Reggie Lawson Goes Five Innings, Storm Win Home Opener 6-2

LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA

The festivities were high for the 25th season at the Lake Elsinore Diamond as the Lake Elsinore Storm prepped for their game against the Lancaster Jethawks. Mascots Thunder and old fan-favorite Hamlet appeared in a stretch limousine, and the lineups were announced in earnest. The Storm gave the 6,269 fans in attendance a show, clubbing seven runs on six hits en route to a 6-2 win.

The Storm would fall behind early as Reggie Lawson  coughed up a first inning home run to Colton Welker. Lawson struggled early, inflating the count and running into many hitters counts, but he stayed tough and would settle down for the rest of the evening.

Lake Elsinore would storm (pun fully intended) back the next inning with back-to-back doubles by Ruddy Giron and Eguy Rosario, with the former driving in Jorge Ona all the way from first base. Nate Easly completed the rally with a base hit to drive in Rosario. Trey Killian, who started the game for Lancaster, got Edward Olivares (the centerpiece of the Yangervis Solarte trade) to fly out to left field to end the bleeding.

More runs would pour on for the Storm as they tallied three more runs on the board. Buddy Reed took advantage of a bases loaded situation to rip a double that would score both Hudson Potts and Brad Zunica, and would later watch as Giron picked up his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly.

Lawson, after settling down nicely after a bumpy first inning, ran back into trouble in the fifth inning after a fielding error by Potts and a walk put runners on first and second with one out. But a strong throw from Olivares after a flyout cut down Manuel Hernandez at third base, who was trying to be a bit too greedy on the base paths and paid the price for it, making the third out at home and erasing the danger.

Elliot Ashbeck, who relieved Lawson in the sixth, got out of the sixth with no harm done, but the seventh gave him trouble after two singles put runners on first and third. A throw from Torrens attempting to throw out Carlos Herrera bounced off Herrera’s back and into the outfield, letting Brian Serven score from third base. A flyout from Forrest Wall  dammed up the flow of runs before Lancaster could start a rally.

The Storm bullpen would still take care of the lead and carried it to Gerardo Reyes, who quickly ran into trouble after hitting a batter, giving up a single, and walking another. He righted the ship by retiring the last two batters by way of the strikeout and the Storm opened up their homestand with a victory.

NOTES FROM THE GAME

• Luis Torrens, while he went 0-4, generated some lift in his at-bats and has looked like he could begin to develop some power with his swing. It looks retooled from when he was with the Padres and it has helped him generate some more power. He had two long drives to left field that took left fielder Vince Fernandez back deep, with one even making its way to the warning track. Torrens also threw out three would-be base-stealers, and even though he bounced the first two, he popped up very quickly and had plenty of time to make the throw.
• Reggie Lawson looked very spotty in the first inning and had to punch his way off the ropes, surrendering four hits including a home run. But he settled down and settled in, piling five strikeouts while only allowing the single earned run. He sat comfortably at 93-95 MPH with his fastball and mixed his change-up in well. However, he did give up a lot of contact and had some hard line-outs that had to be tracked by the outfielders. He left some pitches up in the zone, but was still able to generate ground balls.
• The Storm really struggled with their plate approach as they struck out nine times, with only one of those coming before the fifth inning. Storm hitters struck out eight times from the fifth to the eighth inning, including striking out 1-2-3 in the fifth inning. They mustered together three walks, with two coming from Ona and the other from Easley. Zunica struck out three times and Reed collected two of his own. While it is still very early in the season and the team is quite young, they could do with working on their plate discipline if they want to make their way through the minor league system.

Jason Freund

I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.