AtL Lancaster Stormers

One Bad Inning Kills Barnstormers

Published on May 20, 2012 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release


If things had broken correctly for Alan Johnson, he may very well have turned in a quality start on Sunday afternoon.

They didn't.

York scored six runs on four singles, a pair of hit batters and two errors in the top of the fourth to beat Johnson (2-3) and the Barnstormers, 6-3, at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The disastrous frame started when Johnson hit Chris Nowak with a pitch. Andres Perez hit a high bouncing base hit down the third base line which kicked away from Kody Kirkland, allowing runners to reach first and third. Johnson hit Ramon Castro to load the bases, and James Shanks lined a single to right, driving in the game's first run.

That's when the inning took a serious turn for the worse. Fehlandt Lentini's throw home took a high hop off the helmet of catcher Francisco Hernandez, allowing Perez to scamper home with the second run. Danny Gonzalez hit a slow roller down the third base line that slipped under Kirkland's glove for an error as two more runs scored. Scott Grimes and Michael Hernandez added RBI singles to build York's 6-0 lead.

Outside of that inning, the Revolution managed only five singles, and only one of their final 16 batters reached base.

It just proved to be too much for Lancaster to overcome.

The Barnstormers started to get back in the game in the bottom of the fourth. Lentini beat out an infield single to stretch his hitting streak to 12. Terry Tiffee floated a single into left, and Tommy Everidge crept a grounder under Gonzalez' glove in the shortstop hole to drive in one run, but left-hander Chris Cody (1-4) got Jesus Merchan to line out to left field and struck out a pair to escape the jam.

Lentini and Everidge would combine to produce a run again in the eighth on a double off the right field wall and a single up the middle. Merchan added another single, but, in a reversal of Saturday night, York manager Andy Etchebarren won the matchup battle on Sunday afternoon, using lefty James Houser to retire Blake Gailen on a grounder to first and right-hander Adam Thomas to strike out Kirkland, ending the threat.

Brad Boyer homered to lead off the ninth against Thomas, but the right-hander sat down the next three batters on grounders to record his second save.

Lancaster travels to Long Island to open a three-game series and seven-game road trip on Monday evening. Mark Brackman (0-1) will take the hill against right-hander Bob Zimmermann (0-0). Game time is 6:35 from Bethpage Ballpark. The game will be aired on WLAN, 1390-AM and on 1390wlan.com as well as the I-Heart- Radio App at 6:15.

NOTES: Merchan had three hits, once again boosting his average to .500...The shortstop has hit safely in 10 consecutive starts...Lentini is 24-for-52 (.462) in his streak...Boyer extended his hitting streak to eight with the homer in the ninth...Lancaster reached double figures in hits for the 12th time in the last 15 games...The Barnstormers pitching staff did not yield a walk in the last 24 2/3 innings of the series...Sunday marked the fifth walk-free game for the staff this season...Ching-Lung Lo got all five batters he faced in relief...He has not allowed a runner to reach since May 1 (walk to Somerset's Johnny Drennen), setting down 20 in a row.

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Atlantic League Stories from May 20, 2012


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