Long balls lift Hens over Chasers

PAPILLION, NE – The Toledo Mud Hens defeated the Omaha Storm Chasers 8-5 on Thursday afternoon at Werner Park.

Brenan Hanifee and Jackson Kowar would square off on the mound, both looking to add a solid start to the early portion of their seasons.

The Mud Hens got started early, as Akil Baddoo walked, stole second and moved over to third base on a Zack Short flyout. Baddoo would come home to score on a Justyn-Henry Malloy RBI single to put the Hens on the board first.

After a quiet top half of the second inning, the Storm Chasers would knot the game at 1-1 in the bottom half with a Nick Loftin solo home run.

In the top of the third, three straight two-out walks for the Mud Hens would load the bases and knock Kowar out of the game in favor of Austin Cox. Cox would serve up a grand slam to dead-center to Andy Ibanez, to put Toledo back in front at 5-1. Jonathan Davis would immediately follow with a double before being stranded.

In the bottom of the third, a Tucker Bradley triple would lead to a Tyler Gentry sacrifice fly to shorten the Toledo lead to 5-2, before Hanifee would strand a runner to end the third.

Andrew Knapp would tag Cox for a solo home run to open the fourth inning, extending the Mud Hens lead to 6-2. That would be the only run of the inning as Baddoo would get picked off, and Short would get stranded.

The Storm Chasers would respond right back in the bottom half of the fourth inning on a C.J. Alexander solo home run, making it 6-3. Hanifee would strikeout Dairon Blanco to end his night.

After a quiet top of the fifth for the Hens, Jace Fry would be the first reliever out of the Hen Pen. Fry would promptly retire the side in order.

Andres Nunez would come in to pitch the sixth inning for Omaha, and got ambushed by Knapp, who hit the first pitch to center for a leadoff double, his second leadoff hit and extra-base hit of the game. Baddoo and Malloy would each draw walks to load the bases with one out. Nunez would get Andre Lipcius to tap into a 2-3 double play to escape the jam, leaving the score at 6-3.

Fry would open up the bottom of the sixth by allowing back-to-back singles, before getting Loftin to ground into a double play. Gentry would come home to score on a wild pitch, making Toledo’s lead shrink to 6-4. However, that emptied the bases as Fry would retire Alexander via strikeout to end the inning.

Nunez would return for the Storm Chasers in the top of the seventh inning and retire the side in order.

Aneurys Zabala would enter for the Mud Hens to pitch the seventh inning. Two errors, two stolen bases, a walk and a single in the inning would bring in an unearned run for the Storm Chasers. Zabala would strand both the tying and go-ahead runs on base to keep the Hens lead intact at 6-5.

Josh Taylor came in to pitch the eighth inning for Omaha, he would retire the first two batters he’d face in Jermaine Palacios and Knapp. After that, a Baddoo single and a Short two-run home run would put the Toledo lead back to three runs and 8-5.

Zabala would come back out to pitch the bottom half of the eighth inning, and would retire the middle of the Omaha order while recording a pitch at 101 MPH, to send it to the ninth inning.

Josh Staumont would pitch the ninth inning for the Storm Chasers, surrendering a single to Donny Sands and a double to Ibanez. Sands would be erased at home on a 6-2 fielder’s choice, followed by a Palacios strikeout to end the Mud Hens offensive day.

Miguel Del Pozo would enter in the ninth inning for the Mud Hens. Del Pozo would start by getting Freddy Fermin to groundout. Del Pozo would then get Blanco and Bradley both to strikeout to pick up his first save of the season and seal the Mud Hens victory.

Fry picks up his first win of the season, improving to 1-0. Kowar was handed the loss, falling to 1-1. Zabala grabbed his first hold of the campaign, while Del Pozo notched his first save of 2023.

NOTABLES:

• Andy Ibanez: 2-4, HR, 4 RBI, 2B, R, BB, K
• Andrew Knapp: 2-4, HR, RBI, 2B, R, K
• Zack Short: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB, 2 K
• Akil Baddoo: 2-3, 2 BB, 2 R
• Jace Fry: W, 2.0 IP, 2 H, R, ER, 3 K
• Miguel Del Pozo: SV, 1.0 IP, 2 K

The Mud Hens and Storm Chasers will continue the series in Papillion, NE at Werner Park on Friday, April 7, 2022. First pitch is set for 7:35 pm ET (6:35 pm CT).