PAPILLION, NEB. — In the first meeting all-time between the Omaha Storm Chasers and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Storm Chasers won 8-6 Tuesday at Werner Park, the team’s sixth straight win.
Jacksonville led off with three runs in the top of the first inning to open the series, with a Tristen Gray two-run homer capping the frame for a 3-0 Jumbo Shrimp lead.
Omaha did not trail for long and the Storm Chasers answered back in the bottom of the first with four runs to move ahead. Nick Pratto ripped a double into center field to bring in Drew Waters, then. Devin Mann followed with a single that brought Pratto home. Nate Eaton promptly put Omaha ahead with a 2-run homer for a 4-3 lead, his first of three hits in the game.
Mann recorded his second hit of the game in the bottom of the third inning and doubled Waters in once more, extending the score 5-3 in favor of the Chasers.
Omaha starting pitcher Zach Davies held the Jumbo Shrimp in check as he struck out three over 4.1 innings of work, only allowing the three runs in the first inning. Left-handed pitcher Evan Sisk came in behind Davies and offered a scoreless inning to earn his second win of the year, the first of six relievers the Chasers used.
Omaha added another run to the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the score 6-3 as Pratto drilled his second double of the game and once again, plated Waters’ third run scored of the night.
After getting the final two outs of the fifth, Sisk earned the first out of the sixth and passed the ball off to Dan Altavilla, who got two outs with one pitch, inducing a double play to work out of trouble. Major League Rehabber Carlos Hernandez worked a scoreless seventh inning, then left-hander Sam Long worked a perfect eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts to keep Omaha up by three.
The Chasers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning as Tyler Gentry knocked in Eaton on a single for a 7-3 lead and fresh off the injured list, Austin Nola drove in his first run of the year with a sacrifice fly to score Gentry for an 8-3 Omaha lead.
After scoring three in the opening frame, the Jumbo Shrimp were held to four hits in seven straight scoreless innings before closing the game in the ninth. Will Klein entered the game in the final frame and allowed a pair of walks and hits to score three runs, with only one strikeout before he was lifted for Walter Pennington.
Pennington struck out the two batters he faced and silenced the Jumbo Shrimp attack to earn his second save of the season and secure an 8-6 Storm Chaser win, the team’s sixth straight victory.
The Storm Chasers continue this week’s series against the Jumbo Shrimp Wednesday at Werner Park with a 12:05 p.m. CT first pitch as right-handed pitcher William Fleming is slated to start for Omaha.
