Monday was the unofficial Last Day Of Summer (as I have always called Labor Day), in the evening Don and I finalized plans for the long-awaited return of Lancaster Dek Hockey. November of 2019 was a long time ago, in many ways it feels like we're starting over from scratch. We have six teams (which is enough to make having the league worthwhile), if all goes as planned we'll start on Monday the 13th. On Tuesday the Barnstormers returned home as Our Friends From West Of The River visited for the final time in 2021. On this night the Revolution jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the first out was recorded. The first three men reached base for Nellie Rodriguez, his RBI walk was followed by Carlos Franco's grand-slam home run. Caleb Gindl went yard in the Stormer half to make it 5-1, the Revs added two in the third on a Josue Herrera round-tripper and a Lenin Rodriguez RBI hit to go ahead by six. The Barnstormers pulled to within 7-4 in their half of the third on Blake Gailen's two-run single and a Kelly Dugan RBI groundout, in the fourth Gindl's two-run home run (his second longball of the night) brought the score to 7-6. The Revolution broke it open with a four-run sixth inning, Melky Mesa had an RBI hit, a second run scored on a groundball double play and relief pitcher Alberto Rodriguez (no relation to Nellie or Lenin) got into the act with a two-run double. Two more Revs runs in the eighth on a Franco RBI hit and a Wellington Dotel groundout brought the final score to 13-6. Alberto Rodriguez was the winner in relief of starter Joey Lara, Dominic DiSabatino took the loss for the Barnstormers. The series continues on Wednesday and Thursday. Take care, thanks for reading.
