August 26-28

Tuesday night baseball on North Prince Street as the Barnstormers returned home for a series with the Bridgeport Bluefish. This was actually the fifth straight game between the clubs, the Stormers won four in Connecticut over the weekend. Many of the foreign leagues are ending at this time of year, the Barnstormers roster has been bolstered with the return of Blake Gailen and Wilson Batista from Mexico (Gailen was with Tijuana, Batista with Oaxaca) and pitcher Derrick Loop from a stint in Japan. On this night all three appeared as the Stormers made it five in a row over the 'Fish with an 8-7 win. Brett Carroll's three-run homer in the first gave the home team the early advantage, after the Bluefish got on the board in the second Carroll's third-inning RBI double upped the lead to 4-1. Bridgeport fought back with one in the fourth and four in the fifth to go ahead 6-4 but the Stormers replied quickly in their half. RBI hits by Yusuke Kajimoto, Gabe Jacobo and Blake Gailen put the club back in the lead, a solo homer from Lance Zawadzki in the sixth made it 8-6 Stormers. The Bluefish got one back in the eighth but that would be it, in the ninth Jason Urquidez closed it out for winning pitcher Cory Wade. On Wednesday night the Barnstormers again took an early lead on Cole Garner's first-inning two-run homer but the Bluefish tied it in the fourth. A Gabe Jacobo sac fly put the Stormers back ahead, run-scoring hits by Garner and Andrew Clark upped the lead to 5-2 in the seventh. The Bluefish refused to go quietly, a two-run Bridgeport eighth made it a one-run game. In the ninth Urquidez earned a save for a second consecutive night, Shunsuke Watanabe started and went six for the win as the Barnstormers prevailed 5-4. Jenny and I did lunch as usual on Thursday morning, in the evening we had our Fall street hockey organizational meeting at the rink. There were about eight or nine teams represented but there are always a few stragglers who never attend the meeting and wait until the last minute to get in. We'll know more as we get closer to opening night which is tentatively set for September 15. Take care, thanks for reading.