July 12

Thunderstorms were in the forecast for Tuesday afternoon, they arrived around 3:45 or so. By 4:30 I got word that the ballgame at McCaskey was postponed until Wednesday. At the ballpark on North Prince Street the Barnstormers had the tarpaulin rolled out and the infield protected with an announcement that the game there was still on as scheduled for 6:30. By game time the rain was long gone, first pitch was reasonably on time at 6:36. The High Point Rockers were in town for their lone regular-season series visit, they have been in the league since 2019 and are already the league's fifth-oldest franchise (it speaks to how much the league has changed over the last few years). Before the game it was announced that Colton Shaver had been signed by the Toronto Blue Jays organization, he's the third Barnstormer to return to affiliated baseball in 2022. High Point jumped out to a 2-0 lead which the Stormers matched in the bottom of the first. Consecutives singles by Shawon Dunston, Melvin Merecedes and Kelly Dugan got the Stormers on the board, Andretty Cordero's sac fly brought Mercedes home with the tying run. In the third the visitors from Noth Carolina went back ahead 4-2, the Stormers trimmed the deficit to one in the fourth on a Jake Hoover solo home run onto the picnic deck in right field. In the seventh the Barnstormers batted around and took the lead for good, it started with Dugan reaching on catcher's interference and a base hit by Cordero. Anderson Feliz's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Trayvon Robinson followed with a two-run single giving the Stormers the lead. Consecutive walks to Hoover and Trace Loehr loaded the bases, Dunston drew another free ticket forcing home Hoover to make it 6-4. At that point tempers boiled over, a High Point coach was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. The Stormers added two more in the eighth on Robinson's two-run home run, the Rockers got them back in the ninth but could come no closer, the final score was 8-6. Erik Manoah started on the mound but wasn't around for the decision, Augie Sylk was pitcher of record with Bret Clarke, Josh Graham and Wes Tunnell also appearing. The series continues on Wednesday night but I should be absent for the JrT game if the weather cooperates. Take care, thanks for reading.