LAKE ELSINORE, CA — For the first time since June 30th, Lake Elsinore has won back-to-back games after a 10-2 demolition over Visalia.
The Storm struck first early. In the bottom of the first, Conner Westenburg slashed a leadoff double down the left field line and scored after a wild pitch and a groundout from Bradley Frye. Visalia wasted no time finding an answer. The Rawhide plated their first run on a sacrifice fly from Victor Santana in his first game for Visalia this season. The back-and-forth would continue into the home half when Lake Elsinore plated Jose Verdugo thanks to Truitt Madonna singling on the first pitch he saw after getting called back up to Single-A. After two, the Storm held a one-run lead.
The third inning would blow the game open for the Storm. With the bases loaded and two away, Yimy Tovar delivered a sharply-hit two-run single to left and extended the Storm lead to 4-1. The inning wasn’t done there though, One batter later, Verdugo slapped a single to right and brought the tally to five runs through three innings for Lake Elsinore. The Storm matched their run total from last night’s win in just the first third of the outing.
Tovar was not done with just the one hit and two runs driven in. The first baseman came back up in the fifth and added another RBI to his total when he singled in Jorge Quintana on a looping flyball that landed on the shallow centerfield grass. It was a 6-1 Storm lead heading into the sixth, and that’s when the Storm blew the doors off the Rawhide.
Just one inning later, George Bilecki skied a flyball to right that was misplayed by Rawhide right fielder Adriel Radney and landed just shy of the Ad Monster. Bilecki blew through a stop sign after a triple and was thrown out at home trying to turn a wide play into an inside-the-park home run but was thrown out with ease. It was an electric play despite the out and Bilecki got all smiles on his way back to the dugout. After Qrey Lott lined out one batter later, there were two away to bring up the top of the order and that's where the damage was done. Westenburg drew a walk and Ty Harvey reached first on an error by Eliesbert Alejos on a throw to put runners at the corners. Harvey then stole second and instead of throwing down to try and nab Harvey, Ivan Luciano tried to catch Westenburg off guard at third with a large lead.
The throw skipped out of Santana’s glove and Westenburg came in to score. Then, Frye singled to right which led to Harvey taking a hard turn around third and halting there. The throw came in to Luciano and noticed that since there was no cutoff, Frye was darting to second. The catcher proceeded to throw well offline of the back and sailed the toss into centerfield and in came Harvey to make it a 8-1 Storm lead. That brought Quintana back up, and the shortstop shattered a two-run blast over the left-centerfield wall to cap off a wild four-run sixth for the Storm.
Visalia would add one more run in the top of the eighth on a solo shot from Abdias De La Cruz but that would end the scoring for both sides. The Storm win back-to-back games for the first time this month and back-to-back against the same team for the first time since the end of the first half with a 10-2 win.
Lake Elsinore returns to action on Saturday to face Visalia for game six 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 11-6. The Storm will send RHP Luis Maracara (1-3, 7.92) to the mound to face off against Rawhide RHP Dean Livingston (3-1, 2.55). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 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.