With the postponement of last night’s Game 5, today’s Game 6 now becomes the rubber match of the series with both teams deadlocked at two wins a piece. Today’s weather doesn’t look much better than last evenings but it looks like there’s a window early this afternoon where we could get a baseball game in before more late afternoon-early evening thunderstorms are expected for the Harrisburg area. The Senators turn the ball over to arguably their most consistent pitcher in RHP Josh Randall. Randall will be making his seventh start of the season for the Senators. He took the loss in Tuesday’s Game 1 of the current series. Josh battled through 7 innings and allowed 3R on 6H, 1BB and struck out 7. He is 3-2 with a 3.44 ERA this season. In June he was 2-2 with a 4.03 ERA. Randall pitched 25 innings allowing 13R, 25H, 5HR, 7BB and struck out 29 in the month of June. His opponents hit .229 off of him in June. The Sens are looking for a big game from their big game pitcher to win their second consecutive series and leave town to head to Erie feeling good about themselves.

RHP Charlie McDaniel take the ball for the Flying Squirrels. He is 2-0 with a 5.25 ERA. It’s McDaniel’s first appearance in the series. He last pitched against the Senators in early June where he pitched 6 innings, allowing 2R, 6H, 5K and earned the win. He last pitched a week ago against Akron and gave up 5R on 6H and was chased after the third inning.

The Senators and Flying Squirrels one more time in the month of July. Sunday afternoon matinee baseball at a drying out City Island. We’re anticipating baseball and hope we can sneak a ball game in this afternoon before more storms bombard the area. First pitch is coming up at 1 o’clock.

Richmond Flying Squirrels Lineup: 1. Bo Davidson CF 2. Parks Harber 3B 3. Charlie Szykowny DH 4. Sabin Ceballos 1B 5. Jean Carlos Sio RF 6. Maui Ahuna SS 7. Jack Payton LF 8. Ty Hanchey C 9. Diego Velasquez 2B

Harrisburg Senators Lineup: 1. Sam Petersen CF 2. Devin Fitz-Gerald 2B 3. Sam Brown LF 4. Caleb Lomavita C 5. Max Romero Jr DH 6. Ethan Petry 1B 7. Cortland Lawson SS 8. Leandro Pineda RF 9. Kervin Pichardo 3B

On a widely anticipated evening of baseball on America’s Birthday, City Island was buzzing. A large crowd was expected for the ball game, a July 4th Food Truck Fesitval on Front Street across the Susquehanna from the FNB Field, as well other events taking place on the Island. Mother Nature, as she usually does, had other ideas. About a half hour or so before first pitch the game was put into a delay due to an impending storm barreling down on the Harrisburg area. The skies darkened up quickly and the storm rushed the area quicker than most could prepare for. Gusty winds, heavy rain, thunder, lightning streaks lit up the Harrisburg sky prior to the much anticipated fireworks show. Despite the tarp, the field had excessive water especially in the foul territory and outfield playing areas. The rain did let up as the storm began to push away and the grounds crew began to pull the tarp off of the field to a LOUD cheer of approval from the brave Senators fans. Unbeknownst to the Harrisburg faithful, the grounds crew was just remove the water that had built up on the top of the tarp. They returned the tarp back to the infield and no sooner did they get it back in place and the rain started to pick back up. After an hour plus delay the game was ultimately postponed and will be made up as part of a double header in the teams next series starting on August 11th.

Note: You can find the game recap from Friday night’s Game 4 in my previous article posted in yesterday’s pregame article.

After today’s series finale against Richmond the Senators will use the travel day and make the roughly 4 ½ ride to NW PA for a scheduled six game set against the SeaWolves. Game 1 will be on Tuesday evening, July 7th with First pitch scheduled for 6:05 PM from UPMC Park in Erie. The game times for the rest of the series are as follows. Wednesday’s Game 2 will be a day game with first pitch at 12:35 PM. Thursday’s Game 3 will be at 6:05 PM. Friday’s Game 4 will be 6:35 PM. Saturday’s Game 5 will be at 6:05 PM and Sunday’s finale is scheduled for a 1:35 PM first pitch. As of Sunday morning, the Senators currently sit four games behind the Erie SeaWolves for first place in the Southwest Division standings. Erie currently leads the season series 10 games to 8.