AtL Lancaster Stormers

Barnstormers Drop Season Opener

Published on April 24, 2015 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release


Manager Butch Hobson was pleased with his pitching in Thursday evening's season opener at Sugar Land.

He hopes the hitting can come around.

Sugar Land limited Lancaster to seven scattered singles to defeat the Lancaster Barnstormers, 4-1, as the season got underway for both teams at Constellation Field.

The Skeeters reached Bryan Evans (0-1) for a run in the first inning and were never headed. Kevin Russo roped a one-out double into the right field corner. One out later, Travis Scott fought off a 3-2 pitch enough to deposit it down the left field line for an opposite field RBI double.

Evans did a nifty job getting out of a jam he did not entirely create in the second, but the Skeeters got to him again in the third. Delwyn Young reached on a one-out single to left, and Scott picked up the only walk of the right-hander's three-plus inning stint. Denny Almonte flied to right on a diving catch by Bryan Cavazos-Galvez for the second out. Chris Wallace also lifted a shallow fly, this time to center. Jerry Owens attempted to make a diving catch, coming up short and injuring his right hand in the process. The ball deflected into shallow left center with Young scampering around for the 2-0 lead on Wallace's second double of the night.

Sugar Land tacked on two more in the bottom of the fourth. Evans left the game after a single by catcher Todd Jennings and Beamer Weems getting plunked by a pitch. Scott Gracey took over and retired all six batters he faced, but two wild pitches and an infield out got the runs across for the Skeeters.

Barnstormers relievers combined for five shutout innings, allowing only two hits and two walks while fanning six.

The offense, however, never got untracked. Lancaster managed the seven hits, all singles, in seven different innings. The club drew three walks on the night, each paired with a single. On two of the three occasions that Lancaster had two runners aboard, the ensuing batter grounded into a double play. The other threat ended with runners at second and third on a routine fly out by Keith Castillo in the second.

Lancaster scored in the fourth. Henry Wrigley punched a two-out single into right off starter Sean Gallagher. Kevin Rivers lofted a fly to medium deep left center on which Almonte and Dustin Martin became entwined, and the ball dropped out of Martin's glove for an error as Wrigley came all the way home.

Roy Merritt (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the save. Robbie Weinhardt earned the save despite allowing a walk and a single in the ninth.

The two clubs meet again at 8:05 EDT on Friday evening. Lancaster will throw lefty Dan Osterbrock, an 11-game winner in 2014 against former Somerset lefty Matt Maloney. Fans may tune into 1390-AM, WLAN, 1390wlan.com or the I Heart Radio cell phone app, beginning at 7:45.

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Atlantic League Stories from April 24, 2015


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