The Lebanon Ironmasters, a.k.a. the Lancaster Stormers, broke out the brooms for the third consecutive year with a 6-3 victory over the Charleston Dirty Birds on Sunday afternoon at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
In 2022, Staten Island was swept by the Ironmasters. Last year, Long Island was the victim. This years, the Dirty Birds lost all three as Lebanon has run its record to 9-0 as the Stormers’ alter ego.
On the Stormers side, the Sunday win over Charleston extended a winning streak to seven games, moving Lancaster to within one game of .500 for the season and into a tie for third with the Long Island Ducks.
Justin Farmer keyed a two-run second inning with an RBI double inside the third base bag. Lebanon County native Joseph Carpenter slammed a homer to right center in the fourth, staking Noah Bremer (3-1) to a 3-0 advantage.
Bremer had survived leadoff walks in the second and fourth innings but could not do it again in the top of the fifth. A walk to Lyndon Weaver opened the visitors fifth. Delino DeShields and Gabriel Cancel delivered base hits to produce Charleston’s first run of the afternoon. A second scored when Courtney Hawkins grounded to first. Bremer struck out Keon Barnum to pick up the second out, but Clint Frazier tied the game with a single to center. Jared Carr doubled to left to put two runners in scoring position, but Bremer fanned Dariel Gomez to finish the Charleston fifth in the three-run tie.
Nick Lucky and Trace Loehr singled with one out against lefty reliever Nick Horvath (4-3). Cristian Santana followed with a three-run blast to right center for the 6-3 lead.
Lebanon’s bullpen walked a tightrope the rest of the game. In the sixth, Charleston loaded the bases with one out. Nolan Long got Hawkins to bounce into a force at the plate, and lefty Justin Kelly won a battle against slugging left-handed hitter Keon Barnum, striking him out looking on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.
In the eighth, Stephen Nogosek walked the first three batters he faced, but DeShields was thrown out on a steal attempt in the middle. With runners at first and third, Juan Santana hit a smash off the artificial mound which bounced high to Loehr at second. He started a 4-6-3 double play to get Nogosek out of trouble to end the inning.
Even the ninth produced drama. Kyle Johnson, bidding for his first save, yielded a two-out single to Carr and walked and walked Gomez. Jonathan Soto grounded into a force to end the day with Charleston leaving its 13th and 14th runners on base.
The Stormers will open a three-game series against Hagerstown on Tuesday evening. Carsie Walker (0-1) will be on the hill for Lancaster. The game will be televised on Blue Ridge 11 and streamed on FloBaseball, beginning at 6:40.
NOTES: Carpenter’s homer extended his hitting streak to 10 games…He also flied to the warning track in left twice, with Carr leaping over the wall to bring one back in…Santana drove in nine runs for the weekend and has hit safely in six straight games…Lebanon pitchers walked 10 and struck out 12 on the afternoon.