Storm Chasers crush Clippers 11-2 behind six-run fifth inning

Mitch Spence gave Omaha the kind of start that makes a roster conversation louder, then the Storm Chasers turned one inning into a rout. The right-hander retired eight straight batters between the first and third innings, the offense blew open a tie with a six-run fifth, and Omaha beat the Columbus Clippers 11-2 on Friday night at Huntington Park.

That fifth inning looked like a minor league audition for multiple bats at once. Drew Waters opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the second, then came back in the fifth to draw a bases-loaded walk. Abraham Toro followed with a bases-clearing three-run double, Luke Maile added a two-run homer, and Omaha suddenly had a 7-1 lead after Columbus had briefly tied the game in the fourth. By the end, the Storm Chasers had strung together the kind of extra-base contact that can change how Kansas City evaluates a hot week in Triple-A.

Kameron Misner kept pushing the point. His two-run homer in the eighth was his fourth blast of the series, and Matthew Lugo followed with his first homer as a Storm Chaser to make it 10-1. Kevin Newman added an RBI single in the ninth to finish off the scoring. Omaha finished with 11 runs, while Columbus managed only two and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

The pitching line was just as useful as the scoreboard. Spence faced 10 batters and threw 47 pitches before turning it over, and Omaha’s staff finished with 11 strikeouts. Helcris Olivárez, Dan Altavilla, Andrew Pérez, Génesis Cabrera and Austin Thomas helped keep Columbus from finding any late momentum in a game played before 9,302 fans, starting at 7:05 p.m. in 83-degree, partly cloudy weather with a 10 mph wind blowing out to left field. The win improved Omaha to 28-32 and gave the club its second straight over Columbus after Thursday’s 6-4 victory.

The bigger reason this stretch matters is that the names keep lining up. Misner was named International League Player of the Week for June 1-7 after going 10-for-24 with three doubles, five home runs and 28 total bases in the road series against Columbus, and former Storm Chasers right-hander Beck Way made his major league debut for the Royals on the same day Omaha won this game. Way became the fourth Omaha player to debut in the majors in 2026 and the second to do it with Kansas City, which is exactly why nights like this carry more weight than a simple blowout.