September 14-15

In baseball there is a tradition called the "hangover game", it's a tendency for teams who clinch a championship to suffer a letdown and play very poorly in their next game. On Wednesday night we saw the Barnstormers' version as the Revolution squared the series with a 9-0 win. A five-run second inning broke it open early, an Elmer Reyes RBI double was followed by Jhon Nunez's two-run single and a J.C. Encarnacion two-run triple. Melky Mesa's RBI groundout in the sixth made it 6-0, three more scored in the ninth on a Reyes groundout and Nellie Rodriguez's two-run home run. The Stormers managed only three hits and never mounted any serious threat. Austin Mora started for the Revs and was the winning pitcher, Bret Clarke made the spot start for the Stormers and took the loss. On Thursday the Stormers turned the tables on the Revs and righted the ship with an 8-2 snapback win. On this night the Stormers put together a four-run first inning, Shawon Dunston started it with a solo home run and Anderson Feliz went yard with two men on. Josue Herrera's RBI double in the second got the Revs on the board but the Home Team got it back in the third on a Melvin Mercedes solo homer. Each team scored a single run in the fourth, Nellie Rodriguez's home run in the top half was equaled by a Chris Proctor sac fly RBI in the bottom half. The game's final two scores came in the bottom of the eighth, Joseph Carpenter's run-scoring double was followed by a Proctor RBI groundout. Nile Ball went six innings for the win, Deyvis Julian went five and took the loss. The season series ends 18-14 in the Stormers' favor and returns the Community Cup east of the river for the first time since 2018, in fifteen seasons each club has won the Cup seven times with one tie. Take care, thanks for reading.