Storm Bats Heating Up Nicely as Season Progresses
Lake Elsinore, California
After snapping their three-game losing streak Thursday night, the Storm looked to keep up their momentum by sending Logan Allen to the mound. It would be Allen’s third start in a Storm uniform this season.
He had recorded a 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts prior to Friday’s start.
The game began with a quick 1-2-3 first inning for Allen, as he got the first two Lancaster hitters to ground out and then added to his strikeout total, getting JetHawks’ outfielder Yonathan Daza to K. In the Storm half of the inning, newcomer Rod Boykin continued where he left off last night, by leading off the game with a home run. Boykin is adjusting well to Cal League pitching as this would be his third home run in three games. He hit six in 69 games with Fort Wayne.
Allen was able to keep the Jethawks off the scoreboard for the next two innings with some help from left fielder Edwin Moreno. With Wes Rogers on second base, Yonathan Daza hit a single to Moreno in left, where he fielded the ball and threw a laser to catcher Kyle Overstreet, who applied a nice tag at home.
The Storm bats came alive again in the fourth inning. Javier Guerra led off the inning with a double to left field and was moved to third on a single by Fernando Perez. Austin Allen then drove in Guerra with a single to right. Ruddy Giron would then score Perez with a fielder’s choice ground ball to first baseman, Roberto Ramos. After a walk to Kyle Overstreet, Carlos Belen would hit a two-RBI double to left field and the Storm would lead 5-0 after the fourth.
The Storm pitchers did a great job limiting the damage. Even with nine hits, the JetHawks were only able to muster one run in the game. Logan Allen would pitch the fifth and sixth innings, giving way to Zech Lemond, who has struggled recently. Lemond came in and put up a zero for the first time in his last few appearances, getting a fly out, a pop out, and a strike out.
Lake Elsinore would then add on in the seventh when Guerra would again double to left field and Perez would walk, setting up Austin Allen to crush his team leading 13th home run of the season. Allen’s bat has been hot lately. He was 4-5 last night with four runs scored, and 2-4 tonight with four RBI and two runs scored.
The Storm offense has come alive the last two games, scoring 20 combined runs.
Relievers Colby Blueberg and Trevor Frank would combine to close out the game. Each pitcher recorded a scoreless inning and secured a 9-1 victory for the Storm. Lake Elsinore will look to get their first series win of the second half in the finale on Saturday.
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