Thompson, Ulrich Propel Lancaster to Win
Jake Thompson drove in three runs on a trio of singles, and Evan Ulrich snapped a 6-6 tie with a bad hop triple in the top of the ninth as the Lancaster Stormers defeated the York Revolution, 11-6, in their spring opener Wednesday afternoon at WellSpan Park.
Sebastian Alexander led off the five-run ninth with a single to the hole at shortstop, and Nick Lucky followed with a ground single through the right side that chased Alexander to third. Ulrich flared a base hit into right to score Alexander. Lucky galloped around as well with Ulrich scampering to third as the ball crazily hopped past the outfield coverage.
Tyler Roberton made it 9-6 with a single to left, the fourth straight hit off right-hander Ryan Shreve. The fourth run of the inning scored when Jalen Battles grounded a double down the third base line. After a slow grounder up the first base line off the bat of Benjamin Rosengard created the first out of the inning, Battles scored on a single down the right field stripe by Scott Kelly.
Prior to the ninth inning, Thompson had provided the bulk of Lancaster’s offense. The left fielder led off the fourth inning with a single to right and scored an unearned run that cut York’s lead to 2-1. He nailed a long single off the towering left field wall to tie the game in the sixth and scored the lead run on a sac fly by Marc Flores.
Thompson’s final blow of the afternoon came in the eighth inning when he stroked a bases loaded single into right, bringing Lancaster within one run at 6-5. The tying tally scored on a double play.
York got two-run homers by Tomo Otosaka and Ben Blackwell. Aaron Bates stretched the Revs’ lead with a two-run single in the home seventh.
Ronnie Voacolo earned the win for the Stormers with a three-batter eighth inning.
Spring training’s “rules” both helped and hindered the Stormers victory. Their sixth inning ended with the bases loaded and nobody out after Flores’ sac fly to left was dropped. Two runs had already crossed the plate. Right-hander Hunter Gregory had already reached his pitch limit.
York never had the opportunity to bat in the bottom of the ninth as the Stormers had used their scheduled allotment of pitching for the day.
The Stormers entertain York at 1:00 on Thursday afternoon in the second game of the exhibition season.
Remember, all Stormers regular season games may be viewed on HomeTeam Network. Fans may subscribe through lancsaterstormers.com in the Game Center section.