At the end of April, the Omaha Storm Chasers were set to finish a series with the Indianapolis Indians with a full weekend of games at Werner Park.

Those games were postponed/canceled due to heavy rain and a series of tornadoes throughout the East Nebraska region.

Since then, the Chasers have won 23 of 28 games in May, 10 of 12 games at home, and just wrapped up a historic month with another solid road series victory.

I guess it’s as the old saying goes: “April showers usually bring May flowers.”

The Chasers finished up a record-setting month of May with a 4-1 victory over the Indianapolis Indians tonight at Victory Field.

I’ll dive into more of the series stats and monthly stats about the Chasers later. Let’s discuss what happened during tonight’s game.

Once again, the Storm Chasers struck first in the 1st Inning. John Rave was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on an RBI single from Logan Porter to give Omaha an early 1-0 lead.

Luis Cessa got through his first seven hitters without a problem, but Indy’s 8th hitter, Matt Gorski, took him 425ft to left-center field to tie the game at one for the Indians.

Cessa got through four innings allowing just one run on five hits and striking out four, but was left with another no-decision. 

Omaha took the lead for good in the 6th Inning. After Nick Pratto and Ryan Fitzgerald walked to start the inning, Brian O’Keefe brought everyone in on a three-run home run that squeaked over the yellow line in left field. Omaha would enter the final three and a half innings with a 4-1 lead.

The three bullpen arms: Evan Sisk, John McMillon, and Dan Altavilla, held Indianapolis to just three hits and one walk in the final five innings. 

Altavilla struggled to escape the 9th Inning, giving up a single and a walk with two outs in the frame. But he struck out Andres Alvarez to end the game and give the Chasers the win.

IT’S GONNA BE MAY:

The month of May was a pretty great month for the Storm Chasers. Let’s take a look at some of the team records that were shattered during the 5th month of the calendar year.

• 23 wins in one month is the most by a Storm Chasers team since 2005 when the Chasers went 21-9. Mike Jirschele was in his third year as Omaha manager in 2005. 
• The Storm Chasers finish May with a monthly winning percentage of .821. That’s the best monthly winning percentage since 2005 and the best monthly winning percentage in modern team history since 2012 when Omaha lost the PCL Championship to Reno (Omaha went B2B the next two years).
• The Chasers held opponents to less than a .220 batting average in May. Best monthly ERA against since, wait for it……… 2005.
• Omaha scored an average of 6.21 runs per game which is tied for 6th best in a single month since… you already know. 2005.
• The Storm Chasers won all five series (including this one against Indianapolis) in May. They have won six consecutive series dating back to that series at the end of April against Indianapolis and have lost only one series all year long (April 16-21 @ Nashville (2-4 L)).

The next couple of weeks will tell us if the Storm Chasers can maintain these winning ways and if they can, there could be some postseason baseball at Werner Park at the end of September.

NOTES:

• The Storm Chasers now have a four-game lead for 1st Place in the IL thanks to Toledo’s 1-0 shutout of SWB this evening. 
• Logan Porter had another good game going 1-3 with two walks and an RBI.
• In addition to his 5th homer of the season, Brian O’Keefe also doubled. He finished 2-4 with two extra-base hits and three RBIs
• Tyler Gentry seems to be in a slump. He struck out all three times today. He’s 0-7 with five strikeouts in his last two games.
• Evan Sisk was sharp in relief of Luis Cessa. He went 2 1/3 innings allowing just two hits while striking out four. He lowered his ERA to 1.71 and was credited with his fourth win of the season.
• Excellent outing from John McMillon. He struck out the first four of five batters faced.
• Dan Altavilla got his second save of the series and third of the season. He struck out two in the 9th Inning.

NEXT GAME:

The Storm Chasers continue their series with Indianapolis with a 5:35 pm start time tomorrow night at Victory Field. Jonathan Bowlan will make his second start of the series for Omaha.