VS ROAD WARRIORS
Carlos Castillo (3-5, 4.83 ERA) vs.
Rob Henkel (3-5, 5.06 ERA)
The Barnstormers look for their first three-game sweep at home all season. Henkel has struggled lately. The lefthander is 0-1 with a 7.79 ERA over his last three starts and he only has one win since May 9. Castillo is the Road Warriors’ best starter. He has six quality starts in 12 appearances.
Scoring summary:
FINAL: Road Warriors 5, Barnstormers 3
Road Warriors 1st: Manny Mejia’s double scores Gabe Suarez.
Road Warriors lead 1-0.
Road Warriors 3rd: Vito Chiaravoloti’s home run scores Suarez.
Road Warriors lead 3-0.
Road Warriors 7th: Omar Garcia’s sacrifice fly scores Suarez.
Road Warriors lead 4-0.
Road Warriors 8th: Traviz Ezi’s sacrifice fly scores Josh Arteaga.
Road Warriors lead 5-0.
Stormers 9th: Danny Gonzalez’s home run scores Vince Blue and Mike Woods. Road Warriors win 5-3.
RECORD: 27-34
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Castillo (8 1/3 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 9 strikeouts).
What team will he be playing for after the All-Star break? Long Island? Camden?
WHAT WENT RIGHT: Danny Gonzalez continued his power surge. The shortstop’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth accounted for all of Lancaster’s offense. Gonzalez has 14 homers and 40 RBIs. Those are incredible numbers for a middle infielder.
WHAT WENT WRONG: Castillo shut them down. The Barnstormers were held to two hits while the Road Warriors’ de facto ace was on the mound. They also struck out 10 more times, which is a recurring problem this season.
*Rob Henkel’s recent struggles continued. The lefty allowed three runs and couldn’t make it past five innings. Henkel is 0-2 with a 7.25 ERA in his last four starts.
*Ryan Harris had a less-than-stellar stint out of the bullpen. The righthander allowed three runs on five hits in three innings. It appears that manager Frank Klebe will be using Harris as a long man.
*Dominick Ambrosini was ejected in the seventh inning.
*The Barnstormers had their three-game winning streak snapped. They went 5-4 against the Road Warriors in the first half. The Road Warriors are 12-39 against the rest of the league.
*Lancaster and Somerset have a doubleheader today, so the players will have to play two rather than get their All-Star break vacations started. The Patriots are eight games ahead of the Barnstormers in a potential wild-card race should Camden repeat as champion in the second half.
