Blue Crabs Drop Second in a Row in Extras

In a heartbreaking extra innings affair the Blue Crabs come up one run short. In the top of the 13th L.J. Biernbaum hit a solo homerun off of right-hander Byron Batson to win the game for the Lancaster Barnstormers.

The Blue Crabs got off to a 4-0 lead after the second. Designated Hitter Lance Burkhart led off the inning with a single followed by back-to-back walks by John Ramistella and Mike Just. Lance and John would then score on a single hit by Travis Garcia. Mike and Travis would score on a 2 RBI double hit by Patrick Osborn who appears not only to be feeling better but hitting better too. In the third we would add 2 more runs after Jeremy Owens led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. He would move to second on a wild pitch and then would score on a ground rule double hit by Jermy Acey. Jermy would score on an RBI single hit by Octavio Martinez down the 3rd baseline. In the fifth Lance Burkhart would again single and score. Our final run came in the 9th on a two out solo home run hit by John Ramistella to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Although the crabs started the 9th with a 7-6 lead the Barnstormers would take the lead 8-7 before John tied the game up.

The Blue Crabs used 6 pitchers in the 13-inning affair. Starter Joe Gannon would pitch 7.2 innings allowing 11 hits and 6 runs all earned while walking five and striking out 1. He also hit a batter. Joe only faced 6 batters through the first two innings before giving up a lead off home run in the 3rd. After walking 3 batters and getting two outs, Jeremy Owens would make a beautiful diving rolling running catch to end the inning and save any more runs from scoring. While Joe had three 1 run innings, he would come out of the game after allowing a 3 run home run. Matt Schweitzer would get the final out of the 8th, a 4-pitch strike out. Mike James would then pitch the 9th walking the first batter he faced. He then struck out the next batter and got another to hit into a ground out. Twice with 2 strikes Mike would allow singles before allowing a third that would bring in the would-be winning run. However Mike was saved from taking the loss by the bat of John Ramistella. Newcomer Paul Estrada would pitch the 10th and 11th, allowing only 1 hit while striking out 3 and walking 1. Byron Batson would take the loss giving up the winning home run to L.J. Biernbaum after getting the first 4 batters he faced out in the 12th and into the 13th. Vinnie DeChristofaro would come in for the final two outs of the 13thwhile facing only two batters.