Storm Baseball One Game Out From First Place

The Storm picked up their third sweep and second sweep against the Lancaster JetHawks winning 7-4 to end the home stand at The Diamond Tuesday.

Cory Spangenberg led the way going three-for-four bringing his recent hit streak to seven games and stole three bases on the night.

But it was Rico Noel who set a tone for the Storm in the first after a leadoff walk and back-to-back stolen bases to a man on third with no outs. Noel would easily score in the bottom of the first when Spangenberg hit a triple to the left field wall to give the Storm the 1-0 advantage.

Noel again helped the production for the Storm in the second as he hit a sacrifice RBI to left field with bases loaded allowing Connor Powers to score.

After a scoreless third inning by both teams the Storm was back at it in the fourth. Eddy Rodriguez led off with a single to left furthering his hit streak to eight games. In that span he is 11 for 28 at bats and currently leads the team in home runs with six.

Justin Miller continued to impress in his young Storm career with a double to left scoring Rodriguez and would end up on third after a wild pitch. Bisson followed that up with a single to left and stole second for his 10 stolen base of the season.

Everett Williams lone hit on the night came in the form of a double with two on and marking another run in the Storm column. Cory Spangenberg picked up a stolen base as the Storm scored four runs on four hits in the inning giving the home team a 6-0 lead.

Lancaster scored two in the fifth by way of twice putting men on base by a walk followed by a single to end the shout out now down 6-2.

The Storm tacked on an insurance run in the sixth when Spangenberg singled and stole second and third and scored on a throwing error.

The JetHawks would score two more in the top of the ninth highlighted by a leadoff home run by Enrique Hernandez but fell short as the Storm captured the 7-4 win.

Storm starter Donn Roach went a solid six innings and recorded a season high eight strikeouts for his league leading eight wins this season.

The Storm are now 27-25 and are only a game out of first in the Southern Division and head to Rancho Cucamonga for a three-game series against the Quakes before returning to The Diamond for a Social Media Saturday. --Storm Baseball