Storm close in on crown
By: ED WEHDE - Staff Writer | ∞
LAKE ELSINORE-- The Storm are one win away from their third California League title.
Led by a stellar effort by starter Nathan Culp, some excellent defense and two Craig Cooper RBIs, Lake Elsinore edged past San Jose, 3-2, in Game 2 of the Cal League Championship Series at The Diamond on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Starting tonight at San Jose Municipal Stadium, the Storm will have three chances to add to the title they won in 1996 and the one they shared with San Jose in 2001. Games 4 and 5, if necessary, will be in San Jose on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
Two years ago, the Storm were in the exact same situation, having beaten the Giants in the first two games of the title series at The Diamond and needing just one win in San Jose. The Giants, however, rebounded to win three straight at home to capture the championship.
"That was two years ago. I don't want to talk about that," Storm manager Carlos Lezcano said. "Let's talk about 2007.
"(Our approach) is like it's always been -- like we're behind by 0-2. We can't go in there with the mentality that we have three chances to win one. We want to go in there and beat them the first night and get out of there."
Storm starter Nathan Culp gave up just one first-inning run and scattered six hits and a walk in his seven innings.
"This is what you work for all year," Culp said. "It felt good. All the stuff I've been working on all year -- being able to put it all together for this last game is awesome."
Culp worked ahead in the count most of the night, but when he fell behind, he was able to get his change-up over in fastball counts.
"I kept them off balance pretty good and our defense played great behind me," Culp said. "It's easy to pitch when they play defense like that."
The Storm defense turned a pair of double plays, including a key one in the ninth when the Giants cut the Storm's two-run lead in half. Cooper also had a huge outfield assist to keep the Storm ahead when they led by just one.
With two outs in the fifth, Travis Denker hit his second double of the game, and Mark Minicozzi singled to right. Cooper charged Minicozzi's ball and quickly fired a bullet right to catcher Jose Lobaton, who survived Denker crashing into him to make the tag and preserve the lead.
"That's the biggest play of the game right there," Culp said.
The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first when Denker doubled and scored, and the Storm countered with a pair in the fourth off Giants starter Adam Cowart on David Freese's RBI double and Cooper's sacrifice fly to the warning track in right field that plated Freese.
Lake Elsinore added an insurance run in the sixth on Cooper's second sac fly of the night which scored Josh Alley.
Ernesto Frieri worked around a pair of walk in the eighth by striking out three, and R.J. Rodriguez earned the save despite giving up a run in the ninth.
Et cetera
Josh Alley's first inning single extended his playoff-long hitting streak to nine games. The CF has also reached base in the first inning in seven of the Storm's nine postseason contests. ... The Storm went 1-6 in San Jose this season, losing six in a row after winning the first game there. ... Rodriguez's save was the first in any of the Storm's playoff games this year. The other games have all been won in the last at-bat or were too one-sided for a save to be earned.
-- Staff writer Ed Wehde can be reached at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2633 or ewehde@californian.com.
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