June 22-24

Friday night baseball on North Prince Street, the Long Island Ducks were the opponent for the second game of a four-game series. The Barnstormers won the opener on Thursday, on this night the Ducks scored first and were never headed. Long Island took a 4-0 lead into the third inning, the Stormers got on the board in their half when Darian Sandford walked and scored on an RBI hit by Ryan Casteel. In the fifth Sandford singled and rode home on Blake Gailen's RBI double to bring the Stormers within two, in the seventh LI added an insurance run to go up 5-2. In the bottom half Tyler Bortnick reached on a base hit, Gailen followed with a line-drive home run onto the picnic deck in right field to make it a 5-4 game. From there the Barnstormers were retired in order as the Ducks held on for the one-run win. On Saturday I had my usual weekend lunch visit with Jenny and her mother, in the afternoon Jenny came into town with me but Helen did not. One of her great-grandchildren was involved in an evening dance recital, she was invited and grand-maternal responsibilities outweighed a ballgame. On this night Jenny and I sat in the main grandstand instead of on the hill, I figured there would be an open area somewhere and there were thunderstorms in the forecast (it's a weekend, why not?). We got lucky all the way around, the rain stayed away and the open seats we sat in were never claimed by another ticket-holder. Before the game Jenny got photos with some of the ballplayers as Ryan Casteel, K.C. Hobson, Tyler Bortnick and Blake Gailen were kind enough to oblige. In the game itself each team scored in the second inning, the Stormers' run coming when Hobson singled and scored on Vladimir Frias' RBI hit. The 1-1 deadlock was broken in the home eighth when Gailen singled and scored on Trayvon Robinson's two-hit hit to put the Stormers ahead, Nate Coronado followed with a triple into the gap to chase home Robinson making it 3-1. Matt Reynolds worked out of some ninth-inning trouble to earn the save for winning pitcher Scott Shuman, starter Jonathan Albaladejo was not involved in the decision. The Barnstormers won the finale in the afternoon heat on Sunday, as is my wont I was not there. We had some quick storms in early and late afternoon but the first part of the new week is looking good, all the better as we wind down the dek hockey playoffs. Take care, thanks for reading.