Columbus stuns Omaha 9-8 with late comeback at Huntington Park

Bo Naylor changed everything with one swing, ripping a three-run homer down the foul line and over the Pedialyte Porch in the fifth inning to turn Huntington Park from a near-miss into a comeback stage. The blast pulled Columbus back into a game it had trailed by as many as four runs and set up a 9-8 win over Omaha in front of 9,647 fans on June 2, a night that also saw 20,037 hot dogs consumed.

Omaha had jumped out fast and led 5-2 after two innings, forcing Columbus to spend the early part of the night chasing the game. Nolan Jones kept the Clippers within reach with an RBI double that scored Juan Brito, who came home headfirst after being sent through the third-base coach’s stop sign. Brito added another run later with a single that brought in Kody Huff, trimming the deficit just enough to keep the crowd engaged as the game tightened.

The real shift came in the middle innings. Naylor’s homer cut into Omaha’s cushion, and Angel Genao followed by tying the game in the sixth with his fourth home run as a Clipper. By then, the momentum had fully flipped. What had started as Omaha’s early burst turned into a night where every loud swing from Columbus seemed to match the growing noise around the park.

The Clippers kept applying pressure once they evened the score. Cooper Ingle doubled in a run to give Columbus its first lead of the night, Jones drove in another, and C.J. Kayfus drew a bases-loaded walk to stretch the advantage to 9-6. Omaha still had enough fight left to close the gap to one, but Columbus held on through the late innings and turned the final outs into a release for the home crowd.

Tommy Mace worked two innings in relief to earn the win, and Jack Leftwich handled the final two frames for his first save. The victory was Columbus’ sixth straight and pushed the Clippers to 32-25, keeping them rolling in the International League West while giving the Huntington Park crowd a June night worth remembering long after the last hot dog was gone.