PROCTOR’S HEROICS GAIN SPLIT

Gastonia Born Catcher Beats His Hometown Team

The Lancaster Barnstormers had one highlight in Monday afternoon’s doubleheader.

It came from the bat of Gastonia native Chris Proctor.

Proctor launched a two-out grand slam in the top of the sixth in the nightcap to send the Lancaster Barnstormers to a 4-3 victory and a split of a doubleheader against the Gastonia Honey Hunters at CaroMont Health Park.  Gastonia had taken the opener, 9-1, on a two-homer, five-RBI performance by Zach Jarrett.

Proctor rode an 0-1 pitch from Tyler Thomas (2-1) over the board in right to produce Lancaster’s only runs of the second game.  Starter Zach Godley had walked Melvin Mercedes and Trayvon Robinson around a single by Andretty Cordero to load the bases with one out.  Thomas fanned Joseph Carpenter for the second out before Proctor spun the game on one swing.

Nile Ball (1-1) earned the victory thanks to his batterymate.  Ball yielded eight hits, including two homers, in five innings.  He did not walk a batter and struck out seven.

Curtis Terry belted a solo shot in the second inning for a 1-0 lead, and Carlos Franco blasted a two-run homer in the third.  Ball worked out of second-and-third jams in both the second and fourth innings to keep the game close.

Jared Lakind faced three batters in the sixth in his first relief outing of the year.  He struck out two and allowed a single to right by Luis Curbelo.  Mike Adams yielded a sharp single by Pedro Gonzalez to move the tying run to second before retiring Jack Reinheimer on a harmless fly to right to close out the inning.

Andrew Lee retired the side in order in the seventh for his second save.

In the opener, the first five Gastonia batter struck for base hits off Jacob Lemoine (1-3).  Reinheimer and J.C. Escarra reached on singles.  Jarrett banged a base hit to left to drive home the first run.  Carlos Franco nailed a two-run double into the left center field alley for a 3-0 lead.  He, in turn, scored on Steven Sensely’s single to left center.  After Scott Manea was retired on a ground out, Braxton Davidson doubled off the left field screen for a 5-0 lead.

Robinson opened the second with an opposite field homer.  Joseph Carpenter followed with a single, but Alex Sanabia (4-0) retired the next 12 batters he faced.  Jarrett clubbed a pair of two-run homers over his next two at bats to cap the scoring.

The Barnstormers are off until Friday when they will take the field as the Lebanon Ironmasters at 6:35 against the Long Island Ducks.  Fans may tune into FloBaseball, beginning at 6:30.

NOTES:  The second game victory earned the Barnstormers their second road series win of the year…It was their first win in eight tries in a seven-inning game and their first win in a game where the club trailed inside the last two innings…Proctor’s grand slam was Lancaster’s first since Anthony Peroni connected against Long Island, August 11, 2022.