Chasers Take Game 3 Over Columbus 7-3 to Win International League Title

PAPILLION, NEB. – The Omaha Storm Chasers clinched the International Championship Series against the Columbus Clippers with a 7-3 win on Thursday at Werner Park, the team’s first league championship since 2014.

The Clippers scored the first two runs of the game as a walk and five hits, four singles and a double gave a 2-0 lead off starting pitcher Dinelson Lamet, with Columbus scoring runs in the first and second innings.

Omaha answered back for a 2-2 tie as Nelson Velázquez blasted a solo homer to left field to open the bottom of the second. After Nick Pratto walked and a wild pitch advanced him to second, Cam Devanney singled into center field and scored Pratto for the tie game.

In the bottom of the third inning, Brian O’Keefe crushed his second homer of this series and gave the Chasers their first lead during a game, a 3-2 advantage.

Omaha’s lead did not last long as Columbus tied the game promptly on a Micah Pries solo shot to open the top of the fourth. Lamet lasted just 3.2 innings, adding three strikeouts before he was taken out for Anthony Simonelli with one out left in the top of the fourth inning. Simonelli but a pair on but got the last out after facing three batters, heading into the bottom half of the frame.

Simonelli got just the one out and Noah Murdock entered in the top of the fifth and tossed a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in the process, his first of two scoreless innings

The Chasers took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning as Nate Eaton hit a one-out single and set up O’Keefe to hit a line drive to score Eaton and put Omaha up once again, a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Omaha opened the game for a 7-3 lead as Velázquez led off the frame with a single, then Ryan Fitzgerald hit a one-out single to put two on base. After Fitzgerald stole second and Devanney walked, John Rave singled in Velázquez and Fitzgerald while moving Devanney at third. Eaton followed with a double, the team’s fourth hit of the inning and scored Devanney for the four-run lead that held as the final score.

After Murdock pitched 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, Jonathan Bowlan entered the game in the top of the seventh inning and followed with two scoreless innings of his own, adding two more strikeouts to the pitching staff total of seven.

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Columbus off Bowlan in the eighth, bringing the potential tying run to the plate for the Clippers, but a strikeout finished the frame and kept Omaha ahead 7-3.

Dan Altavilla replaced Bowlan in the top of the ninth retired the first two batters before he allowed a single. Then, a fly out to Drew Waters won the game for the Chasers 7-3, securing the team’s eighth Triple-A league title.

The Storm Chasers will head to Las Vegas to take on the Sugar Land Space Cowboys for the Triple-A National Championship on Saturday September 28 as first pitch is at 7:07 p.m. local time, 9:07 p.m. CT.