Late homer, ninth inning rally spark Storm walk-off win
LAKE ELSINORE, CA - In a season where the ball hasn't bounced the way of the Lake Elsinore Storm, the baseball gods were smiling down on the San Diego Padres affiliate Friday. A late home run to tie the game and a ninth inning error by the Lancaster JetHawks led to a 3-2 walk-off win for the men who call The Diamond home.
Lake Elsinore started the scoring in the first. Nick Schulz worked a one-out walk and advanced to second after Nick Torres singled. Fernando Perez drove in Schulz with an RBI single two batters later to put The Eyes up 1-0.
The lead wouldn't last for long. Lancaster got to Storm starter Travis Radke for a single run in the second to tie the game 1-1. After a scoreless third, the JetHawks took a 2-1 lead with an unearned run in the fourth.
Radke went on to work six innings, his longest since joining the Storm over a month ago. He gave up just four hits, walked two and struck out four in the best California League performance of his career.
After Bryan Verbitsky worked a perfect seventh, the Storm tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Gabriel Quintana's team-leading 12th home run of the season, a two out blast that tied the game 2-2.
Kyle Bartsch hung a zero in the eighth and Jason Jester (W, 3-1) was perfect in the ninth, setting the stage for hometown heroics in the bottom of the inning.
First up was Ryan Miller, who laced a single to left to start the rally. Perez executed a textbook sacrifice bunt to advance the runner, but Lancaster countered by intentionally walking Quintana to put runners on second and first with one out. With the winning run 180 feet away, Storm newcomer Matt Chavez - who signed with San Diego just 24 hours earlier out of independent ball - chopped a ground ball up the middle that looked prime for an inning-ending double play. But the throw from shortstop Alex Bregman got by the first baseman, allowing Miller to scamper home and sending the 3,414 Storm faithful home with a victory.
With the win, the Storm (46-78) have now evened the four-game series with the JetHawks(64-60). Game three is set for Saturday, August 22 at 6pm. Matt Shepherd (4-8, 5.36 ERA) will oppose Christian Powell (0-2, 36.00 ERA).