June 30

The final day of the first half of 2017 was on a Friday, in the evening the Barnstormers opened a weekend series with the Somerset Patriots. The ALPB plays its season in two 70-game halves, the Patriots clinched the Liberty Division first-half title earlier in the week and a postseason berth along with it. The Stormers entered the weekend in the thick of the race for the Freedom Division title, on this night they took a big step forward with an important win. The curious thing about this game is how the runs scored, the Stormers had three separate three-run innings while the Patriots had two three-spots of their own. In the home first Caleb Gindl singled with two out and scored on a Sean Halton RBI triple, Garrett Weber's single plated Halton and a Trayvon Robinson RBI double scored Weber to make it 3-0. Somerset replied with three in the second to tie the game before the Barnstormers posted back-to-back treys in the third and fourth. Gindl started the third with a walk, Halton followed with a two-run homer to left. Two batters later Anderson De La Rosa doubled and came home on Vladimir Frias' base hit to put the Stormers up 6-3. In the fourth Lastings Milledge singled and scored on Halton's second triple of the night, Weber batted next and went yard onto the right-field picnic deck to extend the lead to six. The Patriots got three back in the fifth and finally broke the "3" pattern with a single run in the sixth but there was no further scoring for either side, the Stormers took it 9-6. Brad Bergesen started but did not go the required five innings to qualify for the win, Kevin Munson was awarded the W with Anthony Carter striking out the side in the ninth to earn the save. The series continues on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, the league's second half (with everybody starting over at 0-0) starts on Monday the 3rd. Take care, thanks for reading.