Storm Win Final Regular Season Home Game and Series Presented by The Valley News
The Lake Elsinore Storm have played through all 66 regular season home games and have come out victorious in a California League-best 42 of those contests after beating the Modesto Nuts on Sunday afternoon. The final score was the result of yet another game that included a crooked inning from
The Lake Elsinore Storm have played through all 66 regular season home games and have come out victorious in a California League-best 42 of those contests after beating the Modesto Nuts on Sunday afternoon. The final score was the result of yet another game that included a crooked inning from the home team.
The frame in this particular contest was the seventh.
Before this inning where the skies opened up and hits rained down, the Storm trailed the Nuts 5-4.
The Storm began the game with a crack of thunder that led to a three-run frame. A first inning home run from Jack Costello preceded a two-RBI single from Ryan Jackson. The Nuts, however, were able to chip away at this early lead throughout the next few innings.
Johan Moreno was the starter and allowed his first run of the game on a solo shot from Brandon Eike in the second. He then held the 3-1 lead until the top of the fourth inning where he was once again a victim of the long ball. Twice the Nuts sent the ball out of the ballpark, the first to score one run and the second with a man on base. This gave Modesto their first lead of the afternoon.
Moreno finished his day in the following frame, getting two outs in the fifth but leaving with the bases loaded. He finalized his line at 4.2 innings pitched, four earned runs, and six strikeouts.
Before he exited the game, the Storm tied it once more. Doing so took just two hits in the bottom of the fourth. Brandon Butterworth hit a one-out ground-rule double before Colton Vincent brought him home on a single through the right side. Zac Addkison replaced Moreno with the bases loaded and induced a flyout on his fifth pitch.
In the seventh inning, with Bernard Jose on the mound, the Nuts took the lead once again. This didn't last long as the Storm clouds circled after the seventh-inning stretch was sung and the crowd was back in their seats.
The first five batters reached base, four of which scored with the help of a fielding error and a wild pitch. Two more singles saw two more base runners touch home and before the Nuts could understand what went wrong, too much already had.
The Storm would finish the game without giving up a run and not needing to score another. They won the final home game of the regular season by a final score of 10-5. They will play at home at least one more time as they are a road series away from playoff baseball. They will likely face either the Visalia Rawhide or the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. They will play the first game of that series on the road and the next two games at home in the best-of-three series.