(May 29, 2022 – Lancaster, Pa.): Carlos Franco headlined a big day for the offense with a pair of homers as the York Revolution pounded the rival Lancaster Barnstormers, 14-8 on Sunday afternoon at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
After splitting a pair of pitchers’ duels to start the series, York exploded for 14 runs on 14 hits in Sunday’s offensive barrage, including eight extra-base hits.
The offense got going in the second inning when Franco, hitting cleanup as Nellie Rodriguez received his first off day of the season, unloaded on a towering home run to right field to make it 1-0.
The third inning started off on a scary note as Edwin Figuera was forced to leave the game after injuring his leg rounding second base on a leadoff double. Though he would head to the clubhouse under his own power, he was replaced on the bases and defensively at shortstop by Elmer Reyes. After Melky Mesa was hit by a pitch to extend the inning with two outs, Franco made starter Nile Ball pay by unloading his second home run of the game, this time a three-run bomb to right-center that traveled 449 feet, making it 4-0.
After facing the minimum through three, Duke von Schamann who made the spot start for York, faced trouble in the fourth inning. After two walks and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases with two outs, von Schamann was able to paint the outside corner to set down Anderson Feliz and end the inning without any damage.
Von Schamann’s day concluded after five no hit innings, earning his first win of the season and 16th of his Revs career, tying Ricardo Gomez and current teammate Jorge Martinez for seventh-most in franchise history.
York added to its lead in the sixth inning. After a frightening hit by pitch to Connor Lien’s helmet started the inning, Lien stole his first bag in a Revs uniform to put himself in scoring position with no outs. After a walk and fielder’s choice put runners on the corners, the Revs executed a perfect double steal with Lien and catcher Lenin Rodriguez, as Lien broke for the plate on the throw to extend the lead to 5-0. The next batter, Troy Stokes Jr, ripped an RBI triple into the right-center gap to make it 6-0.
Revs reliever Robinson Parra followed with a hitless inning of his own in the bottom of the sixth with two strike outs.
The seventh inning ended up being York’s biggest of the day. After three straight walks loaded the bases with no outs, the Revs pushed four runs across on back-to-back two-run doubles by Lien and Jack Kenley, ballooning the score to 10-0.
Lancaster finally got its first hit with one out in the seventh when Anthony Peroni singled off of Jhoendri Herrera, ending the no-hit bid as a tie for the longest in franchise history at 6.1 innings. The Barnstormers got on the board later in the inning as BJ Boyd hit a three-run home run to right field, ending the shutout.
Three more crossed for York in the eighth, with Lien’s bases loaded hit by pitch plating Jhon Nunez, and a two-run single to left by Kenley scoring Franco and Josue Herrera.
Kelly Dugan emerged again in the eighth with a solo home run to right off Isaac Sanchez, his 11th of the season and ninth against York. Peroni plated another run with a single later in the inning.
The final offensive blow for York came on Stokes Jr’s fifth longball of the year, a solo homer to left to lead off the ninth inning.
Lancaster wouldn’t go down without a fight, as homers by Melvin Mercedes and Andretty Cordero accounted for three more runs, but the day ended after Josh Martin forced a ground ball fielder’s choice to close out the wild victory.
Franco drove in a total of four runs on his second two-homer game of the year while scoring four times to headline the offense. He notched his second consecutive three-hit game and reached base five times on the day. Kenley also added four RBI, and Lien plated another three.
York will go for a third straight victory to close the four-game series on Memorial Day as Austin Nicely faces Lancaster lefty Augie Sylk on Monday at 5 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and the WOYK YouTube channel beginning at 4:40 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Jake Ness on the call.
Notes: York improves to 5-7 in this year’s War of the Roses series. The Revs are 9-6 in their last 15 games and 4-2 on their current road trip with one game remaining. The 6.1-inning no-hit bid ties the longest in club history, along with an effort from Brett Tomko on April 20, 2013 vs. Bridgeport, and a combined effort on July 5, 2015 at Bridgeport. Franco now has 35 homers in his Revs career, three shy of cracking the franchise’s top ten.
