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.
