Tag Archives: Lake Elsinore Storm

VISALIA, INLAND EMPIRE SWEEP

Posted on September 5, 2014 by | Comments Off on VISALIA, INLAND EMPIRE SWEEP

The Visalia Rawhide finished off a mini-series sweep of the powerful Stockton Ports with a 2-1 win Thursday night to advance to the Division Finals against Bakersfield.

The Inland Empire 66ers did the same as they went 13 innings to pull off a 5-4 win over Lake Elsinore and advance to the Division Finals against Lancaster.

VISALIA – 2
STOCKTON – 1

Andrew Barbosa (VIS) – W, 5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Rudy Flores (VIS) – 2-for-4, HR (2)
Socrates Brito (VIS) – 2-for-4, 1 Run
Chris Lamb (STK) – 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Brendan McCurry (STK) – 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Jaycob Brugman (STK) – 2-for-3, 1 Run

LAKE ELSINORE – 4
INLAND EMPIRE – 5

Clint  Sharp (IE) – 6 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Danny Miranda (IE) – 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Anthony Bemboom (IE) – 3-for-6, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Dennis Raben (IE) – 2-for-5, 1 Run
Elliot Morris (LE) – 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Alberth Martinez (LE) – 3-for-6, 2B, 3B, RBI, 2 Runs
Benji Gonzalez (LE) – 2-for-5, RBI, 1 Run scored

The Division Finals start on Saturday:

INLAND EMPIRE @ LANCASTER – 6PM
VISALIA @ BAKERSFIELD – 7:15PM

 

 

 

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RAWHIDE, 66ERS WIN PLAYOFF OPENERS

Posted on September 4, 2014 by | Comments Off on RAWHIDE, 66ERS WIN PLAYOFF OPENERS

Steve McQuail went deep three times as the Visalia Rawhide roughed up the Stockton Ports for a 13-3 win in the North division playoff opener in Visalia Wednesday night. Brandon Sinnery went six innings, allowing three earned runs, and then Keith Hessler and Johnny Shuttlesworth went three scoreless innings out of the Rawhide bullpen to seal the win.

STOCKTON – 3
VISALIA – 13
Visalia leads series, 1-0

Brandon Sinnery (VIS) 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Johnny Shuttlesworth (VIS) – 2 IP, 2  H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Steve McQuail (VIS) – 4-for-5, 3 HR, 5 RBI
Rudy Flores (VIS) – 2-for-4, HR, 4 RBI
Matt Olson (STK) – 3-for-4, 2 2B, RBI
Beau Taylor (STK) – 2-for-2, HR,

In the South division mini series, Inland Empire came from behind late with two runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth to post a 4-2 win over Lake Elsinore.

INLAND EMPIRE – 4
LAKE ELSINORE – 2
Inland Empire leads series 1-0

Dennis Raben (IE) – 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 3 Runs scored
Raymond Hanson (IE) – 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Jeremy Baltz (LE) – 1-for-3, BB, RBI
Bryan Rodriguez (LE) – 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

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FRIDAY NIGHT WRAP

Posted on June 14, 2014 by | Comments Off on FRIDAY NIGHT WRAP

CL2Brief wrap tonight. The first half races were decided heading into tonight’s action, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t the usual intrigue on the field. Two games were low-scoring nailbiters (Stockton 3 – San Jose 1, Inland Empire 3 – Visalia 1) and three games were more traditional offensive contests (Lancaster 7 – Rancho Cucamonga 4, High Desert 10 – Lake Elsinore 9, Modesto 8 – Bakersfield 5).

High Desert’s 10-9 win over Lake Elsinore was a walkoff, with the Mavericks coming back from the dead. The Storm held a commanding lead of 8-2 entering the bottom of the eighth, but High Desert struck for four runs, then four more in the bottom of the ninth (Lake Elsinore scored once in the top of the ninth) to end the game. Burt Reynolds capped the comeback with a two-run shot to send the fans home happy.

In San Bernardino, Inland Empire rose up from a 1-0 deficit with an Andrew Ray 2-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. The 66ers tacked on one more run in the inning to finish the scoring.

Despite the loss, Rawhide RHP Braden Shipley dealt with authority until the fateful 7th inning. Over his 6 2/3 innings, the Diamondbacks’ #2 prospect (MLB.com’s #64 prospect) was impressive with his fastball, slider and changeup:

At the end of the day, Shipley gave up the homer that decided the game, and Ray and the 66ers got the job done. But Shipley caused a buzz among learned observers tonight with his skillset and it was fun to watch the real-time commentary on Twitter.

I’ll be posting more on the first half of the California League season in the next day or two, if all goes to form. The races and playoff implications are always intriguing and the individual performances are the focus of so much commentary. A lot has happened since Opening Day and currently we have high-profile pitchers Trevor Cahill and Mark Appel on Cal League rosters. I’ll be talking about some of my points of interest as we break for the California/Carolina League All-Star Game.

What stood out for you over the first half of the season? Send any thoughts for discussion through email or Twitter.

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ROAD TRIP: VISALIA

Posted on June 1, 2014 by | Comments Off on ROAD TRIP: VISALIA

IMG_4752Visalia sits just about dead-center of the sprawling California League, a couple of hundred miles south and east of San Jose and about 250 miles north of Lake Elsinore. Saturday night I took the trip down Hwy 99 to Recreation Park to see the Rawhide take on the Lake Elsinore Storm and it was a true California League game on the field. The weather couldn’t have been better and the park was jammed with 2,623 fans who saw a real fireworks show, early and late.

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ROAD TRIP: RANCHO CUCAMONGA

Posted on May 26, 2014 by | Comments Off on ROAD TRIP: RANCHO CUCAMONGA

IMG_4745Saturday night I found my way down to Rancho Cucamonga for a matchup between the Quakes and the first-place Lake Elsinore Storm. A night after a Yasiel Puig bobblehead giveaway packed LoanMart Field, it was Star Wars night with after-game fireworks and 4,463 fans had the place rocking again.

I wanted to get a good look at the Dodgers’ top organizational prospect SS Corey Seager as well as Padres’ #5 prospect Hunter Renfroe. Seager is all over the Cal League offensive leaderboards, as expected, and Renfroe is having a solid year at hiA after being taken 13th overall in last year’s First-Year Player Draft.

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RODRIGUEZ, JACOBS EARN CAL LEAGUE HONORS

Posted on May 20, 2014 by | Comments Off on RODRIGUEZ, JACOBS EARN CAL LEAGUE HONORS
Photo: MiLB.com

Photo: MiLB.com

PITCHER OF THE WEEK – RHP BRYAN RODRIGUEZ, LAKE ELSINORE
Rodriguez still doesn’t have a win this season, but against Modesto on Friday, the tall right-hander out of the Dominican Republic struck out 10 with no walks and only two hits over seven innings. It was easily Rodriguez’ best outing of the season for Lake Elsinore as he set season-highs for strikeouts and IP. Even with an 0-3 record, Rodriguez ranks eighth in the Cal League with a 1.17 WHIP and fourth with an ERA of 2.54.

Photo: MiLB.com

Photo: MiLB.com

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – 1B CHRIS JACOBS, RANCHO CUCAMONGA
Jacobs had four homers over the week while posting a line of .458/.536/.875. In his third stint with Rancho, Jacobs is in the top 10 in OBP (.439, 2nd), Batting Average (.325, 7th), HR (10, T2), RBI (39, 2nd)Hits (52, 9th) and BB (29, 4th). After spending 2012 in the Cal League, Jacobs started 2013 at AA, then returned to Rancho, where he has played for all of the 2014 season so far.

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ROSS, O’DOWD EARN CAL LEAGUE HONORS

Posted on May 6, 2014 by | Comments Off on ROSS, O’DOWD EARN CAL LEAGUE HONORS
Photo: MiLB.com

Photo: MiLB.com

PITCHER OF THE WEEK – JOE ROSS, RHP, LAKE ELSINORE
Joe Ross of Lake Elsinore went six shutout innings against Visalia with no walks and nine strikeouts to get the Pitcher of the Week award. Ross is ranked by Baseball America as the Padres’ #10 prospect and he finished the week third in the Cal League with a 1.95 ERA. The outing against Visalia was Ross’ third shutout performance of the season.

 

Photo: MiLB.com

Photo: MiLB.com

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – CHRIS O’DOWD, C, MOSESTO
O’Dowd was red-hot for the Nuts last week, going 14-for-26 with a batting line of .538/.552/.808. He had multi-hit games in every contest last week except for one and belted out a 4-hit game and a 3-hit game as well as a 4-RBI night. In a four-game series with San Jose, O’Dowd went 9-for-16.

 

 

MiLB.com’s PITCHERS OF THE WEEK
MiLB.com’s OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

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CORREA PACES JETHAWKS TO 8-2 WIN

Posted on April 4, 2014 by | Comments Off on CORREA PACES JETHAWKS TO 8-2 WIN

AstrosCarlos  Correa was the top overall pick in the 2012 draft and he showed why on Thursday night with three hits and four RBIs as Lancaster won its Cal League opener by a score of 8-2 over Lake Elsinore.

Correa batted in the #3 hole and went 3-for-4 with 3 singles and 4 RBIs to lead an 11-hit Jethawk attack. 2B Anthony Kemp and RF Danry Vasquez added two hits apiece as Lancaster got to 3 of 5 Storm pitchers.

2012 was the first year that the draft had been changed to the current system of pool money for each club rather than the old system of recommended salaries for each slot. The Astros were masterful in spreading their money over several top picks, including Correa (#1), Lance McCullers Jr. (#41) and Nolan Fontana (#61).

Correa played in 117 games in Quad Cities last season and batted .320/.405/. 467.

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2014 ROSTER LINKS

Posted on April 3, 2014 by | Comments Off on 2014 ROSTER LINKS

Tomorrow is Opening Day for the California League with all 10 teams in actions. Here are links to each club’s roster information in various spots where they have been posted. Not every club’s roster page has been updated so some of these are press releases, twitter posts, etc.

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STORM-TRACKING IN PADRES CAMP

Posted on March 8, 2014 by | Comments Off on STORM-TRACKING IN PADRES CAMP

Storm2014The Lake Elsinore Storm website has a story by Tyler Zickel that lists former Storm players figuring into the Padres’ plans this spring. From Peoria, Zickel notes 10 former Storm players that have agreed to terms for the upcoming season and goes on to add some perspective on some who have played in LE.

Highlighted in the piece are five former Storm players that are in Arizona with the Padres, and the list features highly notable names. From as far back as 2006 (Chase Headley) and as recently as 2013 (Austin Hedges), Zickel has some tidbits from the desert as the Padres prepare for a tough NL west battle this year.

The Padres are getting to be a trendy pick to surprise in the loaded NL west by many experts, despite the gaudy talent on the Dodgers and the championship pedigree of the Giants, as well as the 2011 division champion Diamondbacks. However the big-league club comes out this year, there are significant players in the mix that came through the minor league pipeline, some of them through LE.

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