SWARMER PITCHES ‘STORMERS INTO PLAYOFFS

Right-Hander Fans 11 for Second Straight Start

Matt Swarmer struck out 11 Staten Island FerryHawks over six innings to pitch the Lancaster Barnstormers back to the post-season with a 6-3 victory Friday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Lancaster’s win officially locked out the York Revolution and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and sets up a first round meeting between the Barnstormers and Long Island Ducks.  The best-of-five series will open at Clipper Magazine Stadium on Tuesday.

Swarmer (4-1) allowed just five hits while walking one and striking out 11.  He became only the second pitcher in franchise history to strike out at least 10 in back-to-back starts.

Lancaster struck for a pair of runs off Ethan Skuija (0-3) in the bottom of the second.  Chad Sedio lined a two-out single into left and galloped to third on a double by Jack Conley into the corner.  Trace Loehr produced both runs with a line drive single into right.

Staten Island answered in the top of the third as Jack Elliott doubled home Kolby Johnson from third with two outs.

The Barnstormers broke the game open in the fourth.  Chris Proctor singled into center, stole second and third and scored on catcher Chris Suleski’s bad throw into left.  Conley walked and attempted to match Proctor but was thrown out at third.  Loehr doubled to right and scored on a single to the hole at short by Melvin Mercedes.  Yeison Coca brought home Mercedes with a double, stole third and scored on Andretty Cordero’s single to the gap in right center.

Angel Aguilar and Elliott brought Staten Island within striking distance on consecutive homers in the top of the sixth, but Swarmer and Brian Marconi retired the next nine batters.

Mike Adams allowed a double and a walk in the ninth before shutting the door for his 12^th save, locking up the playoff bid.

Lancaster will host the FerryHawks on Saturday with a doubleheader tentatively scheduled to begin at 3:00.  All the action may be caught on FloBaseball.

NOTES:  Mercedes scored for the 101^st time this season…He leads the league in on-base percentage…Cordero broke his own record of driving in other people (RBI – HR) with 101…Lancaster had four stolen bases in the fourth inning and none otherwise…The only other Lancaster starter to fan 10 in back-to-back starts was lefty Kelvin De La Cruz in 2016…Eric Junge and Dwayne Pollok each had double-digit strikeout performances 10 days apart…This will be Lancaster’s eighth trip to the playoffs and second matchup against Long Island.