Named Player Of Month For August Sept. 6, 2012
Lancaster Barnstormers outfielder Ryan Harvey has been named Atlantic League Player of the Month for August, it was announced today by league officials.
Harvey, who turned 28 during the month, topped the league in both home runs (12) and RBI (39) while batting .322. He led the Barnstormers to a 22-8 record, the best month in team history. The former Chicago Cubs’ first round draft choice had three multiple home run games during August. He homered in each of the last four games of the month and batted safely in the last eight.
Harvey’s streak of success has continued into September, as his home run streak reached six before being broken while his hitting streak has been extended to 13.
Overall, the outfielder-DH is batting .308 with 25 home runs and 67 RBI.
“He has come a long way,” said Barnstormers manager Butch Hobson. “He is a hard worker and a very talented young player. I’ve never seen power quite like he has.”
Nowhere for Ducks to hide 
The Barnstormers' Ryan Harvey rounds the bases after his second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the fourth inning. He also belted a two-run homer in the first and a two-run single in the fifth. (Suzette Wenger / Staff)
Correspondent
It's not like Long Island didn't know this could happen.
Six nights after Lancaster dropped a club-record 24 hits on the Ducks in a 16-5 win on Long Island, the Barnstormer bats were at it again Friday night in Lancaster.
This time it was a team-record, 25-hit attack that resulted in a 17-3 Barnstormer pounding of the Ducks before a crowd of 6,462 at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
"Well, we had a nice night swinging the bats," said Lancaster manager Butch Hobson. "We've had the kind of lineup all year that can put some runs on the board."
Fehlandt Lentini, Travis Denker and Emerson Frostad led the Barnstormer charge with four hits apiece. Two of Lentini's were home runs and he drove in five runs.
Ryan Harvey and Gilberto Mejia had three hits apiece, while Blake Gailen, Adam Godwin and Kody Kirkland each had two.
Harvey smoked a pair of home runs, a double and drove in six runs. In last week's blowout win on the Island, Harvey was 4 for 6 and drove in three.
Long Island starter Chris McCoy left after 3a-c innings, but not before giving up 10 runs on 14 hits. The Barnstormers slapped 10 hits in their first 16 at-bats and had 15 hits through the first four innings.
Ironically, it was McCoy who silenced the Barnstormer bats Sunday night in Long Island's 8-1 win.
"We came out just trying to stay inside the ball because he has that sinker and little slider," explained Hobson. "We had some success with that."
Lancaster starter J.D. Durbin was the beneficiary of the barrage. He allowed a run in the first, but his offense answered with a four-spot in the bottom of the inning and the rout was on.
"It is easy to relax when they score runs for you," Durbin said. "We came out early and kept McCoy off balance. The hitters did a phenomenal job."
Durbin gave up three runs on six hits and five walks over seven innings to improve his record to 10-9. After the third inning, he gave up only two hits and struck out four.
"I probably didn't feel like me until about the fourth inning," he explained. "It's like that every game for me and that's frustrating."
Ray Navarrete hit a pair of home runs and knocked in all three runs for the Ducks, who have fallen on hard times.
Long Island won the first half in the Liberty Division, despite closing the half with four straight losses. Now 13-28 in the second half, the Ducks are 13-34 in their last 47 games and have dropped five straight this week.
The Barnstormers hit six homers in all, including three in a five-run eighth inning when Long Island raised the white flag and sent starting center fielder Reid Gorecki to the mound.
Heading into the weekend, Lancaster has seven regulars batting over .300 and an eighth is knocking at the door at .294.
"Our offense makes it easy and we've lost a couple big bats," Durbin said. "But they keep plugging away. I mean, 25 hits is ridiculous."