NEW RULE COSTS BARNSTORMERS

Southern Maryland’s Tony Thomas took advantage of a new Atlantic League rule, racing to first base on Alejandro Chacin’s second pitch.

The move began a cascade of events that eventually produced a 7-2 Blue Crabs victory over the Barnstormers in the third game of a weekend series at Regency Furniture Stadium.

With the Barnstormers leading, 1-0, Chacin replaced Buddy Baumann to open the bottom of the sixth.  Chacin dealt a strike to Thomas, but the next offering bounced behind catcher Anderson De La Rosa.  Thomas took off for first without drawing a throw.  Chacin hit Charlie Valerio with a pitch, and both runners moved ahead on a bunt by Rubi Silva.  Jon Griffin drew a walk, and the tying run scored on Josh McAdams’ slow chopper to short.

Lancaster failed to convert on a bases loaded, one out opportunity in the top of the seventh, and the Blue Crabs pounced.  Edwin Garcia reached on Dan Gamache’s fielding error to open the bottom of the inning.  Matt Marksberry (4-4) hit Joe Benson with a pitch.  Dean Green battled and drilled a single into left, scoring Garcia.  Benson took third on a wild throw home.  Pedro Echemendia took over and hit Thomas with a pitch to load the bases.  A wild pitch scored Benson with the second run of the inning.  Valerio poked a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-1.  McAdams capped the scoring in the inning with a single up the middle after a lengthy at bat.

The Barnstormers were able to narrow the gap in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Joe Terdoslavich that brought the tying run to the plate.  Lancaster could get no closer, and the Blue Crabs put the game away with two runs in the bottom of the eighth keyed by Thomas’ triple to left center off Scott Shuman.

James Dykstra (2-1) got the final two outs in the top of the seventh to earn the win.

The Barnstormers send Kyle Davies (4-6) to the mound on Sunday against right-hander Brandon Cumpton (3-8).  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, starting at 1:45.

NOTES:  The final four innings took two hours, 37 minutes to play…The overall time of 3:47 was the longest for the Barnstormers this season…Martinez and Terdoslavich each collected two of Lancaster’s five hits…The Barnstormers have only 13 hits in the last four games and have gone without an extra base hit in three of the four…Buddy Baumann, who worked five scoreless innings, went for the 10^th consecutive start without a win.