Storm Set To Open Cal League Postseason Today

It was most certainly a tale of two seasons for the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm. Now, those two collide with a California League championship at stake.

The Storm begin the best-of-three Division Series in the California League playoffs Tuesday when they travel to play the Ontario Tower Buzzers in Game 1 at 6:35 p.m. Game 2 is Thursday at Lake Elsinore at 6:05 p.m., with a potential Game 3 on Friday at 6:45 p.m.

The Storm won the first-half South Division title by going 39-27. The Tower Buzzers, a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate, won the second half at 38-28 after going 33-33 and finishing third in the division in the first half. The Storm finished last in the four-team division in the second half at 27-38.

Right-hander Jesus Castro (Padres Mission's No. 18 prospect) will start for the Storm in Game 1. In 22 games and 20 starts, the 19-year-old has a 4.18 ERA with 31 walks and 100 strikeouts in 90⅓ innings.

While many of the names have changed for the Storm due to a slew of midseason promotions, one thing hasn't: Lake Elsinore likes to steal bases. The Storm have stolen 357 bases in 131 games, an average of 2.73 per game. They have also been caught 87 times. The 357 steals comes up a bit shy of the all-time minor-league and Cal League record of 372, set by the San Jose Bees in 1974.

Outfielder Conner Westenberg leads the Storm with 45 in 94 games, squeaking past Ryan Wideman, Padres Mission's No. 2 prospect who had 43 in 65 games before being promoted to High-A Fort Wayne midseason. The Storm also feature a handful of this summer's draft picks. That group is led by second-round shortstop Elliot Lascelles and also includes fourth-round compensation-pick outfielder Alex Conover, fifth-round right-hander James Guyette, sixth-round infielder Nu'u Contrades, seventh-round infielder Joe Tiroly, eighth-round left-hander Sean Fitzpatrick, 10th-round catcher Augie Lopez, 11th-round first baseman-outfielder Chris McHugh and 12th-round left-hander Rob Evans.

In the North Division, the first-half champ San Jose Giants square off with the Stockton Ports. The Giants actually won both halves, but the Ports were selected as the second-half representative by virtue of finishing second in the second half.