Monday afternoon at the ballfield at McCaskey for the first time in two weeks. The ballclub is just 2-9 through eleven games (eight of them on the road), on this day Penn Manor visited for a divisional game. At 4:15 first-pitch it was sixty degrees and partly sunny with a sharp wind straight out to leftfield. The Red Tornado took a 1-0 lead in the first, Ray Ortiz doubled and scored on Josh Reyes' RBI single. PM answered with four in the second, JPM got one back in their half when Cristian Cancel launched one into the wind for a solo home run to left. Two more for the visitors in the third brought the score to 6-2 but the good guys continued to peck away, Ortiz drew a walk and came home on an Adrian Rodriguez single making it 6-3 after three innings. In the home fifth Ortiz walked before consecutive singles from Elliot Fluck and A-Rod loaded the bases with nobody out. Ortiz would score on Reyes' fielders choice groundout, Eli Morales reloaded the bases with an infield hit for Andrew Carlisle whose RBI groundout plated Adrian with run #5. In the sixth JPM pulled even when Cancel walked and came in on Fluck's RBI groundout but in the seventh Penn Manor pushed across the lead run and made it stand up for a 7-6 win. Janpaul Rodriguez started and worked into the seventh with A-Rod finishing it. This was the team's first home game since April 12 (I was absent for hockey), during the following week they played four games, all of them on the road. This was the first of a three-date homestand, Cedar Crest visits for a night game on the 24th before Hempfield returns for the completion of that suspended game from April 4 plus the scheduled contest on the 26th. Take care, thanks for reading.
