Game 1, Storm @ Saints 12-1

The Storm’s first loss this year was to the Saints back on February 27th… not that anyone has been counting. The Storm had a strong first inning. Sheldon Fulton reached base on an infield error, Chris Cesario hit a hard shot to third base which he and Fulton hustled into an infield hit. Joe Calvano walked, Dennis Brumett found a way to get on on another error, and Danny Cortez hit a bases-clearing triple. Will Ryan finally got his first extra base hit when he doubled Cortez in, and Matt Casey brought Will in with a clutch 2-out RBI single. The Storm managed to grab 6 runs in the first, and kept the Saints to just 1 run in the bottom of 1. Duane Camby got things rolling in the second with a leadoff triple, and scored on Chris Cesario’s sac fly. Matt Brumley doubled but was left stranded. In the third, Brumett doubled his season walk total with a base on balls, Cortez stayed hot with a single, and Will Ryan knocked Brumett in with another RBI base hit. Solid defense prevailed again for the Storm, keeping the Saints offense at bay. Duane Camby got things rolling again in the fourth with another leadoff base hit, and scored when Sheldon Fulton hit an inside-the-park HR to right field, utilizing the heavy cross-wind. The Storm defense stayed strong and kept the score 10-1 going into the fifth. Calvano, Brumett, and Cortez all singled in the fifth, and with a sac fly from Kyle Casper the Storm grabbed 2 more runs to bring the score to 12-1. With another solid inning of defense, the Storm finished the game with a run-rule victory 12-1.

Game 2, Juleps @ Storm 3-13

With a good start to the day, the Storm got started on their second game of the day with the wind howling in on field 3 against the Juleps. The Storm defense and Brumley’s pitching kept the Juleps from scoring in the top of the first. Sheldon Fulton got things rolling in the bottom of one with his first of three walks. Chris Cesario and Matt Brumley singled, Joe Calvano and Dennis Brumett drew walks, Will Ryan hustled out an RBI fielder’s choice, Kyle Casper hit a sac fly to bring in the 6th Storm run of the inning, and JC Burks smashed a 2-out RBI double. Matt Casey also singled as the Storm opened another game with a 6-run first inning. The Juleps answered with 2 in the top of 2, and then Duane Camby got things rolling in the bottom of 2 with another leadoff base hit. Fulton took his second of three walks. Cesario doubled in a run, and Brumley tripled in 2 runs. Brumett brought Brumley in on a sac fly, Danny Cortez stayed perfect on the day with a walk, and Will Ryan got his third hit of the day, bringing the score to 2-10. The Juleps got another run in the third, while the Storm responded with 2 runs of their own off a Matt Casey walk, a Brandon Mendelsohn single, Fulton’s third walk of the game, a Cesario walk, and a Matt Brumley RBI single. The Juleps didn’t score in the fourth, while JC Burks knocked Will Ryan in to bring the score to 3-13 for the Storm. With some more solid defense and excellent pitching in the wind from Brumley, the Storm kept the Juleps from scoring in the top of 5 and earned their second run-rule win of the day.

Storm IPOWs:

Matt Brumley - 4 for 6, 2B, 3B, 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Excellent pitching with a howling cross-wind.

Danny Cortez - 5 for 5, BB, 3B, 4 RBIs, 2 runs scored. Defensively solid, almost like he had played third base before Shalom.

Duane Camby - 3 for 4, 3B, 4 runs scored, scored every time he got on base.

Shout outs to:

Sheldon Fulton, who slashed a 2-run inside the park HR in game one, and went 0-0 in game two (with 3 walks).

Chris Cesario was 3 for 4 on the day with a walk and a sac fly, knocking in and scoring 3 runs.

Joe Calvano played an excellent SS after scaring his captain with a hurt back on Saturday.

Dennis Brumett tripled his walk total for the year and scored all three times he reached base in game 1. He also made every catch in LF despite trying not to.

Will Ryan was 3-6 and got his first Shalom extra base hit, although it was closer than it should have been. Will made very play at second, and kept the team entertained.

JC Burks was 2 for 3 in game 2 with an RBI double and brought his positive attitude to the dugout every inning.

Matt Casey had an excellent day, going 2-3 with 2 walks, including a big 2-out RBI base hit.

Brandon Mendelsohn made an excellent catch in a tough wind and hustled out a crucial base hit in game 2.