Storm Rally Late Over Quakes

Lake Elsinore, CA – The Lake Elsinore Storm rallied from four runs down, defeating the Quakes on Wednesday night by a final of 7-5.

Rancho has now dropped two straight since opening the second half with three straight wins, as the loss also marks their eighth consecutive loss at The Diamond.

The Quakes built a 4-0 lead behind starting pitcher Carlos Duran, who gave Rancho three hitless innings of scoreless baseball to start Wednesday’s affair.

Oswaldo Osorio helped build that lead with a two-run single in the fourth, as Rancho took a 4-0 lead over Storm starter Jose Luis Reyes.

The Storm eventually tied the game at 4-4, as Braedon Karpathios hit a solo homer in the fourth and Jacob Campbell hit a game-tying three-run bomb in the sixth off reliever Christian Zazueta.

Rancho took the lead without the aid of a hit in the seventh, as Kendall George reached and later scored from third on a sacrifice fly from Alexander Albertus, giving the Quakes a 5-4 lead against eventual winner Will Varmette (2-2).

The Storm took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning though, as Chase Valentine doubled home the tying run, then scored on a Campbell single for a 6-5 lead against Waylin Santana (0-3). They added another run to make it 7-5 thanks to a Rancho error.

Luis German worked around a base-runner in both the eighth and ninth innings to earn his first save of the year, as Rancho finished with just five hits on the night, none over the last four innings.

On Thursday, the Quakes (3-2, 33-36) will send Wyatt Crowell (0-0) to the mound, as he’ll go up against Storm right-hander Eric Yost (1-2) at 6:05pm.

The Quakes return to LoanMart Field on Monday, July 1, as they host the Visalia Rawhide at 6:30pm. Tickets are available at rcquakes.com. Go Quakes!