Omaha Comes up Short in Extras With 6-5 Loss to Bats

PAPILLION, NEB. – After jumping out to an early lead, the Omaha Storm Chasers fell to the Louisville Bats, 6-5 in 10 innings Saturday at Werner Park.

Louisville opened the scoring in the top of the second and two singles and a walk loaded the bases with two outs against Omaha starting pitcher Chandler Champlain. He allowed a second walk, to bring home a run and put Louisville up 1-0 lead and end a stretch of 23 innings without a run allowed by the Storm Chasers pitching staff.

The Chasers answered back in the bottom of the third inning and took the 2-1 lead as Drew Waters walked with two outs in the frame and set up Nick Loftin to crush his 6th long ball of the season with Omaha for a one-run lead.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Storm Chasers scored two more runs and extended the lead to 4-1 as Ryan Fitzgerald and Cam Devanney led off the inning with back-to-back singles, then John Rave ripped a double, his team-leading 26th double, to plate Fitzgerald and Devanney for a three-run lead.

The Bats threatened in the top of the sixth inning as Champlain got the first two outs of the inning but allowed a pair of hits to end his day, at 5.2 innings. The right-hander struck out seven, giving way to Jonathan Bowlan, who allowed a hit on the first batter faced to bring home one of the two inherited runners he took on, cutting Omaha’s lead to 4-2.

In the top of the seventh inning, Louisville scored two more runs off Bowlan and tied the game 4-4 as an error and two hits with two outs in the inning evened the contest.

After 1.1 innings of relief, Bowlan was replaced by Steven Cruz in top of the eighth inning, and Cruz tossed a pair of perfect innings, retiring all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth to move the game into extras.

After scoring two runs in the fifth, Omaha was held quiet over the next four innings, Omaha recorded three hits and left all three runners on, unable to add insurance or take a lead.

As the game headed into extra innings, Evan Sisk entered the game and retired the first two batters of the frame. Sisk surrendered a pair of hits as Louisville scored two runs and the Bats took a 6-4 lead in the top of the 10th inning.

Omaha answered immediately in the bottom of the 10^th as Loftin opened the inning with a line drive to score Waters, the placed runner, but the next three batters were retired in order and Louisville won the game 6-5.

The Storm Chasers conclude this week’s series against the Bats at Werner Park on Sunday, August 18 as first pitch is slated to start at 5:05 p.m. CT and left-handed pitcher Noah Cameron will get the start for Omaha.