September 17-19

Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the ballpark for playoff baseball, the Barnstormers hosted the Sugar Land Skeeters in the first two games of the Freedom Division championship series. Long Island and Somerset were meeting in the Liberty Division series, the Patriots won the first-half title and the Ducks took the second half. The Skeeters won both ends of the Freedom, the Stormers earned their spot as the lone wild-card entry by posting the best overall mark among non-division winners. The first two games of the Stormers-Skeeters series were a study in contrast. There were eleven total runs scored with the Barnstormers posting the first five and the Skeeters the next six, when the smoke cleared the series was tied 1-1. In the Tuesday opener the Stormers went up 1-0 in the second when newcomer Conrad Gregor (most recently in the Boston Red Sox organization) singled and scored on Trayvon Robinson's RBI double. In the third Tyler Bortnick drew a walk and rode home on Blake Gailen's two-run home run to make it 3-0. The Stormers added single runs in the fourth on a Vladimir Frias RBI single and in the fifth on a solo home run from Gailen to carry a 5-0 lead into the ninth. The Skeeters put together a three-run rally but Kevin Munson was able to put out the fire and save the victory for winning pitcher Nate Reed. Reed went eight innings allowing just two hits and striking out seven. In game #2 on Wednesday Sugar Land took a 2-0 lead in the first and added an insurance run in the ninth, that was all there was as the Skeeters evened the series. The Barnstormers were held to just five hits (all singles) and never mounted a serious threat of any kind. Jonathan Albaladejo started and worked seven innings, took the loss and deserved a better fate. The rest of the series (which is now essentially a 2-of-3) is in Texas over the weekend, the winner hosts the first two games of the league championship series on the 25th and 26th. Take care, thanks for reading.