With two outs in the Express half of the 11th inning, Brad Nelson hit a slow roller that somehow squirted through the legs of Joaquin Arias at first base, putting runners at the corners against Zach Miner. Chad Tracy took full advantage of the miscue and ripped a single to center field, giving the Express a 7-6 lead. Joey Butler, who is 8-for-11 (.727) in the series, followed with another single that Jarrod Dyson booted, allowing Nelson and Tracy to score to extend Round Rock’s lead to 9-6.
The Chasers scored two runs in the bottom of the eleventh, but it wasn’t quite enough. It was their second comeback attempt of the evening.
Omaha fell behind 5-0 in the third inning when starter Mike Montgomery, who started the game with a six-pitch first inning, seemed to lose all sense of his command. He gave up two hits and two walks to the first four men he faced in the inning, before giving up a grand slam to Tracy.
“Monty set the tone right there,” said Omaha manager Mike Jirschele after the game. “He gave them that big lead, but I was happy with our guys – that we battled back into the game and then even tied the game late.”
Omaha’s comeback started with a single run in the bottom of the third inning with one out. David Lough grounded out to third, driving in Kurt Mertins who doubled to lead off the inning, making it 5-1 in favor of Round Rock.
Mongtomery, who was tagged with the loss, didn't come back out for the fourth inning. He gave up five earned runs on six hits and four walks.
The Express picked up another run in the fifth inning, giving them a 6-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ka’aihue took an 0-1 offering from Beau Jones over the right field wall – a two-run shot, trimming the Round Rock lead to 6-3. Two hitters later, Manny Pina’s broken bat single drove in Arias to make it 6-4, Round Rock.
The Chasers tied the game in the seventh inning when Ka’aihue ripped the ball off Butler’s glove in center field, scoring two runs.
“That was key right there when he hit that line drive over Butler’s head,” Jirschele said. “He jumped up and I thought he was going end up catching it, but I was happy to see it go off his glove and we tied the game.
“I would have like to have seen it land on the other side of the fence, but I was happy to see him square one up right there in that situation.”
The teams traded zeros from that point on, but the Chasers had a great chance to win in the 10th and failed to capitalize. Coming off the momentum of an inning-ending double play in the top of the inning, Ka’aihue reached on a hit-by-pitch to start the rally. Pinch-runner Lance Zawadzki scooted from first-to-third on a one-out single by Arias, followed by an intentional walk to Pina. But with the series-winning run standing just 90 feet away, Kurt Mertins popped up in foul territory and Dyson flied out to right to end the threat, setting up the wild 11th.
Mertins wasn’t the only one who had anxious swings with runners in scoring position.
“That’s part of maturity, and learning how to play the game” Jirschele said. “You’ve got to understand, you’ve got the pitcher in trouble. You’re not the one who is in trouble. You’ve got to be a little more patient, but you don’t want to be too patient because if you get your pitch, you want to be ready to hit it.”
The Storm Chasers will try to regroup quickly, with Game 4 beginning at 1:05 p.m. – just over 14 hours after Game 3 ended. Omaha will send right-hander Sean O’Sullivan (8-2, 4.22) to the mound to face veteran right-hander Brett Tomko (9-6, 6.15).
