Omaha Finishes Home Slate with a 7-2 Win

OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha Storm Chasers defeated the New Orleans Zephyrs, 7-2, on Sunday for their 80th win of the season. It is the sixth time in the 44 seasons of Omaha Royals/Storm Chasers baseball that the franchise has accumulated that many wins. The crowd of 7,290 made Sunday's contest the 36th game in a row with attendance over 4,000 and the 20th soft sell-out crowd of 6,434 fans or more, this year.

Chris Dwyer started for Omaha (80-56) but did not factor into the decision after walking four and allowing two runs over eight hits in 4.0 innings pitched. Reliever Donnie Joseph (1-0) picked up his first win for the Chasers after keeping the Zephyrs (73-65) in check and not allowing a hit or a run in 2.0 innings pitched. Rey Navarro paced the effort offensively with his 1-for-2 performance at the plate with a run scored, two runs batted in and two walks.

The Storm Chasers stormed out of the gates quickly and posted a five spot in the very first inning. Wil Myers started the scoring with a bases loaded sacrifice fly that scored Irving Falu. Several batters later, David Lough followed that up with an RBI single to bring home Mitch Maier while Navarro then worked a walk to force in Anthony Seratelli. Cody Clark then reached on an error by New Orleans' third baseman that allowed Clint Robinson and Lough to score.

The Zephyrs cut into the lead with two runs in the fourth but Omaha responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth, as Navarro scored on a wild pitch, to help the Chasers go up by a score of 6-2. Navarro plated the final run of the contest in the bottom of the sixth when his single drove in Lough.

Blaine Hardy was summoned from the bullpen to start the seventh and worked two innings while Tommy Hottovy tossed in the ninth to close out the game for the Storm Chasers.

Omaha will hit the road for eight games and start their road trip against the Memphis Redbirds on Monday at 7:05 p.m. After four games against the St. Louis Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate, the Chasers will travel to Albuquerque to take on the Isotopes for the final four contests of the regular season.