Zephyrs overpower Omaha to open 2nd half

Kyle Jensen started the second half of the 2014 season much the same way he began the first half, although his performance in a 14-4 New Orleans Zephyrs win Thursday over the Omaha Storm Chasers was twice as nice.

After opening the season with his fourth Opening Day home run April 3 against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Jensen blasted two of the team's six homers in its first game back from the All-Star break at Werner Park in Papillion, Neb.

The win propelled New Orleans into sole possession of second place in the American South, one game behind the first-place Nashville Sounds, which were rained out Thursday at Oklahoma City. The Round Rock Express dropped two games behind Nashville into third with a 7-0 home loss to the Iowa Cubs.

Jensen began the Z's assault on Omaha starter Clayton Mortensen (4-1) with a solo homer to lead off the second inning, and Danny Black launched a two-run home run, his first at the Triple-A level, with two outs after Mortensen had walked Zack Cox following Jensen's long ball.

Jensen was also a big part of a three-run third inning, as he followed Mark Canha to the plate to launch back-to-back home runs and run his team-leading total to 18 for the season. Cox then singled to left field, stole second base and scored on a two-out base hit by Josh Rodriguez to run the score to 6-0.

The Storm Chasers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third against Z's starter Andrew Heaney, who gave up a two-run homer to Christian Colon and left the bases loaded for Rett Varner (2-0) after two walks and a double, all with two outs.

Varner threw a wild pitch to let Johnny Giavotella score but ultimately got Justin Maxwell to fly out and end the inning with the Zephyrs still ahead 6-3.

Chris Dwyer extinguished the Z's third-inning rally, but they got to him for another three runs in the fourth with consecutive one-out doubles from Jake Marisnick and Jordany Valdespin, and a ground-rule double from Cox that scored two to give the Z's a 9-3.

Colon also hit a solo homer against Varner in the fifth, but the Zephyrs piled on five more runs in the next three innings, including three in the seventh on Valdespin's eighth home run of the year, while Bryan Evans pitched the final three innings with three hits allowed, a walk and five strikeouts to run his team-leading total to 83 for the season and earn his first save of the year.

Cox completed his 3-for-3 night with a solo shot in the eighth inning to complete the scoring in a game that featured 18 Zephyrs hits, 11 for extra bases, spread among eight batters and seven that had multiple hits.

The Zephyrs and Storm Chasers are scheduled to continue their four-game set at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Werner Park with a game that will be televised on Cox Sports Television (Channel 37).