AtL Lancaster Stormers

Barnstormers demolish duck lefties

Published on August 8, 2006 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release


Lancaster reached left-handed starter Bill Pulsipher for 10 runs in the second and got to southpaw reliever Pete Hartmann for four more in the eighth on a grand slam by Lance Burkhart in a wild 15-11 victory over the Ducks in front of 5,795 Tuesday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The win kept the Barnstormers three games ahead of Somerset in the Southern Division race in the second half. Long Island stayed in a tie with Bridgeport for the top spot in the North, two games ahead of Newark.

Combined, Pulsipher and Hartmann were reached for 14 runs on 14 hits over two innings. Duck right-handers only allowed one hit and one run in six innings of work.

Pulsipher carried a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the second, thanks mostly to Mel Stocker?s three-run homer off Brian Whitaker (7-5) in the top of the inning. He gave up a seemingly innocent one-out single to Jeremy Todd and got the second out on Burkhart?s wicked liner to third baseman Ray Navarrete. The well-traveled former big leaguer never procured out number three, though he faced 11 more batters.

Steve Van Note doubled off the glove of first baseman Henry Rodriguez to score Todd. Kris Dufner singled to add a baserunner, and Reggie Taylor evened the score with a three-run blast over the picnic tents in right. Danny Gonzalez blooped a single to right and scored when Jutt Hileman found the gap in left center. Jose Ortiz walked. Keith Maxwell lined an RBI single to center, and Jeremy Todd followed with a bloop hit to left to score another run for a 7-4 lead. Burkhart was hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing up Van Note for a second time. He ripped a grounder to the backhand side of Navarrete and beat the throw to first, driving in another run. The ninth of the inning scored when the throw eluded Rodriguez, sending Todd home. Dufner contributed his second hit of the inning, a single to left center for a 10-4 lead before Pulsipher was rescued.

Kevin Mannix not only got the final out of the second, he kept the Ducks in the game with 4 1/3 hitless innings of relief. Long Island certainly made it interesting.

Whitaker gave up a two-out run in the fourth when Kevin Haverbusch doubled to left center, and Greg Connors followed with a double off the wall in right. The Lancaster right-hander retired seven straight before running into trouble in the seventh. He loaded the bases on a hit batter and two singles, giving way to Charlie Weatherby. Carlos Hernandez produced one run with a sacrifice fly to right. Erick Almonte then sliced a double past Van Note, but Danny Gonzalez made a quick relay throw and nailed Almonte, who went in standing up, at third for the second out, keeping the score at 10-8.

Taylor singled in Burkhart, who had been hit by a pitch for the second time, in the bottom of the seventh for an 11-8 lead and Lancaster?s only run off the right side of the pen. Then, in the eighth, Jutt Hileman, Jose Ortiz, and Keith Maxwell opened the inning with consecutive singles to load the bases. Hartmann struck out Jeremy Todd, but Burkhart crushed a pitch into the cars on the walkway beyond the left field wall for Lancaster?s second slam in as many games.

It turned out those runs were needed. The Ducks strung together four two-out hits off Matt Knox in the top of the ninth to produce three runs, two of which scored on Bucky Jacobsen?s double off the vinyl in right. Henry Rodriguez struck out, finally putting the game to rest.

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Atlantic League Stories from August 8, 2006


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