The Storm is Lake Elsinore’s minor league baseball team in the southern division of the California League. They play their home games at Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore not far from Santa Rosa Academy. The Storm has a reputation for finding young talent for major leagues and is an affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
Andres Pagan, Storm’s assistant general manager and assistant chief financial officer, revealed that his favorite part of playing baseball was the competition. The advice Pagan said he would give to newer players is: “The first thing is if they’re committed to themselves and to something that they like. I would say if they love or choose to go into baseball, then that dedication, commitment, communication, and consistency have to go hand in hand and they can go as hard as they can and see where it will take them.”
On Thursday, September 12, the Storm won the South Division playoffs against Visalia by winning with a score of 2-1. This win put them in the Championship game against the Modesto Nut with the first game on Sunday, September 15. The Storm most recently won the Championship in 2022 in addition to 1996, 2001, and 2011.
Sunday’s Championship game started at 1:17 pm with #31, Elijah Dale, as the pitcher for the Modesto Nuts, and #11, Javier Chacon, as the pitcher for the Storm. The home plate umpire was Theo Arndt, the first base umpire was Pedro Torres, the second base umpire was Zach Hovick, and the third base umpire was Caleb George.
In the first inning, neither team scored. The first three up for the Nuts got out. Four players batted for the Storm, three of them got out and left Jack Costello on base. Top of the second, Josh Caron and Carson Jones made it home, scoring two runs for the Nuts. The Storm again didn’t score, with only one player ever getting on base just to get out from Ryan Jackson hitting it to the shortstop. Third inning and neither team scored, leaving the Nuts in the lead 2-0. The fourth inning started and the Nuts scored two more runs. Luis Suisbel scored when St. Laurent got hit by a pitch. Josh Caron scored when Dorighi singled. The Storm then changed pitchers to Alejandro Lugo, who got Washington to hit into a double play and end the inning. Storm didn’t score in the bottom of the fourth. This left the score at 4-0, the Modesto Nuts in the lead.
Top of the fifth and the Storm finally scored. Karpathios singled, and Barnett hit a two-run homer. After the home run, Butterworth singled, but Roberts was the third out, leaving Butterworth on base. Sixth inning and once again, the Storm scored and the Nuts didn’t. Durfee got hit by a pitch right before King got a two-run homer, which tied up the game. In the seventh inning, the Nuts took back the lead with a two-run homer by Pagliarini. Storm got an unearned run when Valentine reached first base by a throwing error on the third baseman and scored on a double by Roberts. The score at this point was 6-5 with the Modesto Nuts in the lead. The next inning started and St. Laurent doubled, scoring on a single by Washington after moving up on a ground ball from Dorighi. In the bottom of the eighth, Storm loaded the bases with walks. Butterworth hit a triple and brought all three home, and the score was then 8-7 to the Storm, making that the first time Storm took the lead in this game. In the ninth and final inning the storm needed three outs to secure the win. Eike walked and scored when Suisbell tripled. Caron and Jones both walked to load the bases. Dorighi hit a ground ball to the first baseman and was out at first. Then the first baseman made a bad throw to home plate which allowed two runs to score. That gave the Nuts a lead of 10-8, and the storm didn’t score, and the Modesto Nuts won.
Now that the Nuts won, the Storm must win both away games in Modesto to win the championship, otherwise, the championship goes to the Nuts. The rest of the Championship series is scheduled to be played at the John Thurman Field in Modesto on September 17th and 18th, 2024. Despite the loss, everyone outside the Diamond Taproom were 100% Storm fans. Win or lose, it’s clear that these fans will be coming back to root for the Storm next season.
