Storm Baseball Fall In Game 1 Against Visalia Rawhide

The Lake Elsinore Storm headed into the ninth with a 2-1 lead over the Visalia Rawhide with a home run in the seventh by Robert Kral, but two errors and two hits scored two runs for the home team Thursday night as Visalia captured a victory 3-2.

Lead off man Travis Jankowski drew a first at bat walk and utilized his speed to steal second and third and easily scored on a bloop single to left hit by Cory Spangenberg to put the Storm ahead 1-0 early in the game.

It wasn’t until the fourth that the Rawhide jumped onto the scoreboard and would tie the game at one. With two outs the Rawhide's Raul Navarro walked and would score on a combination of a wild pitch and single by Evan Marzilli.

The Storm regained the lead in the seventh thanks to Kral, who has been the team's hit leader thus far this season. In seven games with the Storm, Kral has 11 hits, with four runs with three home runs and a .458 batting average.

The night was filled with pitching duels as Storm starter James Needy allowed five hits but held Visalia to only one run in four innings. Andrew Barbosa allowed a run and recorded seven strikeouts for the Rawhide.

On Friday the Storm will continue the series and the road trip against the Arizona Diamondbacks’ affiliate, Visalia Rawhide, beginning at 7 p.m.

The Storm will return back to The Diamond on Tuesday, April 23, to take on the Lancaster JetHawks in the first of three against the defending league champions.

For more information on tickets call 951-245-4487 or visit stormbaseball.com. --Eric Theiss