AtL Lancaster Stormers

Barnstormers Pushed To Edge

Published on September 26, 2014 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release


The Lancaster Barnstormers hit .320 in 20 September regular season games.

That potent attack has not carried over into the playoffs, and as a result, the Somerset Patriots have pushed the Barnstormers to the brink of elimination with a 2-1 victory Friday evening at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ.

Somerset, whose pitchers struck out 13 Friday night, has taken a two games to one lead in the best-of-five division series.

The Patriots accomplished just enough off Lancaster starter Shunsuke Watanabe (0-1). Jeff Dominguez walked to start the third and stole second on a close play that brought manager Butch Hobson out of the visiting dugout to argue. Two outs later, Ty Wright delivered his seventh hit of the series, singling through the right side on a 1-2 pitch to break the scoreless deadlock.

Dominguez also produced the second Patriots run with a solo homer to right in the bottom of the fifth.

Watanabe worked 6 1/3 innings, yielding just five hits and the two runs. He walked two and struck out seven of his own.

Josh Lowey (1-0) took a three-hit shutout with eight K's into the seventh inning before Andrew Clark broke it up with a home run just to the right of dead center. Greg Golson followed with a double inside the third base bag. The Somerset starter got Gabe Jacobo to pop out for the second out. Lefty Daniel Herrera entered to face Lance Zawadzki and struck out the Barnstormers shortstop to end the inning.

That was as close as Lancaster would get. Pete Andrelczyk niftily worked out of jams in the seventh and eighth. Faced with loaded bases in the seventh, the right-hander got Aharon Eggleston to ground into a 3-2 force play at the plate and struck out Jonny Tucker to keep Lancaster within one. A tremendous relay throw by Yusuke Kajimoto nailed Jake Fox trying to score on a Corey Smith double in the bottom of the eighth.

Still, Lancaster could do no more. Jason Lowey, the starter's twin brother, wiped out the side in order with two strikeouts in the eighth. Jon Hunton threw a perfect ninth without the ball leaving the infield to pick up his second straight save.

Lancaster sends lefty Matt Packer (2-0) to the hill on Saturday evening at 7:05. He will match up against right-hander Gary Moran. Fans may tune into 1390-AM, WLAN; 1390wlan.com or the I Heart Radio cell phone app, beginning at 6:45.

NOTES: Lancaster is batting .168 (16-for-95) in the series...The only two runs in the last 19 innings have been on solo homers...Lancaster is hitless in its last nine trips with runners in scoring position...Blake Gailen did walk in the fourth, stretching his unofficial on-base streak to 39 games...Over the first three games, only one error has been committed in the series.

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Atlantic League Stories from September 26, 2014


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