Omaha Storm Chasers 7, Charlotte Knights 1 (Statcast box)
The Knights (62-77) scored right off the bat on a Tim Elko home run, but the Storm Chasers (56-81) took control in the third and never really let up, defeating Charlotte, 7-1. Omaha blasted two home runs in the third and fifth — a solo shot and a two-run bomb — and put up six runs in the first six innings to take a five-run lead.
Omaha out-hit the Good Guys, 10-5, and with only five hits, they didn’t have many scoring opportunities, and went
0-for-2 with runners in scoring position while leaving five on base. Drake Logan put up two hits, and outside of the Elko bomb, Adam Hackenberg ripped a double in the fourth. Charlotte batters also struck out seven times as a team, compared to just two from Omaha, which might be more of an indictment of the Knights’ pitching staff.
Dalton Roach and Tommy Vail manned the bullpen for the final 2 1/3 innings and allowed just three hits, though Vail gave up a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the eighth, which only added an exclamation point for the Storm Chasers.
Biloxi Shuckers 9, Birmingham Barons 4
The game really boiled down to one brutal five-run inning against the Barons (79-54) in the fifth as they ended up falling to the Shuckers (71-62) by exactly five runs, 9-4. Lucas Gordon has been really solid lately, and he was cruising through this outing with his only two baserunners being two walks in the second inning through four frames. The fifth inning began with a base hit to right, but the runner was able to advance on a throwing error on Gordon’s pickoff attempt at first that triggered a rally from the Shuckers: two singles, a double, and a triple to put Biloxi up, 4-1. They added the fifth run on a sacrifice fly off of Mark McLaughlin, but this run was still charged to Gordon. McLaughlin allowed his own run, however, in the sixth after loading the bases with a base hit and two walks, extending the lead to five, 6-1.
Birmingham initially scored first on a sac fly from William Bergolla, and they started to make a comeback in the bottom of the seventh after loading the bases with two walks and a base hit. Jordan Sprinkle drove in the second run of the game on a fielder’s choice at third, and DJ Gladney brought in two more in a single to left, cutting the lead to 6-4 for the Shuckers. Despite posting one more hit than their opponents, the Barons were unable to score any more runs, going just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and failing to capitalize on the majority of their chances to score.
Carson Jacobs was excellent out of the bullpen for his inning of work, and outside of walking the second batter, he struck out the other three batters for every out of the inning. Andrew Dalquist didn’t fare as well, and Biloxi added three more runs in the top of the ninth as their first baseman, Blake Burke, smoked a three-run homer for some insurance runs, making it 9-4. Jared Kelley replaced Dalquist for the final out of the inning, but the offense didn’t have it in them tonight, and Birmingham took the L.
