September 3-4

The miserable rainy conditions were gone by Sunday morning, the afternoon was cool and breezy with temperatures in the low 60s. I'm well-known as a non-fan of day games but that's largely because of the heat and humidity during the peak summer months, on this day there were no such issues so I was at the ballpark for the makeup doubleheader. The Barnstormers and Patriots played a pair of seven-inning games and scored a grand total of seven runs between them. In the opener the Stormers won 2-0, the only runs courtesy of a Cole Garner two-run home run in the fourth inning. Joe Gardner pitched six innings of three-hit ball for the win with Anthony Carter earning the save. That game started at 2:00 and took just over an hour-and-a-half (nobody will EVER complain about that), in the second game Somerset led 3-0 in the first inning and were never headed in a 4-1 decision. The lone run for the Stormers came on a Josh Bell round-tripper in the fifth, Jarret Leverett started and suffered the loss. The entire day took just four hours and twenty-one minutes from start to finish, as one who has lived that life I could certainly appreciate it. Monday was the annual Labor Day holiday which I have always considered the end of summer, when I was a kid we almost invariably went back to school the very next day. The Pats and Stormers finished the weekend wraparound with a 3:00 single game, on this day it was much warmer but a good breeze and sitting in the shade made it tolerable. Somerset put five on the board in the third, in the fourth Josh Bell's three-run shot brought the Stormers to within 5-3. In the fifth the home team tied the game, one run scoring on an error and the other on an RBI hit by recently-reacquired fan favorite Lance Zawadzki (Lance lives in Texas, he was dealt to Sugar Land for family reasons in July of 2016 and has spent most of '17 battling injuries). The 5-5 tie was broken in the eighth when Somerset scored two runs, Garrett Weber's solo homer in the ninth made it close but not close enough as the Patriots left town with a 7-6 victory. Starting pitcher Brad Bergesen worked into the fifth inning with Scott Shuman (the fourth of six relievers used) taking the loss. The Stormers are on the road for the next three days, thney return home on Friday the 8th. Take care, thanks for reading.