Thursday night at the ballpark for the final time in 2026, with the Stormers out of contention for the postseason for the first time in four years this was truly a lame-duck finale. Before the game I saw Dave Collins, we shared one final handshake and I wished him a happy retirement. The ballclub announced its season award winners, Scott Kelly won the Community Service Award and David Smith was named team MVP. Single runs for Hagerstown in the first and second gave the Boxcars an early 2-0 advantage, in the bottom of the inning the Stormers played their own particular version of Home Run Derby. Solo shots from Corey Rosier and Nathan Martorella plus a two-run blow from newcomer Derek Vegas gave the Good Guys a 5-2 lead, another run scored in the third on a Martorella infield groundout. Tyler Miller picked up an RBI single in the fifth, in the seventh the club added two more on an error and Tristan English's RBI double. Hagerstown got three back in the eighth to make it 9-5, in the home half a Rosier single and a Scott Kelly double put the Stormers back up by six. Phil Diehl was the winner in relief of Matt Swarmer as the Stormers took it 11-5 to finish the home portion of the schedule at 37-26 (which does not include that suspended game with Southern Maryland). The club completed its 126-game slate with three games on the road over the weekend, the overall record clocked in at 69-57. The playoff field is set, in the North the Boxcars meet Long Island while Down South the aforementioned Blue Crabs face the Lexington Legends (who never visited Lancaster at all in '26). The rest of the weekend was quiet (no high school football anywhere), on Sunday we had planned to start the new street hockey season in Rothsville but you know what they say abut The Best Laid Plans. Early in the morning Mother Nature took a Number One and the day was ruined, we'll try it again on the 20th. Take care, thanks for reading
