Thursday night at the ballpark on North Prince Street for another exciting chapter of the Atlantic League's Theatre Of The Bizarre where Anything Can Happen And Usually Does. On this night the Barnstormers jumped out to a 5-0 first-inning lead on an Ariel Sandoval RBI single and Anthony Peroni's grand slam home run. Long Island climbed back into the game with a three-run third inning, the Stormers replied in kind in the bottom half on consecutive RBI hits from Anderson Feliz, Peroni and Jake Hoover to go ahead 8-3. The visitors from Central Islip put up five of their own in the fifth to pull even at 8-8 but the Stormers reclaimed the lead on an error allowing a run and a Melvin Mercedes RBI hit, through five it was 10-8. The Ducks picked up single runs in the sixth and seventh to once again forge a tie score but in the bottom of the eighth the last word belonged to the Barnstormers. Trace Loehr started the inning with a base hit and Mercedes reached on an error, newcomer Joseph Carpenter (making his professional debut in a pinch-hitting role) batted next and grounded a two-run single to center scoring both runners for a 12-10 Stormer lead. Carpenter is a 2022 graduate of the University of Delaware and a product of Cedar Crest HS in Lebanon County, I saw him play against McCaskey during his high school days. In the ninth West Tunnell finally put an end to the madness nailing down the save for winning pitcher Dominic DiSabatino. The Barnstormers used six pitchers and somehow won the game despite issuing no fewer than sixteen walks and hitting four batters, by contrast the Ducks' five pitchers combined for just three walks allowed. The Stormers continue the homestand with a visit from the Lexington Legends on the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.
