July 22-23

The new week started with spotty rain showers and more comfortable temperatures, it's still warm but nowhere nearly as oppressive as the previous few days were. On Monday evening the Barnstormers returned from a week-long road swing for the start of a seven-day homestand, the Sugar Land Skeeters were the opponent. On this night the visitors from Texas scored early and often as they took a 7-0 lead in the third inning. The Stormers got on the board in their half of the third, a two-run double by Jerry Owens and a Ryan Harvey two-run homer made it 7-4. The Skeeters added a run in the fifth to extend the lead to four runs, in the seventh an Owens RBI groundout made it 8-5. In the ninth the Stormers rallied on an RBI groundout from Daryle Ward and a run-scoring single by Harvey but could come no closer as Sugar Land held on for the 8-7 win. Will Savage started and took the loss, Brian Grening finished it in relief. Throughout the game we could see dark clouds to the north, it rained lightly during the middle innings but never hard enough to stop play. Shortly after the game ended it opened up and poured, the rain continued well into the early morning hours. By Tuesday the storms were long gone, in the evening at the ballpark the Barnstormers rebounded from the Monday loss to even the series. Once again the Stormers fell behind early, it was 2-0 Sugar Land into the bottom of the fifth. New catcher Dayton Buller (recently added from the Milwaukee Brewers organization) got the home team on the board with a solo homer, a three-run shot by Ryan Harvey in the sixth upped the lead to 4-2. An RBI single by Jerry Owens made it 5-2 in the seventh and that would be the winning run as the Stormers took it 5-4. Nate Reed won it in relief of starter Derrick Loop, Jason Urquidez picked up the save. The series wraps up on Wednesday with an 11:00 morning game. Take care, thanks for reading.