Steve Johnson returned to his native Maryland and spun five shutout innings on Tuesday evening as the Lancaster Barnstormers shut out the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 7-0, in the opener of a three-game series at Regency Furniture Stadium.
The former Oriole allowed three singles and one walk over his stint while striking out five. His only trouble came in the third inning. Following a walk to Jose Gonzalez and a single to right by Johnny Bladel, Joey Wong drilled a liner back to the box. Johnson handled it cleanly then doubled Gonzalez off second. Edwin Garcia grounded out to end the inning.
To complete the shutout, John Anderson, Scott Shuman, Jesus Sanchez and Matt Reynolds hurled a scoreless inning apiece. Only Shuman allowed a hit, a one-out single by Frank Martinez in the seventh.
Lancaster’s offense jumped on Alex Boshers (0-1) right away. Darian Sandford opened the game with a single to left center and stole second. Tyler Bortnick rapped a single up the middle to score the run.
Ryan Casteel led off the second with a line drive homer off the tent in left, but it was in the fifth inning that the Barnstormers put the game away. Wong, the second baseman, and Garcia, the shortstop, each contributed an error around a single to left by Vladimir Frias. Sandford was unable to cash in, grounding into a force at the plate. Boshers hit Bortnick to push one run home. Blake Gailen followed with a single up the middle to score Frias and Noel. Sandford scored the fourth run of the inning on a Joey Terdoslavich sac fly for a 6-0 margin.
Sandford’s single off the left field wall drove in Lancaster’s final run.
The Barnstormers visit the Blue Crabs for a 10:35 start on Wednesday. Tommy Shirley (0-0) will make the start against right-hander Casey Delgado (0-0). Fans may tune into the webcast starting at 10:20.
© 2025, Lancaster Stormers. All Rights Reserved.
