Waters’ 3-Run Homer Leads Omaha To Victory

PAPILLION, NEB. – A 3-run home run from Drew Waters in the 7th inning helped propel the Omaha Storm Chasers (2-4) to a 9-7 win over the Buffalo Bisons (2-4) Thursday night. Waters’ home run was one of 11 hits from Omaha in the Storm Chasers’ 2nd straight victory.

Omaha opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st inning, plating a pair of runs on Josh Rojas’ 2-run double before Kevin Newman added another run on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

The Bisons got a run back in the top of the 2nd inning thanks to a solo home run from Brandon Valenzuela, but the Storm Chasers added another in the bottom of the 2nd inning on Abraham Toro’s RBI double to make it 4-1.

Another home run for Buffalo in the top of the 3rd inning cut the lead to 4-3, but from there, the starters began to find their groove.

Both starter Ethan Bosacker and reliever Andrew Pérez (1-0) made their season debuts for the Storm Chasers, with Pérez firing 2.0 scoreless innings after coming in for Bosacker to begin the 5th inning.

The next run came across after the Bisons turned to the bullpen in the bottom of the 5th inning on a Rojas RBI single, extending the lead to 5-3.

The Storm Chasers scored again in the bottom of the 7th inning, growing the lead to 9-3 behind an RBI single from Newman and three-run home run from Waters.

Buffalo fought back in the top of the 8th inning, scoring 4 runs of their own to cut the lead to 9-7 on a bases-loaded walk, RBI fielder’s choice and 2-run single.

Omaha right-hander Mason Black recorded the last out of the 8th inning and came back out for the 9th, retiring 3 of 4 batters to earn his first professional save.

The victory was the Storm Chasers; second in a row while the Bisons dropped to 2 games below .500. Game 4 of the 6-game series returns to Werner Park on Friday night with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. CT. Aaron Sanchez is scheduled to start for Omaha.