Syracuse falls short to Omaha, 6-3, on Saturday night  

Syracuse, NY –The Syracuse Mets took an early lead but couldn’t hold on during Saturday night’s game against the Omaha Storm Chasers, dropping the contest, 6-3. Omaha has now won three out of the first five games in the six-game series.

Syracuse (44-54) struck first in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of some strong swings at the plate and sloppy defense from the Storm Chasers. With nobody on base and one out, Francisco Álvarez pounded a double off the base of the left-center field wall on one bounce, upping his hitting streak to four games. Nick Plummer then sliced a sharp single into right field, initially holding Álvarez at third base. However, right fielder Nate Eaton threw the ball away from right field on the throw back into the infield, allowing Álvarez to prance home with the game’s first run for a 1-0 lead.

After that, Omaha (49-48) took control, plating single runs in the second, third, fifth, and seven innings to take a commanding 4-1 lead. In the third and fifth, Drew Waters launched solo home runs to push the Storm Chasers to a 3-1 lead all by his lonesome. The 23-year-old from Georgia has had an outstanding week in Syracuse, going a combined 8-for-18 at the plate with three home runs, two doubles, seven runs scored, and five runs driven in.

In the top of the seventh, José Briceño doubled to start the inning, moved up to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Michael Massey sacrifice fly to the center-field warning track. The run came off of the rehabbing Big Leaguer Trevor May who made his second rehab appearance with Syracuse this week on Saturday night. May has allowed two earned runs combined between his two relief innings so far this week.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Mets got a run back from a familiar face. Mark Vientos entered the game as a pinch-hitter with nobody on base and one out and wasted no time, lining the first pitch he saw over the fence in right-center field for his team-leading 19th home run of the season.

Omaha scored single runs in the top of the eighth and ninth innings to make it 6-2 and essentially put the game away. Brewer Hicklen hit a solo homer in the eighth, his second home run of the week. Briceño doubled and scored in the ninth, finishing the night 3-for-4 with three doubles and two runs scored.

Syracuse tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the ninth as Daniel Palka singled to start the inning and moved up to second and then third with nobody out on a pair of wild pitches. After consecutive outs dimmed the comeback hopes, Deven Marrero singled with two outs to score Palka and keep the late rally alive at 6-3. However, it would die there. JT Riddle struck out to end the game and hand Omaha its third win of the week.

Syracuse wraps up its six-game series against the Omaha Storm Chasers on Sunday afternoon. Left-hander David Peterson is scheduled to start for the Mets opposed by left-hander Daniel Lynch for the Storm Chasers. First pitch is slated for 1:05 p.m.