Back at the ballpark on Wednesday evening for game #2 with Long Island, on this night the pattern of scoring in common innings continued at the outset. The visitors took a 1-0 lead in the first, the Barnstormers answered back with two of their own in the home half. Melvin Mercedes singled and scored on Andretty Cordero's RBI hit, Ariel Sandoval followed with a single scoring Cordero giving the Stormers a 2-1 lead. In the fourth Long Island forged ahead 4-2, the Stormers closed to within one when Sandoval doubled and touched home on Anthony Peroni's RBI single. Each team scored a single run in the sixth, the Stormers' marker coming on hits by Sandoval (run scored) and Jacob Barfield (RBI). In the eighth the alternating pattern was finally broken when Anderson Feliz singled and scored on a Trace Loehr sacrifice fly bringing the Stormers even at 5-5. The pesky Ducks took a 6-5 lead in the ninth, in the bottom half the Stormers mounted a game-winning comeback. Mercedes reached on a single, walks to Cordero and Colton Shaver loaded the bases with one out. Sandoval batted next and laced the first pitch he saw into left field for a two-run walk-off hit and a 7-6 Barnstormer win. West Tunnell worked the ninth and picked the win in relief of starter Cameron Gann. The series wrapped up on Thursday night with more late-inning magic. Each team tallied once in the second with the Stormers scoring on a bases-loaded walk to Loehr forcing Sandoval home from third. After the Ducks went up 3-1 in the third the Barnstormers got one back in the bottom half, Cordero doubled and came home on Shaver's RBI hit. It stayed that way until the home sixth, Sandoval singled and scored on a base hit by Peroni to tie it 3-3. In the ninth the Stormers walked it off for the second straight night, Peroni started it with a base hit and Jake Hoover was inserted as a pinchrunner. Hoover took second on a throwing error on an attempted pickoff and advanced to third on Loehr's sacrifice bunt, Mercedes followed with a blooper into right-center that fell for the game-winning hit scoring Hoover for the 4-3 win. Brooks Hall started and went five innings, West Tunnell was once again pitcher of record. The win is the Stormers' 29th of the second half which equals the team's first-half total with twenty-two games left to play. The next fifteen of those are on the road, the club isn't home again until September 13 (that's the tradeoff for having twenty home dates in July). Take care, thanks for reading.
