Bats rally in ninth, but Storm Chasers walk off with 8-7 win

The Louisville Bats were one strike from turning a long trip to Werner Park into another statement win, then Omaha ripped the game away with the kind of last-inning answer that can flip a series. After Blake Dunn tied it with a two-out, two-run single in the ninth and Edwin Arroyo followed with a triple to deep right-center field for a 7-6 lead, the Storm Chasers pushed across the winning run for an 8-7 walk-off on Thursday night in Papillion, Nebraska.

Louisville had spent much of the evening building from an early edge. Michael Toglia walked to start the second inning, Francisco Urbaez and Ivan Johnson followed with singles, and P.J. Higgins lifted a sacrifice fly to get the Bats on the board. Dayne Leonard then added a run-scoring single to make it 2-0. Brandon Leibrandt protected that lead through the first three innings and worked 6.0 innings overall, allowing two runs on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts, but Omaha slowly cut into the margin and turned the game into a one-run grind.

The Bats still had enough left in the tank to nearly steal it late. With two outs and runners in scoring position in the ninth, Dunn delivered the swing Louisville needed, lining a single that brought the game even at 6-6. Arroyo then drove a ball into the right-center gap for a triple, and Louisville suddenly had the lead and the momentum after spending most of the night trying to hold off Omaha’s pressure. For a few pitches, the comeback looked complete.

Trevor Kuncl took the ball for the bottom of the ninth and was one out away from finishing the save after retiring the first two hitters. Omaha would not let it get that far. The Storm Chasers strung together three straight singles, and Drew Waters finished the rally with a walk-off ground ball that sent Louisville to an 8-7 defeat and snapped Omaha’s seven-game losing streak. Luca Tresh’s three-run homer and Ryan Ramsey’s 5.0-inning start gave the home club enough support to survive the Bats’ ninth-inning surge.

The loss stung because Louisville had already won the first two games of the six-game set, 5-1 on April 28 and 5-1 on April 29, and entered the night at 18-12. Omaha was 13-16, but the Storm Chasers found enough late contact to change the tone of the series and hand the Bats a reminder that in Triple-A, one inning can erase everything that came before it.