Storm Shutout 66ers

Lake Elsinore, CA - Just one night removed from being on the wrong side of a near perfect game, the Storm erupted for eight runs on thirteen hits to back another superb outing from Zach Eflin Friday night and beat the Inland Empire 66ers 8-0.

Eflin was dominant from the start. The Floridian gave up just three hits and walked one in six innings of work, and struck out five 66ers in that span.

"I felt great out there tonight," Eflin commented after the game. "I was focused on pitching to contact instead of trying to overpower guys, and the defense behind me made it that much more comfortable to do so."

The Storm struck first in the second inning. Gabriel Quintana worked a lead-off walk, and Alberth Martinez reached on error to put runners at the corners with no outs. Luis Domoromo followed with a single, and another Inland Empire error allowed Quintana and Martinez to score while Domoromo ended up at third. Diego Goris tacked on an additional run with a sacrifice fly, and the Storm jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two.

Single runs in the third and fourth padded the Lake Elsinore advantage. Three consecutive Storm reached base in the third inning, and Domoromo provided another knock to score the fourth Storm run. Hits by Duanel Jones and Jeremy Rodriguez, one of three on the night for the Storm catcher, started the fourth, and a Corey Adamson sacrifice fly plated Jones from third.

Quintana led off the fifth with a monster blast, his third of the season, and the Storm offense added to more to bring their total to eight and put the game out of reach.

After the eight-run outburst in those four innings, the rest of the night was smooth sailing for Lake Elsinore. With Eflin's night finished after the sixth, Matt Shepherd and Brandon Alger combined to hold the 66ers scoreless over the final three frames to secure the victory

With the win, the Storm improve to 11-11 while the 66ers fall to 8-14. Both teams are back at it tomorrow in game two of the series. The Storm send Colin Rea to the hill while the 66ers counter with Ryan Crowley. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm.