Minor League Recap: Columbus Clippers Win Game One, Lose Game Two of Playoff Series

Minor League Recap for Monday and Tuesday, September 24-25, 2024

The Columbus Clippers will play the Omaha Storm-Chasers for the championship of the International League and a chance to play in the National Championship game, matching up the winner with the Pacific Cost League Championship series winners.

Game One, Tuesday, September 24th: Clippers 3, Storm-Chasers 2

This game featured Gabriel Arias who went 2 for 3 with a solo homer, Johnathan Rodriguez who went 2 for 5 with a double, and Tyler Freeman who went 2 for 4 in the leadoff spot. But, the real star was Clippers’ starter Doug Nikhazy who went five and two thirds giving up four hits, three walks, one run and striking out 10. I’d expect to see Nikhazy in Cleveland in short order in 2025. The Columbus bullpen was a little shaky, but Peter Strzelecki, Franco Aleman and Nic Enright managed to get the job done after Nikhazy exited.

Game Two, Wednesday, September 25th: Clippers 4, Storm-Chasers 5 (in 11 innings)

The Clippers seemed like they might pull off the sweep, but things fell apart in a James Karinchak inning, with an assist from first baseman Micah Pries who dropped a foul ball out. Karinchak, having walked the previous batter, promptly surrendered a two-run home run. Pries had homered earlier, so Pries giveth and Pries taketh away, I guess. Oddly enough, Columbus had 12 hits and 3 home runs and scored only 4 runs; talk about BAD sequencing. The other solo shots were from Johnathan Rodriguez and Tyler Freeman (three hits on the night) who can definitely hit Triple-A pitching... now if only major league pitchers were not so much better. Myles Straw, after causing a little controversy with a political tweet, returned to Columbus and went 2 for 4, and Juan Brito, and Johnathan Rodriguez also had 2 hits a piece. Connor Gillispie was quite good, striking out seven, allowing one run on three hits and three walks in five innings, and Tanner Burns had a scoreless inning. Anthony Gose went two scoreless before giving up the winning runs in his third inning of work.

Tonight, at 7:35PM EST, it all comes down to Ryan Webb giving the Clippers a chance to advance in Omaha. Good luck to Columbus.