August 24-26

Friday evening: back at the ballpark on North Prince Street. The Barnstormers (fresh from a four-game series split in York) were back home for a weekend set with the Somerset Patriots. The Pats won the Liberty Division first-half title, they and Sugar Land are in the postseason while the Barnstormers continue to vie for a playoff berth. At this point it appears that would most likely be as a wild-card entry since the Skeeters are also leading the division in the second half but stranger things have happened. On this night the game itself was a strange thing, Somerset scored five runs in the first inning, they were the only scores all night as the Patriots won by that 5-0 margin. The Stormers managed only five hits on the evening, starting pitcher Ty'Relle Harris (a former York Rev recently added as a free agent) took the decision. On Saturday Jenny and her mother were along for game #2 and there was a definite feeling of deja vu in the air. The Patriots once again put together a big early inning with four runs in the second, in the bottom of the fourth the Stormers got on the board when K.C. Hobson walked and scored on Darian Sandford's RBI hit to make it 4-1. There was no more scoring until the bottom of the eighth when the Barnstormers erupted for five runs. Trayvon Robinson and Hobson drew back-to-back walk to start the parade, Vladimir Frias was hit by the pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Robinson from third, after Tyler Bortnick was retired Rico Noel's infield single reloaded the bases. Sanford's RBI single plated Hobson to make it 4-3, Josh Bell followed with a bases-clearing double into the left-centerfield power alley to put the Stormers up 6-4. Matt Reynolds worked the ninth inning picking up the save for winning pitcher Joe Gardner. The series wrapped up on Sunday with a traditional 1:00 start, a Somerset win gave them two of three for the weekend. The Barnstormers are away until September 5 when the Patriots return for another three-game set. Take care, thanks for reading.