June 26-27

Monday started as it almost always does with morning lunch at the mall, in the evening the Barnstormers opened a series with the New Britain Bees. Roster movement in the Atlantic League is a way of life, as an independent league one of the main selling points is the opportunity for players to earn a contract back into affiliated baseball. Before the game it was announced that Blake Gailen had been acquired by the LA Dodgers and Cody Hall by San Francisco, they were each assigned to their new organization's "class AA" affiliate. They join Jeff Kobernus (Seattle), Darian Sanford (Washington) and Elih Villanueva (Boston) as 2017 Barnstormers who have returned to a Major League organization. The game on this night was scoreless for five innings largely because both starting pitchers were outstanding but also because of one of the better defensive plays you may ever see. In the third inning K.C. Hobson batted with two men on and sent a deep drive to right-centerfield, Bees outfielder Michael Crouse (a Barnstormer briefly in 2016 and Hobson's former teammate in the Toronto Blue Jays system) leaped at the wall in full extension and made the catch robbing Hobson of a three-run homer. The 0-0 deadlock was broken in the sixth on a Sean Halton solo home run, in the seventh Rico Noel tripled and scored on Lasting Milledge's RBI hit to make it 2-0. Trayvon Robinson started the eighth with a single and touched home on an RBI double by Anderson De La Rosa to extend the lead to three. Starting pitcher Nate Reed went all the way on a complete game and cranked up a beauty, his bid for a shutout was ruined with two out in the ninth but he earned the win allowing just four hits, one walk and striking out twelve NB batters. On Tuesday we were at Reservoir Park for what was to be the final night of the Spring season. The Misfits defeated the Riot 3-2 to take the West Division championship three games to one. This game will be remembered by everyone involved for some time, the winning goal came with ONE SECOND left in regulation time. It's a great way to win but an excruciating way to lose. We plan on starting our summer season in the latter part of July. Take care, thanks for reading.