This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Omaha • Ben Broussard singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Wednesday afternoon, giving the Omaha Storm Chasers a 3-2 victory over Salt Lake in Game 1 of the Pacific Coast League championship series at Werner Park.
The opener in the best-of-five series was suspended in the second inning Tuesday night after a rain delay of nearly three hours. Game 2 will be played tonight, beginning at 6:05 p.m. MDT
When play resumed in Game 1, the Bees' Luis Rodriguez led off the top of the fourth with a home run, snapped a 1-1 tie.
Salt Lake maintained its 2-1 lead until the bottom of the seventh, when Omaha's Manny Pina doubled home a run. Paulo Orlando followed with a base hit, but Bees' center fielder Scott Cousins threw out Pina at the plate to retire the side.
The Storm Chasers followed with another run in the eighth off of Salt Lake reliever Dustin Richardson. Broussard's RBI gave Omaha a 3-2 lead and left runners on first and second with only one out.
At that point, Salt Lake manager Keith Johnson replaced Richardson with Danial Stange, who struck out the next two Storm Chasers to get out of the winning.
The Bees were retired in the ninth, however, and fell into a 1-0 hole in the their first championship series since 2002.
It was the fifth straight one-run game for Salt Lake in the playoffs, including the opening-round series against Las Vegas.