Week five of the 2011 minor league season for the Storm began with the inal two games versus Stockton and then an off day with a  four game series versus High Desert. Lake Elsinore  split the last two games vs Stockton, one being a 13 inning affair that featured a .500 night for OF Dan Meely and the other other a win highlighted by 1B Nate Freiman going 3 for 4 with two doubles and a RBI and pitcher Matt Lollis pitching 5 innings of 4 hit ball to lower his ERA to 4.71.

The series against HD ended with a 1-3 record with the one win being a banner night for Jedd Gyorko, Eddie Rincon and Nate Freiman. Each of them were .500 or better at the plate and accounted for 6 of the 8 runs scored.

Catcher Jason Hagerty returned from the disabled list, playing in the last 3 games of the week.

The hitting is picking up for the Storm but the pitching continues to be an issue with no less than 6 runs scored against per each game lost. The highlight for the pitching staff would have to be the improvement by Lollis in his 5 inning, 0 run performance.

Reliever Erik Hamren, boasting a 2-0 record with a 1.08 ERA after 16.2 IP for the season, was called up to San Antonio on 5/13. He had only allowed 4 hits and 2 ER during that span with 2 BB and 21 SO.

SS/2B Jeudy Valdez improved his average from .207 to .227 while scoring 4 runs and collecting 8 RBI for the week.

With their 2-4 record for the week, the Storm ended up 14-21 overall for the season and are still struggling to put it all together as a team. Possessing several top prospects, the potential for significant improvement is still there but cutting down errors and improving their overall pitching must be a priority for them. Eddie Rincon and Jeudy Valdez lead the team in errors but many key errors are made in pivotal situations and the defense needs to tighten up to improve the outings for many of the pitchers.

As the bats do seem to be coming alive, now would be a good time for the other aspects to tighten up their game and raping improvement should occur.