Ports Toppled by Storm in Back-and-Forth Affair

Box Score

LAKE ELSINORE, Ca. – In a game that featured six lead changes, the Ports came up short in an 11-9 loss to the Storm the series and road trip finale on Sunday evening at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore.

Trailing 3-1 after the first inning, the Ports (33-63) reclaimed the lead with four two-out runs in the top of the second. With Cooper Uhl on third base and one out, Mariano Ricciardi reached on an infield single to score Uhl and bring the Ports to within one run at 3-2. The single also extended Ricciardi’s hitting streak to eight games. After a Danny Bautista single to center put runners on the corners, Junior Perez launched a three-run homer to left field to put the Ports ahead 5-3.

The Storm (57-39) came right back with three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead again. Back-to-back walks issued to Alejandro Hernandez and Justin Farmer started the inning and after a fielders’ choice put runners on second and third, Hernandez scored from on a fielding error by Wilson Alvarez at second base to make it 5-4. James Wood then lined a single to left field to score Jackson Merrill from second to tie the game, and an error on Ramon Martinez allowed Nerwilian Cedeño to get to third and Wood to second on the play. Albert Fabian then followed with an RBI groundout to give the Storm the lead again at 6-5.

After another Lake Elsinore run in the bottom of the third made it 7-5, the Ports reclaimed the advantage with another four-run frame in the top of the sixth. With runners on second and third and two outs, Ricciardi greeted new Storm pitcher Danny Denz with a three-run shot to right center to put Stockton back in front 8-7. Bautista then walked and stole second, and scored from second base on a wild pitch to increase the Stockton lead to 9-7.

The Storm, however, would take the lead for good with a four-run bottom of the seventh inning. With a runner at second base after a leadoff double off Ports’ reliever Luke Anderson, Marcos Castañon lined a single to left field to score Wood from second and cut the Stockton lead to 9-8. After a fielders’ choice and a single put runners on the corners, Hernandez greeted new Ports’ pitcher Hunter Breault with a single to right field to score Carlos Luis from third base and tie the game at nine. The next hitter, Justin Farmer, then doubled to left center to score two more runs and give the Storm the advantage again at 11-9.

The Ports managed just one hit, a leadoff double by T.J. Schofield-Sam in the ninth, in the eighth and ninth innings to finish the ballgame.

Aaron Holiday (4-2) got the win in relief for the Storm, firing 1.1 scoreless innings across the sixth and seventh. Anderson (5-7) took the loss for Stockton allowing three runs on four hits over 2.2 innings. Keegan Collett picked up his fourth save for the Storm with a scoreless ninth.

After completing their road trip 1-8, the Ports return to Banner Island Ballpark on Tuesday to open a six-game series against the Modesto Nuts with first pitch at 7:05 pm. Tickets are available at stocktonports.com or by calling (209) 644-1900.