The Storm beat the Rawhide for an Opening Series Sweep at The Diamond

The Lake Elsinore Storm finished their Opening Series in the same way they navigated their first two games and it gave them an Opening Series sweep and the ideal beginning to a long journey in which they hope to finish holding yet another championship trophy.

In the top of the 2nd inning, the Rawhide would execute a picture perfect double steal to get just their second run of the season through three games played and what would become their only run of the night. However, as has become their calling card in a miniscule sample size, the Storm would answer swiftly. In the bottom of the 3rd, free passes cost the Rawhide their lead as Ricardo Yan walked three batters, hit two others, allowing a single to Rosman Verdugo, and ultimately giving up two runs scored.

The bottom of the order would then deliver in the following inning. A double from Wyatt Hoffman and single from Charlis Aquino would set the stage for top prospect, Samuel Zavala to bring Hoffman home on a sac fly to the other top prospect in the opposing dugout, Druw Jones.

Storm pitching also flexed their metaphorical muscle once more, striking out 14 combined hitters. Austin Krob continued the trend of Storm starters refusing to give up a single earned run. His first start of the season saw him strike out six and be followed in the bullpen by Kobe Robinson who was awarded the victory after going 3.2 innings, allowing no earned runs, and striking out five batters. Javier Chacon and Dylan Nedved finished the game going a combined 2.1 innings, striking out three, and keeping the Rawhide hitless.

The Storm would offensively explode once more in the 7th, accruing five runs scored. But even this was done with a heavy assist from Rawhide pitching. Three walks and one wild pitch that brought a run home was a microcosm of the difficult situations Visalia continuously placed themselves in for the entirety of this Opening Series. The Storm did well to capture these moments of weakness, however, as they attached four singles to these free passes and mistakes to ensure they squeezed all the juice out of the opportunity given to them.

The combined statistics for these two teams were about as lopsided as they could be:

Storm BA: .287

Rawhide BA: .149

Storm OPS: .847

Rawhide OPS: .436

Storm Runs: 27

Rawhide Runs: 2

The only question that lingers for the winner of an opening series this lopsided is, "Will this be what this team is or was the success simply a byproduct of a slow start for the Visalia Rawhide?" For a team determined to repeat as champions for the first time in their history, the Lake Elsinore Storm's opinion is not difficult to predict.

The next time their fans will be able to watch them live in Lake Elsinore will be for Trivia Tuesday on April 18th at The Diamond!

-Written by Justin Jett