Scott Sobkowiak makes his debut against the Road Warriors this afternoon. The righthander, who earned a spot in the rotation in spring training, went 9-7 with a 4.61 ERA last season. Righthander Cody Harkcom starts for the Road Warriors.
The lineup …
Foster, LF
Gonzalez, SS
Hileman, CF
Todd, DH
Delgado, 3B
Williams, RF
Woods, 2B
Santana, 1B
Deitrick, C
As you can see, Frank Klebe is getting some of the bench guys their first at-bats of the season.
*Gustavo Martinez is here. He’ll be available in the bullpen today and will likely be in the rotation when the team needs a fifth starter next weekend.
After 1 inning: Road Warriors lead 3-0. Rough start for the Barnstormers. Mike Woods commits a throwing error on a routine grounder. Clyde Williams drops a fly ball. Jutt Hileman misjudges a fly ball that turns into a single. The wind is brutal here today. Vito Chiaravolloti and Estee Harris had RBI singles for the Road Warriors. All runs were unearned.
After 2: Road Warriors lead 3-0. Harkcom has three strikeouts. The Barnstormers’ only hit is a single by Hileman.
After 3: Road Warriors lead 3-0. Sobkowiak has retired nine of the last 11 after the defense let him down at the start. Quincy Foster doubled with two outs in the third, but was stranded.
After 4: Road Warriors lead 12-1. The wheels have officially come off. Estee Harris belted a solo homer and Norm Hutchins delivered an RBI double. Barnstormers reliever Jason Norderum entered, walked three consecutive batters and surrendered a grand slam to Alhaji Turay.
Williams’ RBI double brought home Dario Delgado with the Stormers’ first run. The comeback has begun. OK, maybe not.
After 5: Road Warriors lead 13-4. Jeremy Todd’s two-run double and Danny Gonzalez’s run-scoring single begin the long road back.
After 6: Road Warriors lead 13-6. Clyde Williams lifted a solo homer onto the short porch. Jeremy Deitrick delivered an RBI single, his first hit in a pro game since May of 2003.
There’s a side story brewing. Manny Santana was hit by a pitch in the fifth and was ticked off about it. He exchanged some words with the Road Warriors’ pitcher and catcher (Harkcom and Sandy Aracena). The next inning, Ross Peeples drilled Hutchins in the arm. Hutchins didn’t react angrily. He just went to first. Nothing has happened since, so maybe that’s the end of it.
After 7: Road Warriors lead 16-7. Williams and Woods each committed another error in the seventh — leading to three more runs. Woods compensated by hitting an RBI single to cut the deficit back to nine. Santana was hit by another pitch, but it was a breaking ball and obviously unintentional. Lancaster left the bases loaded on Deitrick’s pop up.
They played the “Is it Over” Animal House bit on the big screen. Despite John Belushi’s rallying tactics, this one appears over.
After 8: Road Warriors lead 17-7. Reliever Todd Pennington walked one and hit two more batters. No one appeared upset about it. The hitters seem to have accepted that the pitching is just awful today. The 17 runs ties the most the Stormers have ever allowed.
The Barnstormers have surrendered 15 hits, nine walks, four hit batters and have committed four errors.
Final: Road Warriors 17, Barnstormers 7
It took 3 hours and 25 minutes, although it felt much longer. It will be interesting to see how the upbeat Klebe responds to such a dismal performance. The few kids who remain here get to run the bases now. Why not? Everyone else has today.
