July 27-29

The Barnstormers' homestand continued over the weekend, the New Britain Bees were the opposition. As I was arriving for the Friday night opener the skies were very dark to the west, when I walked into the ballpark the field tarpaulin had already been rolled out. A very strong wind from the southwest ushered in a downpour, by the time it passed gametime was pushed back to 8:35. The delay didn't hurt either team offensively, the Bees scored four in the first inning and the Stormers matched it in the bottom half. Ryan Casteel's two-home home run and a two-run double by Trayvon Robinson evened the score, in the second Tyler Bortnick was hit by the pitch and scored on Casteel's RBI hit to put the Stormers up 5-4. New Britain tied in the fourth before Vladimir Frias' solo home run in the home half restored the advantage, in the sixth the Bees once again pulled even at 6-6. By this time it was well past 10:00, as they used to say on the old TV westerns I saddled up and rode out. Saw on the Internet where New Britain finally prevailed 8-7, the game wasn't over until almost midnight. On Saturday we had the usual lunch visit with Jenny, in the evening she and her mother were at the ballpark for their customary Saturday night appearance. The Stormers' struggles continued on this night as the visiting Bees ran out to a 7-0 lead by the sixth inning and won easily 9-3. RBI hits by Blake Gailen and Ryan Casteel in the home sixth and an ninth-inning solo home run by recently-activated player/coach Josh Bell accounted for the Barnstormers scoring, Brooks Hall was the pitcher of record. The series ended in the afternoon heat on Sunday, the Stormers salvaged the finale 2-1. Take care, thanks for reading.