Storm Baseball Opener Sees Rain And 4-0 Loss To San Jose

It never rains on Opening Day in Lake Elsinore, right? But there it was, coming down in sheets Thursday night.

Not enough, of course, to call the game. And the Storm could have sorely used a rainout.

Held to just four hits, the team lost its season opener, 4-0, to the San Jose Giants before 6,911 fans at The Diamond.

Storm starter Matt Lollis, a Riverside native who played at Patriot High School and Riverside Community College, took the loss. Although he scattered just four hits over six innings, he allowed two earned runs including a solo homer in the sixth.

Lake Elsinore’s bats didn’t help, as they scrapped together just four hits on the night and did not get a hit until one out in the fifth.

“There was just no offense tonight,” Storm manager Carlos Lezcano said. “With four hits and only one walk, that’s not a good combination. Their pitcher threw strikes and kept our hitters off-balance.”

The Giants scored right away, tagging Lollis for a run in the top of the first inning, and that was all they would need. Gary Brown opened the game with a single to right and moved to second on a walk issued to Ryan Cavan.

With one out, third baseman Chris Dominguez stung a line drive to left, scoring Brown from second for the 1-0 lead. Lollis got out of the inning with a grounder back to him that he threw to second to start an inning-ending double play.

After a shaky first inning, Lollis got comfortable and retired nine of the next 10 batters before giving up a single to the leadoff batter, Tommy Joseph, in the fifth.

As it often happens early in the season, the pitching is ahead of the hitting. San Jose starter Kelvin Marte took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Storm third baseman Edinson Rincon broke up the no hitter with a solid line drive to left with one out in the fifth.

The Storm squandered its best scoring opportunity in the sixth. Rico Noel started the inning with a single to right. Eric Patterson, on a rehabilitation assignment from the San Diego Padres, walked to put men at first and second and they advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Reymond Fuentes.

Jedd Gyorko hit a fly ball to right, but it was not deep enough to score Noel. After Nate Freiman walked to load the bases, catcher Jason Hagerty popped up in foul territory to the third baseman to end the threat.