Storm Magic in Seventh and Eighth Propel Lake Elsinore to 8-7 Win over Visalia
CalL Lake Elsinore Storm

Storm Magic in Seventh and Eighth Propel Lake Elsinore to 8-7 Win over Visalia

Published on July 23, 2026 under California League (CalL)
Lake Elsinore Storm News Release


LAKE ELSINORE, CA - In the first home game since the week leading into the all-star break, the Storm gave their fans something to cheer about. Lake Elsinore trailed 6-1 heading into the final three innings and pulled off a miraculous comeback to come out of game one against Visalia with an 8-7 win.

The Storm struck first in the third inning after Qrey Lott reached and stole both second and third base. Yimy Tovar batted him in with a fielder's choice to score the game's first run. After losing each of the first four series to start the second half, this seemed to be a good start for LE to break out of that slump.

Then, the game got completely turned upside down. Two innings later, Visalia took the lead. Adrian Rodriguez singled and Yerald Nin walked to put two men on for right-fielder Abdias De La Cruz. The righty blasted a three-run bomb over the left field fence on a ball that traveled 375 feet to give the Rawhide the lead.

Just an inning later, Visalia added more insult to injury. Alejandro Rios singled to center and Eliesbert Alejos walked and the same outcome from the fifth would happen again: Tytus Cissell ripped a three-run homer to right field that cleared the ad-monster with ease and extended the 'Hide lead to 6-1. From up 1-0 to trailing by five in the blink of an eye, the Storm needed to figure some things out in the final stretch of action.

The rally for Lake Elsinore started in the seventh. 10 batters would come to the plate in the inning, starting and ending with George Bilecki. The right-fielder smashed a leadoff single to begin the inning. After a Conner Westenburg groundout that advanced Bilecki to second, Lott singled on a bloop flyball that landed in front of Nin in left. Lott would steal his third base of the night and move into scoring position with Bilecki off third. That turned things over to the top of the order for Dawson Willis. The third basemen tapped a soft grounder to third and legged out an infield single. Bilecki would score and start the comeback. Willis proceeded to steal second just like Lott and both would come around to score after a two-run single from Tovar. That made it 6-4 Visalia in the seventh.

That would warrant a pitching change and the Rawhide turned to Ricardo Yan. The righty faced three batters. Yan walked Jorge Quintana, recorded a flyout to Yoiber Ocopio and walked Colton Vincent on a wild pitch that scored Tovar from third. One. Run. Game. That ended the night for Yan and Visalia moved to Julien Hernandez to try and stay in front. Instead, Hernandez delivered multiple wide pitches and allowed Quintana to score the tying run and knot things up at six. The seventh inning ended right where the game started: Tied.

After a scoreless top of the eighth, Lake Elsinore came back up to bat in the home-half and found more magic. Conner Westenberg found the left field grass with a slapshot single. After Lott struck out, Westenburg would steal his 38th bag of the year and move into scoring position. Willis drew a walk to put two on and only one out in the inning. Both runners would then move into scoring position with Westenburg on third and Willis to second on a pair of stolen bases. Then, Tovar struck again. The second basemen laced a single back up the middle that snuck through a drawn-in middle infield and gave the Storm a two-run cushion needing just three outs to win game one of six against the Rawhide.

Lake Elsinore turned to lefty Cal Riehl to close things out and record his first save of the year. The inning started off shaky after a leadoff walk by Cissell. But after that, Riehl recorded three consecutive outs and would end up picking up a save and giving the Storm an 8-7 win after Cissell scored on a groundout. That's LE's first win at Diamond Stadium in nearly three weeks.

Lake Elsinore returns to action on Wednesday to face Visalia for game two of the six-game set from Diamond Stadium. This is the third series of the year between the Storm and the Rawhide with Lake Elsinore leading 9-4. The Storm will turn to RHP Cameron Nohos (2-5, 6.12 ERA) to face Rawhide RHP Jesus Escobar (3-5 7.79 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. PT.

Check out the Lake Elsinore Storm Statistics

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California League Stories from July 23, 2026


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