YORK TOPS STORMERS WITH MIDDLE INNING SURGE

The Lancaster Barnstormers could not have gotten off to a more impressive start Friday evening.

Jared Lakind set the side down on eight pitches in the top of the first.  Caleb Gindl and Michael Martinez greeted Mitch Atkins with back-to-back homers.

That beginning turned out not to be enough as the York Revolution rallied for a 6-4 win in the opener of a three-game series at Clipper Magazine Stadium.  York, winners of 18 of its last 21 games, managed to stay alive in the Freedom Division race with the win after Sugar Land had topped New Britain, 10-5, earlier in the evening.

The Barnstormers held the early lead until the fourth.  Telvin Nash led off the inning with a double into the left field corner.  Lakind (3-3) retired the next two hitters, but Welington Dotel laced his fourth homer of the season onto the right field deck to tie the game.

Lancaster briefly forged ahead again in the bottom of the fourth as Gindl lined a single into right with two outs.  Martinez followed with a double into the left field corner.  Dotel fired a strike to the plate, but Gindl scored with a slide to the infield side of home for the 3-2 edge.

Angelys Nina singled off the wall in right, and James Skelton walked to put two runners on to open the fifth.  The Barnstormers barely missed turning double plays on consecutive smashes to the corners as one run scored.  Nash followed with his 21^st home run of the season, an opposite field blast over the right field tents to give York a 5-3 lead.

Andrew Aplin countered with a homer in the bottom of the fifth, his first in the Atlantic League.  Then, with Lancaster trailing, 5-4, going into the home seventh, the Barnstormers loaded the bases on two singles and a walk.  Peter Tago (3-1) rescued the inning.  The right-hander struck out Destin Hood, got Aplin to foul to third and Anderson De La Rosa to line to left, ending the threat.

After York scored an unearned run in the top of the ninth, Jameson McGrane survived a one-out single by Joe Terdoslavich in the bottom of the inning to earn his fifth save.

The clubs meet again on Saturday evening with Buddy Baumann (2-7) taking the hill against right-hander Dan Minor (4-4).  Fireworks will follow the game.  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, starting at 6:15.

NOTES:  Lancaster was 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the game…Five members of the lineup had multi-hit nights as the ‘Stormers outhit York, 12-7…Matt Marksberry extended his streak of scoreless innings to 7 2/3…Pedro Echemendia has not allowed a run in 5 1/3 innings since joining the Barnstormers…Lancaster is 12-21 when scoring the first run…York leads the War of the Roses, 6-2.