(Photo courtesy of the Lake Elsinore Storm)
The Lake Elsinore Storm defeated the San Jose Giants 13-2 Wednesday night, Sept. 16, at Excite Ballpark to win the California League Championship Series.
The Storm won the best-of-three championship series 2-1 and claimed their first California League title since 2022.
The championship series began Sunday, Sept. 13, at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore. The Storm won Game 1, 12-1, to take an early lead in the series. The Giants tied the series Tuesday, Sept. 15, with a 9-1 win in Game 2 at Excite Ballpark. The Giants threw a combined no-hitter in that game.
In Wednesday’s Game 3, the Storm took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Nu’u Contrades hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the inning.
The Storm then added two runs in the third. Qrey Lott scored after stealing third and then coming home on a throwing error, and Elliot Lascelles scored on a double by Joe Tiroly. In the fourth, Lott hit a triple to score Ty Harvey, then Lott scored on a sacrifice fly by Tiroly.
The Storm added four more runs in the sixth inning. Lott hit a double that scored Dawson Willis, then Lott scored from second when the Giants made a throwing error. Contrades followed with a two-run double.
The Giants scored one run in the fourth inning and one in the seventh, while Storm added runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Alex Conover hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to make the score 10-2.
In the ninth, Jorge Quintana and Jose Verdugo reached base with singles before Willis hit a single to center field. The ball got past the Giants center fielder Andy Polanco and rolled to the wall, allowing Quintana and Verdugo to score. Willis then ran all the way around the bases to score, giving the Storm three runs and a 13-2 lead.
The Storm used five pitchers in the game. Coleman Borthwick started and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out two.Â
Lan-Hong Su followed with three innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out eight. Jack Pineau pitched the sixth inning and faced two batters in the seventh before being replaced by Andrew Wright. Pineau allowed one run and struck out one.Â
Wright then pitched the rest of the seventh and eighth, allowing no runs and striking out two. Sean Fitzpatrick pitched the ninth inning and struck out two, including the final batter of the game.
