Karpathios Walks Off 66ers, Storm Get Second Consecutive Win Presented by The Valley News
On a night the Lake Elsinore Storm were searching far and wide for offense, one swing of the bat completely turned the game around. Maikel Miralles was the starter for the home team tonight. He got through five innings of work with just one run to his name. That run
On a night the Lake Elsinore Storm were searching far and wide for offense, one swing of the bat completely turned the game around.
Maikel Miralles was the starter for the home team tonight. He got through five innings of work with just one run to his name. That run came in the third inning when a sacrifice fly followed a double and then was finished with an RBI single.
The Storm finally scored a run of their own after the completion of Miralles' night. Kai Roberts' double brought Ryan Wilson home and they would go into the sixth in a now tied ballgame.
Bernard Jose was Miralles' replacement when the sixth inning began. He got through a clean first frame of work before a run scored on a single, wild pitch, and a double in his second. Jose now has a 1.29 ERA in his seven innings since joining the Lake Elsinore Storm.
It took until the final inning for Lake Elsinore to threaten to tie the game once more. Braedon Karpathios began the inning with a single, B.Y. Choi walked, Wilson struck out, Spence Coffman popped out, and Leodalis De Vries loaded the bases on a HBP. Roberts, who tied the game in the fifth, did so once more on a ground ball to second base that should have been the final out. The 66ers' Randy Flores booted the ball and Roberts reached base safely. This allowed Karpathios to score the tying run who was followed too closely by Choi. He ran into the final out of the ninth inning.
The 66ers would face Alejandro Lugo for his second consecutive inning. They would manage to scratch across two runs. This gave the Storm a test in strength in the bottom of the same inning.
With the automatic runner at second, a walk would be sandwiched between two groundouts. With two runners on and two outs, Karpathios would walk to the plate. As one of the few remaining members of the team that started the season in April, experience in this ballpark and at this plate was on his side.
On the third pitch of the at-bat, Karpathios sent a no-doubter over the center field wall. Kissing the batter's eye, this ball reached well beyond the farthest part of the park. With a home run that was recorded at a lengthy 423 feet, Karpathios bat-flipped his way into a second consecutive win against the Inland Empire 66ers.
With this electric victory, the Storm now have just nine remaining regular season home games. The next comes on Friday, August 16th against the same team, at the same place, at a slightly different time (6:45 PM).