Storm Drop Home Opener to Fall to 5-2 

The Lake Elsinore Storm had a night to forget as they lost the home opener by a score of 12-7 to the Inland Empire 66ers.

What was supposed to be a memorable day in Lake Elsinore, after 609 days without baseball at the Diamond, actually began exactly like it was supposed to. Starting pitcher, Carlos Guarate, started off the night by striking out the side to the welcome sound of thunderous applause, and then in the bottom of the first inning the Storm were able to string a few hits together to get an easy run to the plate for the 1-0 lead. Jack Stronach then hit a two-run blast to put the Storm on top 3-0 in the bottom of the first. It was looking like another game of powerhouse offense, however, it was mostly trouble from then on out.

A solid Carlos Guarate that struck out 4 straight batters over 1.1 innings ended up surrendering 5 runs over the next 1.2 innings due to some suspect defense and timely hitting.

After a brief back and forth that saw the 66ers almost immediately tying the game at 5, it got out of hand quickly in Lake Elsinore. Inland Empire put up a crooked number in the 6th inning when they added 7 runs to their 5. The 66ers held that 12-5 lead all the way into the 8th inning when the Storm were finally able to tack on 2 runs off of an RBI single from Robert Hassell lll and a Yordy Barley groundout RBI to give the Storm 7 runs to the 66ers 12.

The Storm couldn't muster any more offense in the bottom of the 9th and dropped to 5-2 on the year, still the best record in Low A.

Robert Hassell again played well as he finished the game with one hit, two walks, two stolen bases, and an RBI.

The Storm look to go back to their winning ways tomorrow against the 66ers at 6:35pm.

-Written by Justin Jett