Omaha falls to Louisville 9-1
LOUISVILLE, KY. - Despite promising early defense, the Omaha Storm Chasers’ bats remained stagnant and an explosive 8th inning from the Louisville Bats saw Omaha fall in the series opener 9-1. Noah Cameron made his first Triple-A start since making his dominant MLB Debut with the Royals at Tampa Bay,
LOUISVILLE, KY. - Despite promising early defense, the Omaha Storm Chasers’ bats remained stagnant and an explosive 8th inning from the Louisville Bats saw Omaha fall in the series opener 9-1.
Noah Cameron made his first Triple-A start since making his dominant MLB Debut with the Royals at Tampa Bay, where he no-hit the Rays through 6.1 innings. Cameron put up a strong start, retiring the Bats in order in the 1st inning, opening the game with 3.0 scoreless innings. MJ Melendez flashed some leather in the first two innings, making both diving and over-the-shoulder catches to prevent extra-base hits.
After Nick Loftin walked in the first, Omaha saw wo more baserunners in the top of the 3rd, with a Joey Wiemer and Brian O’Keefe drawing back-to-back walks. Both Wiemer and O’Keefe advanced on a deep fly-out from John Rave. However, Wiemer was tagged out at the plate on a fielder’s choice and Omaha failed to score.
The Bats scored the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth after Cameron walked a batter and gave up a double. A base hit and a consecutive sac-fly brought two Bats home to make the score 2-0. An inning-ending double-play saved Cameron any more trouble when a runner on first got doubled off on a caught line-drive to Harold Castro.
In the top of the 5th, the Storm Chasers turned their second double play of the game. Cameron obtained his fifth strikeout of the night on the third out of the inning.
In the 6th inning, Cameron gave up a solo home run, leaving the game after 5.1 innings of work. Junior Fernández took the mound, then a wild pitch and single increased the Bats’ lead, 4-0.
Omaha’s was held hitless through the first six innings, not recorded a base knock until a Castro single with two outs in the seventh, but was left stranded to end the inning.
Fernández threw for a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th, marking the third time the Bats retired in order this evening. The Storm Chasers got on the board in the 8th with an opposite-field solo shot from Rave solo shot, his fourth of 2025 and third of the year against the Bats, to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Bats blew the game open in the 8th when Ryan Hendrix took the mound. Hendrix loaded the bases with three hits and then brought in a run on a hit-by-pitch. On the very next pitch, a grand slam capped a five-run frame for the Bats, for a 9-1 score.
Melendez attempted to create a spark for Omaha in the top of the 9th with a single, but the next two batters were retired in order to end the night.
Omaha will look to earn its first win of the series tomorrow morning against the Bats. First pitch is set for 10:05 am CT at Louisville Slugger Field, with Chandler Champlain pitching for Omaha.