August 4-5

Saturday morning lunch in Quarryville, in the afternoon Jenny and her mother were along for the makeup doubleheader at the ballpark. The Sugar Land Skeeters won the Freedom Division's first-half championship, thanks to the Friday rainout this was my first look at them in actual game action in 2018. Game #1 started at 5:00, the Barnstormers took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Blake Gailen solo home run onto the picnic pavilion in right field. Vladimir Frias' two-run single in the second scored recently-added ex-MLBer Jimmy Paredes and Josh Bell to extend the lead, the 3-0 advantage held until the fifth when the Skeeters picked up a single run. In the Stormer fifth Carlos Garcia singled and scored on Tyler Bortnick's RBI double, a sac fly by Gailen plated Bortnick to make it 5-1. Sugar Land scored one in the seventh but that was it as the Stormers won 5-2, Nate Reed started and went five innings for the decision. In game #2 the Barnstormers again jumped on top early when Darian Sandford singled and scored on Ryan Casteel's RBI hit, Paredes followed with a double chasing Casteel home for a 2-0 lead. The Skeeters got on the board in the third to draw within two, in the home fourth the Stormers scored three times on a Sugar Land error and a two-run home run by K.C. Hobson. Consecutive RBI hits by Hobson, Frias and Anderson De La Rosa in the fifth extended the lead to 8-1, single runs for the Skeeters in the sixth and seventh closed out the scoring. The 8-3 win gave the Stormers the doubleheader sweep, Brooks Hall went six innings for the decision. Sugar Land salvaged the Sunday finale but needless to say I was not there, as is well-known 1:00 starts in ninety-degree heat are not my thing. Take care, thanks for reading.