AtL Lancaster Stormers

DiNardo Makes History, Fires No-Hitter

Published on May 8, 2013 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release


According to Lenny DiNardo, he did it all with a cutter and a curveball.

The left-hander fired the first no-hitter in Lancaster Barnstormers history on Wednesday evening, pitching his club to a 9-0 victory over the Long Island Ducks at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

With the dazzling performance, the Barnstormers brought an eight-game losing streak to an end.

It was an amazing turnaround for the former Boston and Oakland southpaw. In his previous start, he was reached for 10 runs by the Sugar Land Skeeters in only 2 1/3 innings.

DiNardo (2-2) threw 115 pitches on the night, 77 for strikes. The only blemishes on his record were walks to Gabe Suarez in the third and Ray Navarrete in the fifth. He fanned eight and retired 15 batters on ground balls. Only two balls reached the outfield - a line drive to center by Navarrete in the second and Dan Lyons' pop fly to shallow right in the ninth.

As with most such performances, there were close calls. Owens had to race in to catch up to the Navarrete liner. Daryle Ward stayed with a tricky hop on a grounder by Danny Perales in the fourth. Suarez had a fly ball land barely foul down the right field line in the sixth.

It was second baseman Travis Denker that came up with the biggest save. Josh Barfield, leading off the Ducks' seventh, hit a slow grounder up the middle. Denker ranged wide to his right, flagged the grounder on the other side of the bag, spun and threw to get Barfield by a stride. He also speared a line drive by Lyons in the third, turning it into a quick double play.

It was only fitting that Denker had the final defensive chance on the night, a routine grounder by Perales.

"I'm 33 years old," said DiNardo. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to pitch. So, like I told Jerry (Owens), to be part of something like this, with a group of guys like this, is really special. This was a total team effort."

Lancaster also had its biggest night of the year on the offensive side of the ledger. Kody Kirkland belted two home runs while Olmo Rosario and Daryle Ward blasted one apiece.

Lancaster set the tone early. Owens singled to right to start the game, then took third on an errant pickoff throw by Nick DeBarr (0-3). Rosario drove Owens across with a lined single into left center. Following his steal of second, Rosario scored on Travis Denker's double down the right field line. Denker took third on a wild pitch and eventually crossed the plate with the third run on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Harvey.

An unearned run crossed the plate in the second. The home run salvo began with Kirkland's two-run blast to left in the third.

The rest of the night was DiNardo's show.

Lancaster and Long Island will conclude the four-game series Thursday evening at 7:00. Alan Johnson (0-1) will get the start for the Barnstormers against Long Island left-hander Bill Murphy (0-4). Fans may tune into 1390-AM, WLAN; 1600-AM, WPDC; 1390wlan.com or the I Heart Radio cell phone app beginning at 6:45.

NOTES: Linc Mikkelsen threw the other no-hitter in Clipper Magazine Stadium history as Atlantic City beat the Barnstormers, 1-0, June 16, 2006...The four homers and nine runs were season highs for Lancaster...Kirkland had the Barnstormers' first multi-homer game this season and his second in a Lancaster uniform.

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