This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Storm Titles Come In Threes

Fresh from winning its third California League title since joining the California League in 1994, the Lake Elsinore Storm has three distinctive championships.

Sunday night, the Lake Elsinore Storm turned a triple play – by winning its third California League Title in team history.

But each of the three titles is different, as is the transitional life of the minor leagues: Three different managers and two different Major League baseball franchises can lay claim to a Class A title in Lake Elsinore.

The Diamond opened in 1994 and with it, the Storm. As the advanced Class A team of the then-California Angels, fans set huge attendance records even when the team went through a challenging 5-27 start.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

By 1996, manager Mitch Seoane had a club of prospects and players that gelled. His pitching staff included soon-to-be major leaguers Jerrod Washburn, Scott Schoeneweis and Matt Perisho.

Angels players Jim Edmonds, Dick Schoefield and pitcher Mark Langston made rehabilitation stops in Lake Elsinore as well. Washburn and Darren Erstad are two Storm alumni that were instrumental in the Angels winning the 2002 World Series.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In 2001, the Angels and the San Diego Padres switched minor league affiliates. Leaving the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Padres now called Lake Elsinore home.

Manager Craig Colbert led the Storm to the California League Finals to face the San Francisco Giants Class A franchise from San Jose. Pitcher Jake Peavy, who later became the Padres ace, paved the way with a superb season.

But in the wake of terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Major League Baseball halted the minor league season and declared the Storm and the San Jose Giants co-California League champions.

The 2011 season saw its share of upheaval as well.

Longtime minor league manager Carlos Lezcano stunned everyone by resigning on June 2. Lezcano, in his 19th season as a minor league manager and his fifth with the Storm, hastily departed due to family reasons. He left 43 wins shy of 1,000 career minor league victories.

The Padres organization replaced him with hitting coach and former Major League infielder Phil Plantier. The former Red Sox and Padres first baseman restored calm to the team while maintaining the development of several hitters, including Nate Freiman and Jonathan Galvez.

Lake Elsinore, which entered the postseason as a South Division Wild Card following a 69-71 regular season, secured its first league championship by beating the Stockton Ports with strong pitching and an offensive explosion from Freiman.

Freiman took home the Championship MVP award, batting .529 with four runs, two home runs and five RBI in four championship games, including a 4 for 4 night in game one and a two home run, two RBI night in game four. The former Duke Blue Devil led the Storm this season in games (138), at-bats (548), hits (158), total bases (267), home runs (22) and RBI (111). Freiman also took home the team's MVP award and was named to the California League postseason All-Star team.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?