Chasers Demolish Redbirds 16-6 for Ninth Straight Victory

PAPILLION, NEB.- The Omaha Storm Chasers won 16-6 against the Memphis Redbirds Thursday at Werner Park, extending the team’s win streak to nine games.

Memphis got on the board first in the top of the second inning, with back-to-back for a 2-0 lead. The Redbirds followed in the third inning with a three-run homer that extended their lead to 5-0.

Starting pitcher Andrew Hoffmann worked into the fourth inning but was removed one batter into the inning and allowed the five runs on eight hits over 3.0 innings and struck out three.

After a single opened the fourth inning, left-handed reliever Austin Cox took over on the mound and loaded the bases with two more singles but stranded all three to get out of the inning without any damage.

Down 5-0 in the middle of the third inning, Omaha stormed back over the next two innings with 12 runs . Drew Waters cut the deficit down in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer to right field, his sixth long ball of the season, to trim the Redbird lead to 5-3.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Storm Chasers sent 10 straight batters to the plate to tie the game and jump ahead. Nate Eaton started the rally with a single, setting up Brian O’Keefe for a two-run homer to center field that tied the game at 5-5. Tyler Gentry doubled and Ryan Fitzgerald singled, then Cam Devanney crushed his team-leading 10th home run of the season to give Omaha its first lead of the game, 8-5.

Waters added another run with a doubled that plated John Rave, then Devin Mann reached on an error and Nick Pratto singled in Waters and Eaton walked, giving Omaha 10 consecutive baserunners. O’Keefe hit a sacrifice fly that brought Mann home then Gentry singled in his second hit of the inning and the team’s last run of a 9-run fourth inning for a 12-5 advantage.

Memphis answered with a run on a homer in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Omaha lead to 12-6 at the end of five innings, but it was the final run the Redbirds were able to score. Cox allowed just the one run over 2.0 innings and Omaha’s bullpen followed with 4.0 scoreless innings to end the game.

Tyler Duffey replaced Cox in the sixth inning and threw a 1-2-3 frame, before firing a scoreless seventh. Anthony Simonelli and Dan Altavilla offered scoreless eighth and ninth innings respectively, keeping Memphis at bay the rest of the ninth.

Omaha added four runs of insurance in the back half of the game, as Eaton hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, his sixth home run of the year, then Mann added a two-run shot in the eighth, also his sixth of the year for a 16-6 lead through the eighth that held to be final, before Altavilla pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to end the team’s ninth straight win.

The Storm Chasers continue this series against the Memphis Redbirds Friday, June 7 at Werner Park as first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CT and right-hander Jonathan Bowlan is slated to start for Omaha.