Throw, Drop Lead Lancaster To Sweep
September 3, 2015 - Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release
Southern Maryland's Zach Wilson delivered with the bases loaded. Lancaster's Kevin Rivers did not.
Yet, somehow, the Rivers at bat led to a bigger inning.
Kent Matthes gunned down Fred Lewis trying to score a second run on Wilson's single in the top of the fourth inning. In the bottom of the frame, Craig Maddox mishandled Rivers' third strike, leading to a five-run inning that gave Lancaster a 5-4 victory and the sweep of a doubleheader from the Blue Crabs.
In the opener Zach Collier went 3-for-3 with a double and homer to guide the Barnstormers to a 4-2 win.
The sweep lifted Lancaster to a 4 ? game lead over the York Revolution in the Freedom Division race. Lancaster has 18 games left on the schedule. York has 19 games to go.
With Southern Maryland already leading, 3-0, Wilson drilled a Madison Boer pitch into left, scoring Antone DeJesus with the Crabs' fourth run. Lewis followed but was nailed by Matthes, who fired a perfect strike to Juan Apodaca. Apodaca also took a throw from Brian Cavazos-Galvez earlier in the inning to tag out Casey Frawley on Lewis' grounder.
Matthes kicked off the rally in the bottom of the inning with a single to left, and Cavazos-Galvez followed suit off Brian Burres (7-9). Lance Zawadzki walked to load the bases. Burres, however, battled back to strike out Anderson Feliz looking. He also got Rivers, but the swinging third strike eluded Maddox, rolling about 30 feet behind and to the left of the plate. Maddox scrambled to try and get a throw home to force Matthes, but he dropped the ball again. Apodaca scorched a grounder to the right of Grant Zawadzki for a two-run single. After Yusuke Kajimoto was hit by a 2-1 pitch, Jerry Owens rolled a single up the middle to put Lancaster in the lead.
Kyle Simon (4-0), Scott Gracey and Scott Patterson each pitched a scoreless inning from there to protect the lead. Patterson earned his fourth save.
Meanwhile, Burres went the distance. The left-hander yielded only two singles, both to Feliz, outside of the fourth inning.
DeJesus had given Southern Maryland a two-run lead with a homer in the second, his second of the year.
In the opener, the Barnstormers also grabbed a fourth inning lead which was secured by the relief corps.
Cavazos-Galvez led off the fourth with a walk from Daryl Thompson (5-6). Lance Zawadzki singled him to second, and both runners advanced on a bunt by Feliz. Charlie Cutler gave Lancaster a lead with a sacrifice fly to center, and Owens singled off second baseman Casey Stevenson's glove to drive in Zawadzki for a 3-1 lead.
Zach Wilson singled home DeJesus, who had tripled, to cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fifth. Collier answered that with his leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame.
Daniel Moskos (1-0) picked up the win in relief of Bryan Morgado, who left with an injury in the third inning. Pete Andrelczyk and Al Yevoli held the lead, and Marcus Walden finished off the opener by getting Bryant Nelson to ground out with the tying runs in scoring position.
Lewis homered in the loss for Southern Maryland.
The Barnstormers entertain the Blue Crabs in the finale of the three-game series on Thursday. Joe Gardner (8-4) gets the nod for the Barnstormers against Shaun Garceau (4-4). Fans may tune into 1390-AM, WLAN; rumba1390.com or the I Heart Radio cell phone app, beginning at 6:45.
NOTES: Lancaster reached .500 overall for the first time all season at 61-61...The Barnstormers are within one-half game of Southern Maryland for the league's third best overall record...Lancaster won its 24th one-run game of the season, one shy of the club record, set in both 2011 and 2014...The Barnstormers are 118-82 in one-run games with Butch Hobson managing...Apodaca has hit safely in eight straight, the team's longest active streak.
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Atlantic League Stories from September 3, 2015
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- Ducks Pound Out 12 Runs On 16 Hits In Rout Of Bluefish - Bridgeport Bluefish
- Blue Crabs Drop Doubleheader to Start September - Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
- Throw, Drop Lead Lancaster To Sweep - Lancaster Stormers
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