Saints Beat Storm Chasers 9-7 in Extra Innings

PAPILLION, NEB. – The St. Paul Saints (34-25/76-57) took down the Omaha Storm Chasers (26-31/59-72) on Wednesday afternoon 9-7 in 10 innings. The Storm Chasers combined to hit 4 home runs in the contest, including 2 from Brett Squires, but Omaha couldn’t hold on to win, falling in extra innings.

The Saints opened the scoring in the top of the 1^st inning on an RBI double off Storm Chasers starter Ryan Ramsey and a throwing error that put St. Paul ahead 2-0.

Omaha responded with a solo home run from Gavin Cross to lead off the bottom of the 1^st inning, and Brett Squires gave the Storm Chasers a 3-2 lead with a 2-run home run later in the frame.

Ramsey came back out with back-to-back scoreless frames in the 2^nd and 3^rd innings, then Squires hit his second home run of the game, a leadoff shot in the bottom of the 3rd inning to extend Omaha’s lead to 4-2.

St. Paul tied the game 4-4 in the top of the 4^th inning with a 2-run home run off Ramsey, but the Storm Chasers took the lead back in the bottom half with Cross scoring on a wild pitch to take a 5-4 edge.

The first two Saints hitters walked in the top of the 5^th inning, then Mason Black took the mound in place of Ramsey and finished the frame without allowing a run, stranding the bases loade.

Omaha extended its lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the 5th inning when Jacob Berry led off the frame with a home run and Abraham Toro connected on an RBI single.

The Storm Chasers sent Black back to the mound in the top of the 6^th inning, but he gave up a 1-out solo home run and 2-out RBI single to cut Omaha’s lead to 7-6.

Black then worked a 1-2-3 top of the 7^th inning and Carlos Duran fired a scoreless top of the 8^th inning, but Matt Moore (0-2) surrendered a game-tying sacrifice fly in the top of the 9^th to knot the score 7-7.

The Storm Chasers went down in order in the bottom of the 9th inning, and after Moore loaded the bases with one out, Scott Alexander gave up the go-ahead two-run single to put St. Paul in front 9-7.

A wild pitch moved Omaha’s extra-inning runner to 3rd base, but the Storm Chasers went down 1-2-3 to finish off the 10-inning loss, with the final 15 hitters of the night retired consecutively.

Squires finished the day 3-for-5 with his second multi-homer game of the season, while Cross and Berry each offered 2-hit afternoons and Toro drew 3 walks.

The Saints will return to Werner Park for the third game of the series against the Storm Chasers on Thursday evening. First pitch is set for 6:35 P.M. CT and Henry Williams is scheduled to start for Omaha.