STORMERS BATS GO QUIET

Lancaster leaves eleven runners on base in loss to Hagerstown

The Lancaster Stormers dropped the first of a three-game home series against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars 5-1 on Tuesday night. Hagerstown is now 6-7 against Lancaster this season, and 13-50 against everyone else.

Left-handed starters Max Green and Quinton Martinez both had their stuff for Lancaster and Hagerstown, respectively. Each pitcher was unscathed through three innings until the Flying Boxcars drew first blood in the top of the fourth. First baseman Bryce Cannon led off the frame with a single to right. Two batters later, catcher Mark Black shot his second base hit of the night into left. Center fielder Tyler Williams then drove in Cannon with a single of his own, and Haggerstown had a 1-0 edge.

The Stormers immediately got that run back when Slater Schield, who entered the game earlier for an injured Nick Lucky, drove in Mason Martin with a well-struck single into center. But after that, the Flying Boxcars slowly but surely flew away from a stagnant Stormers club.

Hagerstown scored four runs in the next three innings. Cannon doubled home right fielder Cary Arbolida in the fifth. An inning later, second baseman Dante Leach followed up a Williams single with a triple to make it 3-1. In the next top frame, designated hitter Joe De Luca ripped a two-out, two-run double into right, and the scoreboard read 5-1 visitors.

While the Flying Boxcars were steadily getting runs home, the Stormers were finding every which way to leave them stranded. Lancaster left a total of 11 runners on base, nine of them between the fifth and eighth innings. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Lancaster’s RBI leader, Mason Martin, came up with two outs and the bases loaded. The slugger fanned on three pitches. In the bottom of the eighth, recently acquired utility man Scott Kelly stepped to the dish with two in scoring position and two away. The Atlantic League veteran also struck out. It just wasn’t the Stormers’ night offensively.

The second game of the series gets underway at 6:45 on Wednesday. Righty Noah Skirrow (9-3) makes the start for Lancaster, while fellow right-hander Julian Minaya (0-6) takes the hill for Hagerstown. Catch the action on FloBaseball at 6:40.