Hens fight early, but fall 18-4 to Storm Chasers

Following Toledo’s dominant performance at the plate Friday night, Omaha returned the favor Saturday night. The Hens were humbled, losing 18-4 as the Storm Chasers dominated in every way.

Bryan Sammons opened the game with some unusual command issues. The Storm Chasers took advantage of this early struggle with an RBI triple off the bat of CJ Alexander on a Sammons splitter.

Toledo didn’t take long to correct the early deficit, as Andrew Navigato led off the second inning with a triple that was just short of clearing the left-center wall. He would be brought in by Ryan Kreidler’s line drive into left field to tie the game 1-1.

Omaha’s Anthony Veneziano had Hens hitters baffled with an arsenal of offspeed pitches.

On the other side, Sammons’s struggles continued into the fourth inning. The Storm Chasers regained the lead with a double from Nelson Velazquez and an RBI single by Nick Pratto. Tyler Gentry would join Pratto on the pond, before Cam Devanney hit a three-run homer to make it 5-1.

The Hens would begin to cut into this lead as a seemingly tired Veneziano retook the mound in the fifth. He gave up a single to Drew Maggi and walked Dillon Dingler, before a Jace Jung single made it 5-2. That brought an end to Veneziano’s day, as he handed the reins over to John McMillon. He would load the bases by walking Navigato, which brought Justice Bigbie to the plate. Bigbie brought in two runs with a base hit down the right-field line, but a poor throw prompted Navigato to try and take home. Austin Nola would have him beat though, keeping the Mud Hens down 5-4.

Sammons would start on the mound in the fifth, but following his third strikeout of the night he would be pulled in favor of Brenan Hanifee. Omaha stretched their lead with Velazquez’s second double of the night. Hanifee was able to escape from there with his team down 6-4.

The Storm Chasers opened the seventh inning with runners on the corners following back-to-back base hits. Nola laid an almost perfect bunt to force the squeeze play and make it 7-4 with no outs. Hanifee found his first out of the inning in a forceout from John Rave, but Omaha wasn’t finished. Drew Waters took their lead and made it a commanding one with a three-run homer.

Walter Pennington would take over from the rubber for Omaha, but that didn’t seem to help Toledo as he held them scoreless for the second-straight inning.

The bad would only get worse for Hanifee and the Hens. A Nola single had baserunners on the corners and meant that the entire Storm Chasers lineup had a hit. Rave really rubbed that one in with a two-run triple to make the Omaha lead 12-4. That brought an end to Hanifee’s night as Eli Villalobos would be tasked with making the bleeding stop. The task was too tall for Villalobos as he walked two, before giving up a two-run single to Tyler Gentry to make it 16-4. A two-RBI double from Ryan Fitzgerald not only put the Storm Chasers up 18-4, but also meant that everyone on his team had a hit, run, and RBI on the night.

Both teams would trudge on to close out the game 18-4.

The Mud Hens look to avenge this loss with a series-finale victory on Sunday at 6:05 p.m.

Notables:

• Justice Bigbie (1-4, 2 RBI)
• Andrew Navigato (1-3, BB, R)
• Jace Jung (2-3, RBI, R)