Storm Win in Walkoff Fashion Against Inland Empire 66ers

The Lake Elsinore Storm won their 6th game of the season in spectacular fashion against the Inland Empire 66ers tonight.

Robert Hassell lll has lit up Low A ball including 10 walks over the last 4 games and stealing bases at will, however, he punched his ticket to complete MiLB stardom with a walk off, bases clearing double in the bottom of the 9th inning tonight. With the Lake Elsinore Storm trailing 9-7, Zack Mathis began the bottom of the 9th with a soaring double that ignited the crowd. That double was then followed with a Jarryd Dale walk and an excellently placed Kelvin Alarcon bunt to load the bases for RH3. His ability to get on base at a revolutionary clip has been in little doubt since he put on a Storm jersey so it was not if he would get on base, but how many runs would come in. It turned out, he would take all of them with a squared-off double in the left, center gap.

A ROBERT HASSELL lll BASES CLEARING WALKOFF DOUBLE!!!#StormWin #YourHomeTeam pic.twitter.com/C9NDeS97vt

— Lake Elsinore Storm Baseball (@Storm_Baseball) May 13, 2021

Hassell may have been the hero tonight but his teammates once again put the team in position to win the game.

Yordy Barley once again had a huge game with 2 runs, 3 hits, and a stolen base that resulted in a fantastic run to untie the score in the 6th inning. He was not only one of the last runs of the game for the Storm but he also batted in the first run of the game after Robert Hassell lll's leadoff walk.

The game would go on to be a back and forth affair as suspect defense from either team would lead to 19 combined runs and 8 combined errors. Jack Stronach's hot homestand start continued after his ground-rule double that popped out of the glove of the left fielder scored Barley giving the Storm the 2-0 lead after the 1st inning.

A fly ball that could have been ruled an error on Joshua Mears, who lost it in the lights, led to a bases-clearing RBI triple by the 66ers. That was followed by a fielding error from first basemen Jarryd Dale that expanded the lead 4-2.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Storm were able to put their own crooked number on the board, scoring 4 times off of one double, 3 walks, and a hit batsman. The 66ers were then able to tie the game on yet another triple to left field, this time a perfectly placed ball down the left field line.

In the bottom of the 6th, Barley stole the lead on a gutsy steal of third base which led to an error and an easy trot to home to break the lead.

Stealing runs & stealing dubs with Yordy Barley #YourHomeTeam pic.twitter.com/csv4o0BzIq

— Lake Elsinore Storm Baseball (@Storm_Baseball) May 13, 2021

There was mostly solid pitching throughout the rest of the game, including a great appearance from Michel Milliano who looked strong through 2.1 innings but couldn't finish the game after giving up an absolute blast to left field, relinquishing the lead and pushing the game to 9-7.

Hassell and the Storm had the final laugh, however, as the Storm move to a Low-A best 6-2 on the season and getting their first win at home in well over 600 days. The Storm's 67 runs scored this season dwarf the next highest by over 20 runs as their offense appears close to unstoppable.

They look to capture another win in Lake Elsinore tomorrow night at 7:05.

-Written by Justin Jett