Omaha Offense Stalls in 12-3 Loss to Iowa

DES MOINES, IOWA – The Omaha Storm Chasers dropped their second straight game to the Iowa Cubs with a 12-3 loss Thursday night.

Omaha plated the first runs of the game in the 1st inning, when MJ Melendez led off with a walk and Cam Devanney connected on a 2-run home run, his team-leading 17th homer that gave the Storm Chasers a 2-0 advantage.

Chandler Champlain started Thursday night’s game for the Storm Chasers and Iowa jumped ahead of Omaha with two solo home runs in the 1st and an RBI single in the 2nd. In the 3rd inning, a 2-run home run and RBI single plated 3 more runs, for a 6-2 Cubs lead.

Champlain’s first scoreless inning of the game came in the 4th, though in the 5th inning Iowa extended their lead to 7-2 with an RBI single, the run unearned due to an Omaha error.

Brandon Johnson relieved Champlain with one out in the 5th, inheriting a base runner. A 2-run home run made the score 9-2 further in favor of Iowa, with all 3 runs in the 5^th inning unearned from an Omaha error.

In the bottom of the 6th, a solo home run, RBI single, and groundout scored three runs to extend Iowa’s lead to 12-3

After 5 innings without scoring, Omaha added a run in the top of the 7^th for a 12-3 score. Cavan Biggio walked and Devanney doubled, then an RBI groundout from Joey Wiemer plated Biggio.

In the 7th, former I-Cub Michael Fulmer relieved Johnson to make his first appearance with Omaha and worked just the second scoreless and first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

Andrew Hoffmann followed Fulmer in the 8th and retired the first three cubs he faced for another 1-2-3 inning, though Omaha could not overcome the deficit in the top of the 9th and the 12-3 score held to be final.

The Storm Chasers will travel back to Omaha and will play the final three games of the series against the Iowa Cubs at Werner Park, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. CT.