Storm grinds down 'Hawks in 12th inning win, 12-9

On the one-year anniversary of an ugly bench-clearing brawl between the Lancaster JetHawks and Lake Elsinore Storm at The Hangar, the two teams once again did battle at the site of the crime.

In an eerie twist of fate, Jason Stephens, who was the pitcher who hit Anton French, igniting the brawl, started the game for the Storm on Monday.

Lake Elsinore shortstop Nelson Castro was also in the Storm lineup Monday. Castro was hit twice in one game earlier in the infamous series, an act that angered the Storm and may have indirectly led to the brawl.

Although there were many ironic ties to that sunny Sunday afternoon in early May, the two teams made sure not to repeat the performance Monday. Rather than using their fists to do the hitting, they used their bats in an offensive outpouring.

In the end, the Storm got the upper hand in a 12-9 extra-inning decision before what was left of 2,041 fans on a cold and blustery night at The Hangar. That represented the smallest regular-season home crowd in the JetHawks' four seasons in Lancaster.

The Storm ended a six-game losing streak by scoring three runs in the top of the 11th inning off Lancaster reliever Donnie Schmidt (0-1). Jeb Dougherty scored the winning run on a ground ball by Chris Walther. Nate Murphy and Matt Curtis added insurance runs.

"In the end, we made too many mistakes tonight," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "We gave them too many outs."

Lake Elsinore rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning when Adam Leggett scored on a sacrifice fly to left field that Gerald Eady dropped. Justin Kaye managed to work out of the jam to preserve the tie, though. But, it marked the third time the JetHawks had lost a lead in the game.

Lancaster had built a 5-1 advantage in the first two innings off Stephens, who was suspended for six games and received a broken nose for his role in last year's brawl.

But after allowing five consecutive singles to begin the second inning, Stephens settled down to retire the next 12 batters he faced.

His Storm teammates rewarded him by staging a comeback with six runs in the top of the sixth to build an 8-5 lead. The comeback marked the fifth consecutive game the JetHawks had lost an early lead.

But much like they did Sunday in Stockton, the JetHawks found a way to come back. This time they scored three runs in the eighth on the strength of a Luis Figueroa homer and a triple by Mike Marchiano to take a 9-8 lead.