One night after calling an 11-0 loss to the Storm "probably our worst defeat of the season," Brundage took a pass on coaching third base midway through Thursday night's Lancaster JetHawks game with the Storm.
Let hitting coach Delwyn Young handle it.
Just like Jarrod Washburn handled the JetHawks' bats. Washburn threw seven innings of zeros at the JetHawks (19-16), pitching the Storm to a 10-3 victory over Lancaster.
The victory gave the Storm a three-game sweep of the series, and dropped Lancaster, with its seventh loss in eight games, two games behind Lake Elsinore.
The JetHawks offense was confined to Lake Elsinore reliever Grant Vermillion, who allowed a single to Marcus Sturdivant, a double to Shane Monahan, Carlos Villalobos' sacrifice fly and Scot Sealy's first triple of the season.
Outside of James Clifford, who had the night off with a tender shoulder, and the injured Jose Cruz, the JetHawks bats are in what could charitably be described as a funk. The JetHawks spent nearly the first month of the season leading the league in hitting - days that seem so long ago considering they've dropped to fourth in the last week.
And Clifford still managed to see duty - as a first-base coach.
That means he didn't have to face Washburn, who allowed six hits and one walk in his seven-inning stint. The Angels' second-round draft pick from last June's draft, Washburn was in command from the outset.
Meanwhile, Lake Elsinore (20-13) strafed Lancaster starter Brett Hinchliffe (3-2) for 13 hits and nine runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Lake Elsinore scored double runs in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings, sandwiching that barrage around a single run in the fourth. And, in keeping with that troubling trend of late, the first two Storm runs were unearned.
With one out, Ty Bilderback singled and stole second. After Kevin Young fouled out behind first, Hinchliffe walked Bret Hemphill, who stole second.
The next batter, .187-hitting Paul Failla, rapped a slow grounder that third baseman Villalobos scooped up and air-mailed over first baseman Shawn Buhner's head. Bilderback easily scored on the first half of the play - a hit - and Hemphill scored on the second - the error.
Things deteriorated from there: two runs in the third coming on Tony Moeder's second homer of the year, a two-run shot off the top of the scoreboard in left.
One run in the fourth coming on a Failla double and Randy Betten's single. Two more in the fifth on three singles and a walk. And the coup de gras to Hinchliffe in the sixth - singles by Betten, Todd Takayoshi and Bilderback sandwiched around a fielder's choice.
After Bilderback's single, Brundage had seen enough. Exit Hinchliffe and enter Clint Gould, who got Young to pop up only to allow an RBI single to the .204-hitting Hemphill.
Lake Elsinore closed the book on the scoreboard in the seventh with a walk to Phillip Dauphin and a double by Takayoshi.