Chasers Win Six Straight with 8-5 Victory Over Indy

INDIANAPOLIS, IND.- The Omaha Storm Chasers closed out the series win with an 8-5 victory against the Indianapolis Indians Sunday at Victory Field, the team’s sixth straight win which ties for the longest win streak of the season.

Omaha quickly loaded the bases in the opening frame as John Rave got on base with a lead-off single, then Devin Mann and CJ Alexander walked to load the bags. Logan Porter hit a sacrifice fly to right field which knocked in Rave and after a controversial play in which the ball seemed to hit Nick Pratto on a pitch, Mann stole for third base but a bad throw to the third baseman led to Mann plating home to extend the Chaser lead. Pratto followed with a base hit knock to center field and drove Alexander home for a big 3-0 Chasers lead.

Starting pitcher Anthony Veneziano pitched 4.0 scoreless innings and had two punchouts for a stellar performance as he dealt a 1-2-3 inning in the opening frame, threw just 18 pitches and retired the first six batters he faced in the first two innings.

The bats got active again in innings three and four as Porter ripped his eighth double of the season to left field to bring in Alexander and grew the Omaha lead. Brian O’Keefe reached base on what was Indy’s third error of the day and extended the lead at the end of three innings.

Then in the fourth, Rave led off the inning with his ninth double of the season. Two at-bats later, Alexander followed with a single to right field and grew the Omaha lead to 6-0. Indianapolis finally answered with its first runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth and sixth inning with a two-run shot to right field off of Cox in the fifth and then a single that drove in a run from third base to put the Indians on the board 6-3 in favor of the Chasers.

Leading off in the top of the seventh inning, Porter crushed a solo homer to left field and the Chasers lead went back up to 7-3. Right-handed reliever Austin Cox entered the game in the fifth inning for Veneziano, went 2.0 innings, struck out two batters, allowing three runs on five hits before Tyler Duffey was in charge of the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Storm Chasers grew the lead in the top of the eighth inning as Ryan Fitzgerald started the inning off with a single. Then, with a steal and a forced ground out by Mann, Fitzgerald reached third base which set up Rave to hit a forced ground out, knocked in an insurance run by Fitzgerald and added to the lead 8-3.

Indy answered again in the bottom half of the frame as two singles brought two runners on base then a double followed and plated two runners to trim the lead down to 8-5. Duffey had a final line of 1.1 innings pitched, allowing two runs on four hits and had three punchouts. Walter Pennington relieved Duffey in the bottom of the eighth inning and threw a final line of 1.2 innings and had one punchout to close out the day for the Chasers pitching staff.

With a day off Monday, the Storm Chasers will host the Memphis Redbirds Tuesday June 4 at Werner Park as first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CT and major league rehabber Kris Bubic is slated to start for Omaha.

Chasers Win Six Straight with 8-5 Victory Over Indy