ST. PAUL, MINN. – The Omaha Storm Chasers scored six runs in the first to claim a four games to two series win over the St. Paul Saints, with an 11-2 win Sunday afternoon at CHS Field.
With one out in the top of the first inning, the Storm Chasers exploded with six straight hits. Brian O’Keefe singled in two, plating Nate Eaton and Nick Pratto. Tyler Gentry doubled in O’Keefe for a 3-0 lead, then Ryan Fitzgerald connected on a three-run homer that scored Gentry and CJ Alexander to move the Omaha advantage to 6-0.
Omaha starter Daniel Lynch IV retired his first four batters of the game, with a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the first inning. With one out in the second, the Saints had four in a row reach base, with two Omaha errors and a pair of RBI singles. After St. Paul moved the score to 6-2, Lynch found a groove and retired his next 13 hitters through the end of the sixth inning.
Eaton added a run in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single, then Fitzgerald drove in two in the fifth with a two-run homer for a 9-2 lead, his second home run of the game and Omaha’s first two-homer game this season.
The Storm Chasers capped the scoring in the sixth inning with a two-run single off the bat of Alexander that pushed the score to 11-2 in favor of Omaha.
Lynch allowed a double to open the bottom of the seventh, then hit a batter but induced a double play ball to get the first two outs of the inning to end his outing. Over 6.2 innings of work, the left-hander allowed just the two unearned runs on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts, for Omaha’s third quality start of the year.
Anthony Veneziano recorded the final out of the seventh before Jake Brentz loaded the bases in the eighth but stranded them loaded with a strikeout to end the inning.
Fitzgerald doubled with two outs in the ninth, his fourth hit and 10th and 11th total bases of the game, finishing the day 4-for-6 with 5 runs batted in.
John McMillon saw one runner reach in the bottom of the ninth on Omaha’s fourth error of the game, but quickly ended the game with a lineout to secure an 11-2 win for Omaha.
The Storm Chaser return home and open a six-game series with the Columbus Clippers, beginning Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. CT with right-hander Luis Cessa expected to start.
