Lake Elsinore Storm Opening Night

Last night was the first night the Lake Elsinore Storm (2-5) got to play on their home field in 2013. They played the first seven games of the season in Rancho (4 games) and Lancaster (2 games, 1 postponed). Last night they began a 4 game series against the Inland Empire 66ers (4-4). I was lucky enough to be in attendance at the game. Now where to begin? I think I'll start with the final score. The game went scoreless by both teams until the bottom of the 7th when the Storm scored two runs. An inning later they scored one more. That wraps up the scoring. 3-0 was the final.

Austin Wood started the game for the 66ers and went 6 innings while allowing 4 hits. He allowed no runs and struck out 5, while walking none. In the seventh inning, Wood was removed in favor of Stephen Tromblee, who earned the loss after allowing 3 runs on 4 hits. He struck out one and walked another. Offensively, the 66er's had two fewer hits than the Storm. Michael Snyder, the first baseman, went 2 for 4 with two base hits. The short stop, Eric Stamets went 1 for 4 with a two bagger, as did the center fielder, Joel Capote. Third baseman, Brian Hernandez and first baseman, Zach Wright, both went 1 for 4 with a single apiece. The remainder of the Inland Empire batters were hitless.

The Storm's starting pitcher, Matthew Wisler, went 5 innings and allowed only 3 hits, with no walks and 6 K's. Robert Lara went in to relieve Wisler in the 6th and allowed one hit, a walk, and 2 K's. Luis De La Cruz relieved Lara after one inning and allowed two hits. He was credited with the win as the Storm scored in the bottom of the 7th. De La Cruz was replaced in the 8th by Cody Hebner, who recorded a walk and three strikeouts. Johnny Barbato came into the game in the 9th facing a save situation. He recorded two strikeouts and was awarded the save. Offensively, the Storm did fairly well. Three players really stood out to me though. The first being the center fielder, Travis Jankowski. Last night he went 2 for 3 with 2 singles. Next up is Jace Peterson. The short stop may have only gone 1 for 4, the hit being a single, but he did manage to drive in two of the Storm's three runs. Last, but most certainly not least, Yeison Ascencio. The right fielder went 1 for 4 last night, but that one hit was an important one. In the bottom of the 8th, he blasted a solo shot to left-center field that went an estimated 424 feet!

Player of the Game

My player of the game "award" will be going to the Storm starting pitcher, Matthew Wisler. Going 5 innings is a semi normal thing for starting pitchers, but the fact that he only allowed three hits and struck out six, gives him support. Not to mention he didn't give up a walk or allow a run to score.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow me on twitter. If you want to of course. I talk about baseball in 95% of my tweets. Twitter Handle: @Baseball_lvr
If you have any suggestions as to how I could make my writing better, feel free to drop me a line. I appreciate all feed back as it helps me become a better writer.