STORM 12, LANCASTER 6: Storm draw first blood in South finals

Kulbacki, Joynt and Blauer crack homers to key come-from-behind win

By ED WEHDE - Staff Writer | Saturday, September 6, 2008 10:40 PM PDT ∞

LANCASTER---- Credit the Storm bullpen for this one.

Lake Elsinore relievers tossed five shutout innings to allow the Storm to erase a two-run deficit and pull out a 12-6 win in the opening game of the South Division Championship Series at Clear Channel Stadium on Saturday.

Game 2 is in Lancaster Sunday afternoon before the series moves back to Lake Elsinore on Monday.

"I'm very happy," Storm manager Carlos Lezcano said. "It's a huge win coming in here. It puts the pressure on them (Sunday). We're going to play the game (Sunday) like we lost (Saturday), like we have to win it. We want to go home with a 2-0 lead. We don't want to relax."

The Storm bullpen completely shut down the JetHawks, allowing just three baserunners over the final five frames. Robert Woodard, who earned the win, gave up one hit in two innings and R.J. Rodriguez worked around a one-out walk in the seventh. Then Evan Scribner came on to throw a perfect eighth and Wilton Lopez closed out the ninth, giving up just a two-out single.

"The bullpen was outstanding," Lezcano said. "I can't stop saying good things about our bullpen."

Trailing by two, the Storm muscled up ---- not exactly their trademark ---- to regain the lead.

Eric Sogard greeted reliever Kyle Fernandes with a line single off the left-hander's midsection to open the fifth, and Brian Joynt hit a two-run bomb to left to tie the game. Kellen Kulbacki followed with a solo shot to right.

One inning later, Robbie Blauer led off with a home run to right to stretch the lead to three.

"Part (of the reason is) where we're at," Lezcano said of the power surge. "If we played here all year, we'd hit a lot more home runs."

Lake Elsinore later added four runs on six hits over the final two innings and finished with 17 hits on the night.

Storm starter Cesar Carrillo worked around a leadoff triple in the first inning, and the Storm carried that momentum onto the top of the second when they sent nine batters to the plate and scored four times with the help of two JetHawks errors.

Carrillo, however, couldn't keep the momentum or the lead. The right-hander put the JetHawks' leadoff batter on base in the second through fourth innings with two walks and a hit batter, and all three scored as Lancaster put up a pair of runs in each frame to take a 6-4 lead.

Lancaster starter Travis Beazley, who had thrown only three innings since Aug. 21 because of a strained quad muscle, lasted just four innings and was charged with four runs ---- two earned ---- on six hits and a walk and took the loss.

Carrillo also made it through just four innings and was charged with six runs ---- five earned ---- on five hits and four walks.

The one blot on an otherwise positive evening for the Storm was that Kulbacki injured his shoulder making a diving catch in right field in the seventh inning and is done for the season. Lezcano said he expects to add a player to the roster Sunday.

Et cetera

Lake Elsinore and Lancaster have met in the playoffs three times previously with the Storm taking all three series, most recently last season when they won the South Division finals, 3-1. ... JetHawks manager Chad Epperson accepted the Cal League Manager of the Year award in a pre-game ceremony. ... San Jose defeated Stockton, 5-3, Saturday night to take a 1-0 lead in the North Division finals.

Contact staff writer Ed Wehde at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2633 or ewehde@californian.com.