3 win over the visiting Lancaster Barnstormers at People’s Bank Park to even the current series at one apiece.

Mesa set the tone for the night with a three-run homer off Buddy Baumann (2-2) in the bottom of the first inning.  J.P. Sportman and Alexi Casilla opened the inning with singles. Baumann retired the next two hitters and had Mesa at 2-2.  The pair battled through several foul balls before the former Yankee slammed his home run over the 37-foot left field wall.

The third inning was keyed by Mesa’s triple.  Again, Sportman and Casilla reached base.  Baumann retired Telvin Nash on a grounder to third.  Isaias Tejeda singled home the Revs’ fourth run.  Mesa drove his triple to dead center over the head of Darian Sandford to drive home two more.  A single up the middle by Welington Dotel advanced the score to 7-0. James Skelton capped the five-run inning with a ground rule double to deep right center.

Lancaster had chances to pull back into the game.  Michael Martinez doubled and scored on a Caleb Gindl sac fly in the fourth.  Parker Morin and Martinez singled home runs in the fifth to cut the York lead to 8-3.

The best chance for the Barnstormers to pressure York came in the seventh when Zach Shank singled, and Darian Sandford walked against reliever Peter Tago before he could record the first out.  Tago recovered and froze the runners in place with a pair of strikeouts and a bouncer back to the hill.

Mesa singled to open the seventh, leading to two more runs.  Telvin Nash homered for the Revs in the eighth.

Dan Minor (2-2) was the beneficiary of the York support, yielding five hits and three runs in five innings of work.

The Barnstormers and Revolution meet for the final game of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon.  Lancaster will send lefty John Anderson (2-1) to the mound against newcomer Duke von Schamann, a right-hander.  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, beginning at 12:45.

NOTES:  The Barnstormers still have not won back-to-back games since May 3-4…Martinez has eight hits over the last three games…Lancaster’s catching corps produced three more hits with two for Parker Morin and one for Brian Mayer in the ninth…Gindl drove home his 26^th run of the year.