Hicklen launches 20th homer, but Chasers fall in 10 innings

TOLEDO, Ohio. – For the second consecutive night, the Omaha Storm Chasers outhit the Toledo Mud Hens but fall on a walk-off hit. The Storm Chasers dropped game two 8-7 to the Mud Hens. Toledo (55-51) now leads the series 2-0 and the season series is tied 7-7.

Omaha (51-55) wasted little time scoring for the second consecutive night, this time doing so without the help of the early longball. Center fielder Drew Waters was the first to cross the plate for the Storm Chasers, scoring on a passed ball. A single from second baseman Clay Dungan scored shortstop Maikel Garcia before a two-RBI single from catcher José Briceño would push a couple more runs across the plate.

In all, the Storm Chasers forced Brian Garcia to throw 35 pitches in the frame, getting four hits and three walks to take an early 5-0 lead.

Omaha’s starter, right-hander Carlos Hernández had to go out to the bullpen to stay loose in the top of the first and needed just nine pitches to get through the bottom half of the frame.

The Chasers scored another in the second, with left fielder Dairon Blanco digging out an infield single before stealing his team-leading 26th base to move into scoring position. Third baseman Nick Loftin recorded his first career Triple-A hit with Blanco getting caught in a rundown between third and home, scoring when the catcher dropped the ball trying to apply the tag.

Zach Short cut into Omaha’s lead with a two-run homer off right-hander Marcelo Martinez, putting the score at 6-2 in favor of Omaha after two innings.

After keeping the Storm Chasers off the scoreboard in the third and fourth, the Mud Hens got another back in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of an Omaha fielding error to score Daz Cameron. Toledo put another run on the board in the fifth, using an RBI groundout from Spencer Torkelson to cut Omaha’s lead to just two runs.

Right-fielder Brewer Hicklen launched his 20th home run of the season in the eighth, giving the Storm Chasers a 7-4 lead. Hicklen now has the only two RBIs that the Chasers have recorded after the third inning in either game in the series.

Andre Lipcius hit an RBI double to score Short from first base before Austin Meadows hit an RBI single that cut the Storm Chasers lead to just one with one out in the ninth. Right-hander Ándres Núñez came in to pitch the ninth, getting just one out before giving way to left-hander Sam Freeman.

Josh Lester tied the game with a single down the right field line on Freeman’s first pitch to knot the score at 7-7. Freeman (Loss, 3-1) stranded the bases with back-to-back strikeouts to send the game to the 10th inning.

Nick Vincent struck out the side in the 10th, keeping the Storm Chasers from plating another run.

Meadows hits a ball into left-center field to score Jack Lopez and win in walk-off fashion for the second consecutive night, 8-7.

Omaha and Toledo will play game three on Thursday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. CDT. Coverage will start at 5:45 p.m. on the Sarpy County Tourism Pregame Show on 1180 The Zone. The Storm Chasers are set to start right-hander Max Castillo (2-0, 1.61) while Toledo is set to begin with Eduardo Rodriguez.

After the road trip, the Chasers return home for a six-game set against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starting on August 23.

The full 2022 schedule can be found here and single-game tickets are now available here.

For more tickets and more information, please visit omahastormchasers.com, call the Werner Park Ticket office at (402) 738-5100, and follow the team on social media. You can follow the team on Twitter @omastormchasers, on Instagram @omahastormchasers, and “like” the team on Facebook at facebook.com/omahastormchasers.