Major league Baseball increased the size of its bases for the 2023 season; high school coaches may want to see the plate width increased.

As in Thursday’s season opener, the Storm’s starting pitcher had control problems early, but a few innings into the game, that didn’t matter: Cleveland (1-1) beat Hobbs handily, 18-5.

Logan Kinter (1-0) walked three Eagles in the first inning and two of them came across the plate for an early 3-0 lead.

No problem: Hobbs lefty Mekhi Brewer had even more trouble, walking the first two Storm batters he faced in the bottom of the first, and they both scored on Barela’s triple.

But there was more, as a dozen Storm batters came to the plate and by the time Brewer got the third out, he’d walked six and given up six runs – on just one hit.

That set the tone, as he walked two more in the second after a single by Kinter, and Jarren Villa hit a slicing ball to right field that went for a grand slam for a 10-3 Storm lead.

Josiah Martinez relieved Brewer and went the rest of the way, but he walked three in the third, when the Storm scored twice without a hit.

Eagles errors in the fourth paved the way for six more runs – this time on three hits – and the 10-run mercy rule ended the contest after junior Joseph Stevenson struck out two and got a fly ball to right to record the first 1-2-3 inning on the game.

Each team finished with just six hits, with Barela having two of them; Hennessey, Tyler, Kinter and Villa had one apiece.

The Storm’s final game of the three-day round-robin is Saturday at 2:30, with the Storm facing Clovis, where Storm coach Shane Shallenberger coached before taking the Cleveland job in time for the 2010 season.