The ballgame on Friday night wasn't over until well after The Witching Hour, the Stormers used a four-run seventh inning to win 8-3. The teams combined for eleven runs (eight of them unearned) on nine hits and six total errors, the pitching staffs issued fourteen walks, hit three batters and threw three wild pitches and for good (or maybe BAD) measure there were two passed balls allowed. I've known Stormers broadcaster Dave Collins since 1993, he described the night as "an absolute mess" and it would be hard to argue the point. On Saturday the clubs reconvened for game #2 and the proceedings on this night were somewhat more mundane. Staten Island took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, in the home third the Stormers took the lead with a three-spot. Trace Loehr started the rally with a walk, consecutive singles by Trayvon Robinson and Melvin Mercedes made it 3-1. Andretty Cordero followed with a deep drive to dead center, on the catch Robinson was able to score from second base with the tying run. Mercedes advanced to second on the throw, he would score on Anderson Feliz's RBI hit giving the Stormers a 3-2 lead. The visiting FerryHawks tied the game in the eighth, in the bottom of the ninth consecutive singles by Ariel Sandoval (winning run scored), Anthony Peroni and Jake Hoover (game-winning RBI) gave the Barnstormers the 4-3 walk-off win. Nile Ball started and went seven innings, Josh Graham worked the eighth and West Tunnell earned the win with a scoreless top-of-the-ninth. The series ended with a rare 5:00 start on Sunday, I made an equally rare Sunday appearance. There were a few who were surprised to see me given my well-known eschewing of day games. It was miserably hot (90 degrees at gametime) but the late-afternoon sun angle is much different than the overhead variety at 1:00 would be. On this day the result was never really in doubt, the Stormers broke on top 3-0 in the first inning on a Jacob Barfield sac fly and Anderson Feliz's two-run homer onto the picnic deck in right field. In the second Andretty Cordero's RBI double made it 4-0. The Hawks posted a single run in the fourth, in the home fifth another Cordero RBI double and a Trayvon Robinson run-scoring single made it 6-1, A four-run sixth ripped it wide open, Cordero had an RBI single, Feliz hit a two-run double and Ariel Sandoval picked up a ribbie on a groundout. The pesky FerryHawks didn't go quietly, they rallied with five runs over the last three innings but it wasn't enough as the Stormers took it 10-6. Cameron Gann went five innings in the heat for the win with Bret Clarke, Chase Johnson and Donald Goodson mopping it up in relief. The homestand continues with Long Island in town on Tuesday. Take care, thanks for reading.
