LAKE ELSINORE, CA – For the first three innings, it seemed as if Lake Elisnore would cruise to a game three win over Visalia in the middle of the six-game set. The Storm led 6-0 and showed no signs of slowing down. Then, the Rawhide did a complete 180 on both sides of the plate and walked away from Diamond Stadium Thursday night with an 11-7 win.
The Storm got cooking early. Conner Westenburg led off with a single before Yimy Tovar and Jorge Quintana both walked to load the bases. Yoiber Ocopio grounded into a fielder’s choice to get the Storm on the board for a 1-0 lead. One batter later, Bradley Frye sailed a flyball to right that was misread by outfielder Abdias De La Cruz. The right fielder lost it in the sun and let it drift past him to the wall and let another run come in on the RBI double from Frye. Following that up, George Bilecki broke the game wide open with a three-run shot over the right-field fence. And then just one pitch later, Dylan Grego did the same thing on a solo shot. The Storm ended the first inning up 6-0 on the Rawhide.
Innings two and three went scoreless but from the fourth inning on, it was all Visalia. In his first ever game in Single-A this year, Moises Alcala jump-started the Rawhide offense with a two-run blast to right field. An inning later, Ivan Luciano smoked a long-ball to center and pulled Visalia within two. Very very quickly, the Storm had their work cut out for them since the Rawhide were not going to make it easy the rest of the way.
The sixth inning was the difference in the game. With the bases loaded and two outs, Yerald Nin continued his scorching series with a game-tying two-run single. The scoring wasn’t done there though. A batter later, De La Cruz popped a flyball to center field that should have ended the inning. Unfortunately for the Storm, it was Westenburg’s turn to lose it in the lights. The centerfielder overran the flyball and De La Cruz ended up with a two-run triple. It was 8-6 after six innings and in unbelievable fashion, Visalia came all the way back and then some to take the lead.
Three more runs scored in the eighth after Luciano ripped an RBI single to left and gave the ‘Hide some more run support up 9-6. But the game-breaking play came just two batters later from Pedro Blanco. The first baseman shattered a two-run shot to center that went 432 feet and came off his bat at 107 miles per hour. That extended the Visalia lead to 11-6 after eight. The Storm scored one to lead off the bottom of the ninth on a solo-shot from Frye, but the scoring ended there. From 6-0 up to a 11-7 loss, Lake Elsinore lost two in a row to Visalia with three games left in the week-long series.
Lake Elsinore returns to action on Friday to face Visalia for game four of the six-game set from Diamond Stadium. This is the third series of the year between the Storm and the Rawhide with Lake Elsinore leading 9-5. The Storm will send LHP Kruz Schoolcraft (2-5, 6.03) to the mound to face off against Rawhide RHP Chung-Hsiang Huang (0-5, 5.66). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. PT.
About the Lake Elsinore Storm
The Lake Elsinore Storm are the Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres in the California League. For more information on the Storm, visit milb.com/lake-elsinore. For information about tickets to any of Lake Elsinore’s 66 home games, call (951) 245-4487 or email: info@stormbaseball.com.