Miracle Late-Inning Rally Propels Sharks To Victory

Things looked bleak early on for the Riversharks.

The Lancaster Barnstormers batted around in the second inning, scoring 6 runs on 5 hits to take an 8-2 lead and knock starter Humberto Sanchez out of the game. It looked like Sharks fans were in for a long night.

But Camden slowly chipped away. Single runs in the 4th and 5th, and two more in the 6th made it 8-6, Lancaster. No longer a blowout, it seemed the momentum had shifted. Stormers starter John Halama exited after 6, having surrendered 6 runs on 11 hits.


Meanwhile Zac Cline, on in relief of Sanchez, was cruising. Over 5 innings of work, Cline allowed just one run on four hits. He was relieved by Santos Hernandez, who struck out 3 Stormers in an inning an a third of work, allowing only one hit.

Lancaster made it 9-6 in the 7th when an Iggy Suarez single scored Travis Metcalf, and it seemed like the Sharks rally was squashed.

But Jonel Pacheco lead off the top of the 9th with a solo homer to right off reliever Jonah Bayliss, and suddenly the rally was on again.

Toby Hall singled. Juan Francia reached on an error. Lloyd Turner singled. With the bases loaded and no outs, Noah Hall grounded into a fielder's choice that scored one run. Next, Alvin Colina, who earlier had blasted his 14th home run of the 2011 season over the centerfield wall, smoked a double down the left field line that scored two more runs. The Sharks lead 10-9 going into the home half of the 9th.

Enter Fernando Hernandez, who retired the Stormers 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame to pick up his first save and seal an incredible comeback victory for the Camden Riversharks.

Both teams gave up a combined total of 27 hits. The game took nearly four hours to complete.

The Hernandii combine for the win (Santos) and the save (Fernando).

Jake Eigsti blasted a 2 run dinger in the 6th and came up with two huge defensive stops at second later in the inning.