TORRENCE INJURED; BARNSTORMERS DROP PAIR

On Thursday night, Devon Torrence was a Barnstormers hero.

On Friday, he became a fallen one.

Torrence, who broke a tie with his first career homer on Thursday, was injured on a slide into second base in the top of the fifth inning in Friday night’s opener, and the night went downhill from there.  Long Island rallied from a 5-2 deficit to take the opener, 9-5.

In the nightcap, Darin Downs outdueled Jared Lakind as the Ducks completed the sweep, 2-1.

The Barnstormers reached Pedro Beato for three runs in the top of the fourth in the opener.  Caleb Gindl’s liner to center was played into a triple by Daniel Fields as Parker Morin scored from second.  Joe Terdoslavich singled home a second run.  Andrew Aplin added a third consecutive hit, and Greg Golson rolled a single through the left side to drive home Terdoslavich for a 3-0 lead.

After Fields homered , and Rey Fuentes drove home a run with a single in the home half of the third, Terdoslavich rebuilt the three-run lead with a bases loaded single into right in the top of the fourth.

Matt Marksberry slammed the door in the bottom of the fourth, and the Barnstormers got off to a great start in the fifth.  Torrence walked and, with Darian Sandford batting, broke for second.  He had already reached second as Hector Sanchez’ throw was handled by Vlaidimir Frias well off the bag.  With Torrence off the bag, writhing in pain with an injured left knee, Frias applied the tag.  Lancaster managed only one baserunner the rest of the game.

Deibinson Romero drove home one run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth off Bryan Harper.  In the sixth, Fields singled home David Washington to cut the lead to 5-4, and Ezequiel Carrera made it 5-5 against Alejandro Chacin (1-2) with a sacrifice fly.

Fields unloaded a grand slam off Chacin with two outs in the bottom of the seventh for the decisive blow.

All runs in the second game came in the fourth inning.  Terdoslavich, who was 5-for-6 on the night, led off with a double to the fence in right and took third on a fly ball to right by Destin Hood.  K.C. Hobson was hit by a pitch, setting up a double play.  Downs (2-2) made the right pitch and got a grounder to Frias out of Josh Bell, but L.H. Mazzilli’s relay throw was wild, allowing the run to score.

T.J. Rivera led off the bottom of the inning with a single off Lakind (3-4).  One out later, Lew Ford hit a sinking liner to right.  Caleb Gindl tried to pull up, but he slipped and fell.  The ball rolled to the wall for a triple, scoring the tying run.  Ford scored the second run when Terdoslavich made a wild throw to first on Ramon Cabrera’s two-out grounder.

Downs worked six innings, allowing four hits and a run before getting final inning help from Michael Tonkin, who earned his first save.  Lakind went the distance on a five-hitter, walking one and striking out three.

The Barnstormers hit the field against the Ducks for a single game on Saturday evening.  Kyle Davies (4-7) will make the start against right-hander Joe Iorio (4-1).  Fans may tune into the Barnstormers YouTube Channel, starting at 6:15.

NOTES:  The first game counted toward the first half, which the Barnstormers finished 24-46…Terdoslavich was 5-for-6 in the doubleheader and was awarded a walk for stealing first base in the seventh inning of the opener…Torrence had stolen his 16^th and 17^th bases of the season before the ill-fated play in game one…The seriousness of the injury is not known.