Friday night with the start of a new series at the ballpark. Charleston, West Virginia came into the Atlantic League in 2021, the city's former affiliated franchise was one of those eliminated when the minor leagues were reorganized before the '21 season. The new team used the old club's identity for its first year in the league but elected to rebrand late in the year as the Charleston "Dirty Birds", a reference to the area's mining history and the use of canaries to detect dangerous fumes underground (oh well, I guess it's OK for them). This was the first game of what is actually a six-game series, Charleston's two scheduled three-game visits to Lancaster are back-to-back separated only by an off-day on Monday. Before the game it was announced that Brooks Hall had been signed by the New York Mets organization, he's the fourth Barnstormer to go back into affiliated ball this season and the second in the past week. Entering this series the Barnstormers were 12-2 in the month of July, that record included an undefeated 11-0 mark at home. Sooner or later it had to happen and perhaps this night was as good as any. The visiting Birds soared out (weak pun intended) to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, the Stormers got one back in the bottom half when Shawon Dunston walked and scored on Andretty Cordero's sacrifice fly. In the second Anthony Peroni doubled and Trace Loehr singled him to third, both would score on consecutive wild pitches tying the game at 3-3. The Barnstormers took the lead in the fourth on doubles by Loehr (run scored) and Dunston (RBI) but Charleston replied with one in the fifth to make it 4-4. Over the last three innings the visitors scored four runs unanswered and won it 8-4, Chase Johnson was pitcher of record in relief of starter Augie Sylk. Take care, thanks for reading.
