AtL Lancaster Stormers

Lancaster Topples Sugar Land, 10-6, to Retake Four-Game Lead

Published on August 15, 2015 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release


The Lancaster Barnstormers fell behind active ERA leader Roy Merritt, 3-0, in the first inning on Saturday night. It was not an encouraging beginning.

However, Lancaster, behind five RBI from third baseman Anderson Feliz, roared back for 10 runs in the next four innings to take down Merritt and the Sugar Land Skeeters, 10-6, in front of 6,432 at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The victory, combined with York's 3-2 loss at Bridgeport, rebuilt Lancaster's four-game divisional lead over the Revs at the halfway mark of the second half.

Chad Beck (3-1) yielded the three first inning runs on five Sugar Land base hits. Travis Scott laced a single into left to score Jeff Dominguez, who had doubled. Daryle Ward produced the inning's second run with a single through the hole on the left side, and Johan Limonta another single into short left for the 3-0 advantage.

Beck shutdown the Skeeters over the next five innings, striking out a club season-high 10 on the night, giving Lancaster the opportunity to bounce back.

Against Merritt (5-5), who had authored 10 consecutive quality starts, the road ahead seemed difficult, perhaps even more so when a ground rule double cost Lancaster a run in the bottom of the first.

In the second, a walk and two singles loaded the bases with one out. Yusuke Kajimoto, making a rare start in center, produced one run with a long sacrifice fly, and Feliz cut the lead to 3-2 with an infield single.

Merritt carried the lead into the fourth inning but never got an out. Luke Hughes reached when his smash to third jumped high on Patrick Palmeiro. Lance Zawadzki slapped a single to left center to add a second runner. Designated hitter Derrick Pyles, who went 4-for-4 on the night, dropped a bloop double down the right field line to tie the game.

Kajimoto followed with a two-run single up the middle to give Lancaster the lead. Feliz followed with his third homer in four days as the lead grew to four. Kent Matthes hit the second straight ball onto the picnic deck, ending Merritt's night with an 8-3 Lancaster edge.

Feliz doubled home two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, then the Lancaster bats grew silent, producing only an infield single by Pyles in the seventh for the remainder of the night.

The final three innings were hardly drama free. Three consecutive Sugar Land singles to open the seventh chased Beck, and Daniel Moskos yielded two more, including a two-run base hit to center by Delwyn Young. That moved the tying run into the on deck circle with no one out in the inning, but Moskos coaxed a double play grounder out of Ward, and Scott Gracey retired Chris Wallace on a fly out to right to stem the threat.

Gracey yielded a walk and single to start the eighth, but Amadeo Zazueta grounded into a nicely turned 3-6-1 double play to send the Skeeters backwards once more.

Marcus Walden ended the game, surviving a two-out walk in the ninth.

The clubs conclude the four-game series on Sunday afternoon. Bryan Morgado, the winner of four straight starts, gets the ball for Lancaster against former Lancaster right-hander Matt Wright (5-7). Fans may tune into 1390-AM, WLAN; rumba1390.com or the I Heart Radio cell phone app at 12:45.

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Atlantic League Stories from August 15, 2015


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