Storm Powers Their Way to a Lopsided Victory over Modesto Nuts

The Lake Elsinore Storm lost two Major League players after Jurickson Profar and Wil Myers had rehab starts at The Diamond yesterday and the former was reinstated and played for the San Diego Padres tonight. Modesto certainly wishes someone would have told the Storm's offense that. Lake Elsinore would combine for 17 hits, 5 walks, and four straight innings of 3 or more runs scored. This would easily be enough to secure the win as Garrett Hawkins and Duncan Snider held the Nuts' offense to just 1 run before a longer than necessary 9th would give the Nuts 4 total runs.

The Storm offense would have the fortune of seeing an unprecedented four different Storm players collect 3 hits while seven would have 2 or more. Albert Fabian, in particular, shined tonight, ending the game just a double away from the cycle. He would start the night with a single, give the Storm a 3 run lead with a triple, and extend the lead to 8 with a loud and long home run. His impressive offensive performance may have been nearing historic but a collection of other players tried their best to match him.

James Wood continued his uniquely dominant Single-A experience, combining for 3 hits and increasing his inhuman season averages. In 39 games in Lake Elsinore, he now has an obscene .329 batting average and 1.011 OPS. Both numbers would be second in the California League if he played enough games to qualify.

Nerwilian Cedeño would be the other Storm player to go yard tonight while Juan Zabala would go 2-5, increasing his own impressive averages as well. In his 20 games in Single-A, he has a .386 batting average and 1.039 OPS. In 29 games across three separate leagues, he now has a batting slash line of .388/.487/.531 with a 1.018 OPS.

Along with some incredible offensive performances, Storm pitching was mostly fantastic. Garrett Hawkins has found his groove and returned to his excellent form, going 4 innings, striking out 2, and once again not giving up a single run. Lake Elsinore's defense has also been a large contributing factor in keeping the opposing teams run total low. Marcos Castañon, who increased his hitting streak to 19 straight games, has played an excellent third base. Continually diving all over the hot corner and rarely letting a fast grounder or line drive escape his grasp.

The Storm have now won three straight games and once again tied the Fresno Grizzlies for most wins in the Cal League. Lake Elsinore will play once again tomorrow night on Boy Scouts Night, looking to end their unofficial first half on a winning streak.

-Written by Justin Jett