September 27-28

Back at the ballpark on Wednesday for game #2 of the Championship Series. The weather was somewhat similar to Tuesday with one major exception: there was no precipitation anywhere in the area, we actually had a peak of sunshine right around 6:30 gametime. The Barnstormers entered the game on an overall ten-game winning streak dating back to September 10, at home the club had won thirteen straight dating back to August 29. Sooner or later It Had To Happen and this night was apparently as good a time as any. In the North Division Series the Stormers were aided by nine Long Island errors in the three-game sweep, in the opener of this round three Gastonia errors played a major role in the Stormers' win. On this night the visiting Honey Hunters committed just one error and the Barnstormers had only six hits while Gastonia's bats came alive with a vengeance. The score was 2-2 entering the fourth inning where the Hunters scored three to break the tie, a four-run sixth and three more in the later innings blew the game wide open. The final was 12-3 with the Stormer tallies coming in three separate innings thanks to a Wilson Garcia RBI hit in the first, an Andretty Cordero sac fly in the third and a Garcia RBI groundout in the eighth. Matt Swarmer worked into the sixth inning and suffered the loss. One other item of interest involved a debut, Lehigh University product Luke Rettig (added to the roster on the season's last weekend) made his first professional appearance and pitched a scoreless ninth inning. A crowd of better than 4900 took in the last game of 2023 on North Prince Street, the series moves to North Carolina for what is now essentially a best two-of-three. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 25-26

The dreary weekend weather carried over into the new week, Monday was relatively dry but Tuesday was a different story. There was rain around the area in the morning and into the early afternoon but at the ballpark The Show Went On as scheduled. This was the opening game of the Atlantic League Championship series, the Barnstormers hosting the South Division champion Gastonia Honey Hunters. At game time it was 58 degrees with a ten-mile-an-hour wind to left and light mist in the air. On this night the Stormers mustered only three base hits but were aided by three Gastonia errors in a 3-2 win. The visitors from North Carolina took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, in the bottom half the Stormers replied. Ariel Sandoval and Chad Sedio both reached on errors, back-to-back RBI singles by Jack Conley and Trace Loehr put the Home Team ahead 2-1. In the visiting fifth Gastonia pushed home the tying run, that 2-2 deadlock remained in place until the bottom of the eighth. With one out Sandoval drew a walk and attempted to steal second base, the throw went into center field allowing him to advance to third. After the second out a wild pitch to the backstop sent Ariel home with the lead run. In the ninth Nick Duron set down the side in order to earn the save, Ofriedy Gomez was the pitcher of record in relief of starter Brent Teller. A crowd of better than 3100 was in the park on a less-than-ideal night to see the Stormers take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, game #2 is back at home on Wednesday the 27th. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 22-24

For a number of years the athletic director at Hempfield HS was a gentleman named Steve Polonus, a former assistant basketball coach and AD at McCaskey. On occasion Steve would ask me to work a game at Hempfield when needed and I would never turn him down if I was available. Steve retired in 2022 and was succeeded by Ryan Landis, a Warwick alum who played and coached basketball there and was their most recent AD. When Hempfield visited JPM on the 15th Ryan asked me if I'd be able to work their game on the 22nd, since McCaskey was on the road I took him up on it. In a strange oddity JPM hosted Hempfield on the 15th and is scheduled to host Manheim Township on the 29th, on this night in Landisville I saw the two against each other. This was my fourth time on the mic at Hempfield since 2018 and there were a few "Frenchy, what are you doing here?" reactions but at the same time nobody seemed to mind that I was. The game itself was never much in doubt, Township is one of the league's stronger clubs and they won handily 48-7. There was good news on Friday night from Long Island, the Barnstormers won 4-2 and took the ALPB North Division championship in a three-game sweep. The ballclub meets either Gastonia or High Point for the league title, the first two games are at home on the 26th and 27th. It was just as well the series ended on Friday, the rest of the weekend would have been very doubtful. A tropical storm was pushing its way up the coast and arrived on Saturday in the form of a steady rain. It was still coming down on Sunday morning, I was awake around 8:00, took one look out the window and the week's hockey games in Rothsville were immediately postponed. In the fall of '22 three of the first four weeks were rained out, so far this time around we've lost two of the first three and we do NOT need the pattern to repeat. Take care, thanks for reading

September 20-21

Wednesday lunch with Jenny and Helen, in the evening we were back at the ballpark for game #2 with Long Island. In the Tuesday opener the visiting Ducks committed four errors, on this night the Barnstormers took full advantage of three more to build an early 4-0 advantage. Melvin Mercedes doubled to start the first inning, he would come home on Andretty Cordero's single to give the Stormers the quick lead. In the second Long Island threatened to even the score on a base hit but the throw from right by Trayvon Robinson and Jack Conley's tag cut down the would-be tying run. The Barnstormers extended the lead to 2-0 in their half of the second when Robinson drew a walk, took third on a Shawon Dunston single and came home on an error. In the fourth Wilson Garcia singled and Ariel Sandoval walked, both runs would score on errors growing the Barnstormer lead to 4-0. The Ducks got on the board with a run in the fifth but they would come no closer, an eighth-inning bomb over the picnic tents by Garcia put the period on a 5-1 Barnstormer victory. Matt Swarmer started and went five for the decision with Brian Marconi, Garrett Granitz, Mike Adams, Ofreidy Gomez and Nick Duron closing it out. The Stormers lead the best-of-five series 2-0, it continues with the final three on the Island beginning on Friday the 22nd. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 18-19

Tuesday night playoff baseball in Lancaster, the Barnstormers hosting the Long Island Ducks in the opening game of the North Division championship series. The league has always used a "halves" format which sometimes penalizes overall performance, 2023 is a good case in point. The South Division championship series features the teams with the top two regular season records, Long Island finished fourth overall at 66-58 and the Stormers were sixth at 62-62 (each team had two games cancelled by weather). Over in York (where I never made it to after June) the Revolution finished third overall at 71-54 but missed the postseason because they finished second in both halves. On this night in game #1 the Stormers struck first on a Yeison Coca solo home run to right in the first inning. The visiting Ducks tied it in the third inning, the Stormers replied in the bottom half when Melvin Mercedes walked and scored on an error. RBI singles by Andretty Cordero and Wilson Garcia gave the Home Team a three-run advantage in the fifth but Long Island showed their mettle with a three-run sixth to knot matters at 4-4. In the bottom of the sixth the Stormers took the lead back for good in one of the stranger ways you may ever see. Ariel Sandoval was batting with one out and the bases loaded, his groundball to the first-baseman was converted into an inning-ending double play. Barnstormer manager Ross Peeples immediately approached the homeplate umpire, after the entire umpiring crew conferred it was determined that the catcher had interfered with Sandoval as he was leaving the batters box. The double play was nullified, Sandoval was awarded first base on the interference and each runner advanced one base forcing home the lead run. Garcia batted next and rifled a double into the alley in right-center clearing the bases and giving the Stormers a sudden and stunning 8-4 lead. An insurance run was added in the seventh on a Cordero sac fly, Long Island scored a two-out run in the ninth but it mattered little as the Stormers took it 9-5. Brent Teller started and worked in to the sixth inning, Garrett Granitz was the winning pitcher with Mike Adams and Ofreidy Gomez splitting the last two innings. The teams reconvene for game #2 at the ballpark on Wednesday night. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 16-17

A busy weekend continued with an early start on Saturday, at noon we were in Kutztown for the university's home-opener football game. I sit in on the mic at KU whenever I'm needed, I worked three games in 2022, four in '21 and two the season before that. On this day the Golden Bears hosted Mercyhurst (from Erie, the northwestern Pennsylvania city that sits on the shores of the Great Lake of the same name) and won easily 47-14. The game was over about 2:40 or so, I was back home before 4:00 for supper and a degree of rest before heading over to the ballpark. The Barnstormers hosted the Staten Island FerryHawks in a game largely meaningless since the ALPB playoff pairings are now fully established. On this night the Stormers scored ten runs through the first three innings and added single tallies in the fifth, sixth and seventh, a six-spot in the eighth capped a one-sided 19-4 victory. The club unleashed a twenty-two-hit attack for forty-one total bases including three home runs, two triples and six doubles. Trayvon Robinson led the assault with a home run and five RBI, Chad Sedio went yard and had four RBI, Shawon Dunston also hit a round-tripper and added three ribbies. Jaret Lakind was the winner with Bret Clarke, Garrett Granitz and newcomer Chandler Breirley working out of the pen. There was afternoon rain forecast for Sunday, in the morning we were at Lions Park in Rothsville for the belated opening week of fall street hockey. Thirty-eight players participated, thirty from the spring plus eight new additions. Township won over Ephrata and Warwick defeated Hillside, during the second game it began to rain lightly but we managed to get everything done. I came immediately back to town and went to the ballpark, the last game of the regular season was scheduled for 1:00. I arrived about ten minutes before gametime, the field was uncovered but the start was being delayed because of the impending forecast. The Stormers announced the team award winners, Trayvon Robinson took home community-service honors and Ariel Sandoval was the fan-voted team MVP. The rain arrived as expected around 1:15, after a delay of better than an hour the game was cancelled outright. The division playoff with Long Island starts at the ballpark on Tuesday the 19th. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 15

September 15 is Jenny's mother's birthday, we marked Helen's 86th with lunch at the same place we visited for Jenny's birthday in August. In the evening I was at McCaskey, the Red Tornado hosted Hempfield in week #1 of divisional play. Both teams entered at 1-2 against non-league opponents, the JPM victory coming in Elizabethtown on September 1. On this night JPM trailed 13-0 at the half but scored three touchdowns in the second half before running out of gas in the fourth quarter. The final score was 41-20, Jalen Cintron threw scoring passes to DeAndre Jones (51 yards) and Quimeak Talton (two yards), Josh Morales-Monzon rushed three yards for the last TD, the team was 1-3 in two-point conversion attempts. The club was much more competitive on this night but there is still a lot of work to do, it won't get any easier when Manheim Township visits on the 29th. The better news on the night came from the ballpark where the Barnstormers defeated Staten Island 6-3, the win clinches the second-half division title and a playoff date with first-half champion Long Island. The first two games of the best-of-three series are at home on the 19th and 20th. Take care, thanks for reading.  

September 13-14

Wednesday night at the ballpark for game #2 with Long Island and a contest that played remarkably similar to Tuesday. Once again the visitors scored four runs in the first inning and built a 5-2 lead in the third before the Barnstormers battled back and took command. The Home Team scored in the first on Wilson Garcia's two-run double, a five-run third put the Stormers ahead for good at 7-5. Ariel Sandoval picked up a ribbie on a fielders choice, Yeison Coca stroked an RBI single, Chad Sedio doubled to push home another run and Chris Proctor put the punctuation on the inning with a two-run home run over the picnic tent in right. Two more were added in the fourth on an Andretty Cordero RBI groundout and a Long Island error but the Ducks weren't going away quietly, a three-run fifth brought LI back to within one at 9-8. The Stormers equaled those three runs in the bottom half on a wild pitch and Trace Loehr's two-run single to go up 12-8, after the Ducks closed to within two in the seventh the Stormers salted it away in the eighth on back-to-back doubles by Sandoval (two RBI) and Garcia (one). The football-like final score was 15-10, Nile Ball started and struggled through three innings with Dominic DiSabatino awarded the decision in relief. The Stormers completed the sweep on Thursday with a pedestrian-by-comparison 3-1 victory. On this night the Stormers scored first, Melvin Mercedes walked with the bases loaded in the second inning. The Ducks replied to tie it 1-1 in the third, it stayed even until the bottom of the sixth. Arel Sandoval singled and scored the lead run on Wilson Garcia's double, Joseph Carpenter followed with an RBI hit sending Garcia home with the game's final run. Recently-added Brady Tedesco made his home debut and pitched seven innings for the win, Ofreidy Gomez and Nick Duron (save) finished it with an inning each. The series sweep puts the ballclub on the verge of the second-half division title, one more victory will clinch it with Staten Island coming in for the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 11-12

A typical start to the new week on Monday, the next night saw the start of the season's final homestand on North Prince Street. In 2022 the Barnstormers were subpar during the first half but rebounded with a strong second half to earn a postseason berth, in '23 the script has played out in a similar fashion. Entering the homestand the Stormers held the division's top spot, on this night the Long Island Ducks were the opponent for this possible playoff preview. The start was not promising for the Stormers as the Ducks put four on the board in the first inning, after the Barnstormers scored a single run in the third LI added two in the fourth to go up 6-1. From there the game did a complete 180, the Stormers sent fourteen batters to the plate in a nine-run fourth inning and added a single run in the fifth and three more in the eighth, the Ducks could muster only two more the rest of the night as the Good Guys won it going away 14-8. The Stormer run in the third came on Andretty Cordero's sac fly, in the fourth the nine-run salvo included a Trace Loehr RBI groundout, run-scoring singles from Cordero, Melvin Mercedes, Jack Conley and Trayvon Robinson, Conley picked up a second RBI on a sac fly and three more scored on Wilson Garcia's bases-loaded double. Another sac fly by Cordero plated the fifth-inning run, Conley's three-run home run to left in the eighth wrapped up the scoring. Brent Teller started on the hill and went six innings for the decision, Brian Marconi worked the seventh and Mike Adams finished it. The series continues on Wednesday and who knows what will happen next. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 6-10

Wednesday evening at the ballpark for game #2 with Staten Island and another wacky night in the Atlantic League. The visitors from New York City's southernmost borough took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before the Barnstormers replied with a four-spot in their half. Back-to-back singles by Wilson Garcia and Joseph Carpenter started the rally, Trayvon Robinson's RBI double tied the game 1-1. Chris Proctor's infield groundout scored Carpenter and moved Robinson to third, Trayvon trotted home on Jack Conley's sac fly putting the Stormers up 3-1. Trace Loehr was hit by the pitch and moved up on a Melvin Mercedes base hit, a throwing error allowed Loehr to touch home with the inning's fourth run. The unphased FerryHawks came right back with three in the third to tie the game at 4-4, in the home fourth Loehr doubled and scored on Andretty Cordero's base hit to give the Stormers a one-run lead. It stayed that way until the eighth when the Hawks scored the tying run but in the ninth the Barnstormers won it on base hits by Garcia (run), Carpenter and Proctor (GWRBI). It was the ballclub's first walk-off win of the season and the first since Jake Hoover's game-winning home run in the 2022 playoffs. Nick Duron was the winner in relief of starter Brent Teller with Garret Granitz (two innings) and newcomer Ofreidy Perez (one inning) bridging the gap. The series was scheduled to end on Thursday but it never happened. Around 4:30 or so a hard storm passed through, the field had been covered and was in good shape but at 6:30 there was lightning in the area and the field was cleared. The infield was exposed since the tarp had been removed, once the next storm arrived it was only a matter of how bad it would get and it didn't take long to find out. Staten Island returns on the 15th for the season's last weekend, the game will be made up then if it is needed. The stormy weather conditions continued off and on through the weekend, on Sunday we had planned on opening the fall street hockey season in Rothsville. The morning forecast called for thunderstorms during the time we'd be there, we postponed the games for safety and absolutely NOTHING happened. To say it's frustrating would be putting it mildly, all we can do is hope for better luck on the 17th. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 4-5

The higher temperatures were out in force on Labor Day Monday, I did what I had to do in the morning and gladly spent the rest of the day at home in the AC. On Tuesday I read online where several schools around the area where dismissing early because of the heat, in my day we were in school in the heat with no air conditioning and we sweated like pigs. On Tuesday evening the Barnstormers opened a series on North Prince Street, the Staten Island FerryHawks were the opponent. At 6:30 gametime it was 94 degrees with only a hint of a slight breeze coming in from center. The Stormers took a 1-0 lead in the first, Melvin Mercedes reached on an error and scored on a double by Wilson Garcia. The visitors struck back with three in the second but from there it was all Barnstormers. Trace Loehr started the third inning with a base hit, a walk to Mercedes and a Yeison Coca single loaded the bases with nobody out. Andretty Cordero's sac fly made it a 3-2 game, Garcia followed with an RBI hit delivering Mercedes with the tying run. Chad Sedio drew a walk reloading the bases for Trayvon Robinson who laced a three-run triple into left-center putting the Stormers ahead 6-3. In the fourth the ballclub added three more, Loehr reached on a one-out error and scored on a Coca base hit. Cordero singled to drive Coca home, after Garcia walked Sedio plated Cordero with an RBI hit making it 9-3. There was no further scoring over the last four-and-a-half innings, Dominic DiSabatino pitched into the sixth inning on a hot night for the win with Brian Marconi and Bret Clarke finishing it out of the pen. The series continues on Wednesday and Thursday with the heat continuing right along with it. Take care, thanks for reading.

August 30-September 3

Back at the ballpark on Wednesday for game #2 with Charleston, on this night the offensive display on both sides was minimal. The game was scoreless into the sixth inning, in the home half the Stormers broke the ice when Trace Loehr reached on a base hit and scored on an error. The West Virginians tied it in the eighth but the Stormers replied quickly in their turn, Anthony Peroni drew a walk and came around on Andretty Cordero's RBI double. In the ninth Mike Adams closed it out for winning pitcher Zach Warren, Dominic Disabatino had started and worked five innings of shutout ball but wasn't around for the finish. On Thursday the Barnstormers completed the three-game sweep although it was once again a battle. Base hits by Melvin Mercedes (run) and Joseph Carpenter (RBI) gave the Stormers a 1-0 lead in the first, after Charleston tied it in the second the Home Team retook the lead in the bottom half on a double by Jack Conley and an RBI hit by Loehr. The Dirty Birds didn't fly away quietly, they pushed the tying run home in the seventh but the last word belonged to the Stormers. After the stretch Conley started the rally with a walk and took second on a bunt single by Loehr, a throwing error allowed Conley to score the lead run. Loehr was retired attempting to advance on the error for the first out, Mercedes followed with a base hit and Cordero followed that with a two-run shot to right-center putting the Stormers up 5-2. That home run was a milestone for Andretty, he becomes the first player in ALPB history to post two separate 100-RBI seasons. There was no further scoring as the Barnstormers took it 5-2, Zach Warren pitched the final three innings and was the WP for the second straight night with Jeff Bain working the first five and Nile Ball making a one-inning appearance out of the bullpen. The weekend was quiet except for the usual Saturday lunch visit with Jenny, on Sunday daytime temperatures reached in to the 90s and the heat is expected to hang around for most of the coming week. Take care, thanks for reading.