August 28 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Omaha Storm Chasers

IOWA CUBS (24-30, 54-72) vs. OMAHA STORM CHASERS (25-27, 58-68)

August 28 • 7:08 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

LHP Jordan Wicks (2-10, 6.00) vs. LHP Hunter Patterson (0-1, 3.60)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Omaha Storm Chasers are set to play the fourth of a six-game series at Principal Park tonight...left-hander Jordan Wicks is slated to make his 21st appearance (20th start)this season with Iowa...Omaha is scheduled to start left-hander Hunter Patteson.

STORM CHASING: The I-Cubs earned a 7-6 walk off victory last night over the Omaha Storm Chasers...Owen Ayers, Chas McCormick, and Ben Cowles each had two RBI with Jordan Nwogu driving in one...after building up a 5-0 lead through five innings, Omaha stormed back to tie the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning...the Storm Chasers took the their first lead of the game in the eighth inning... down to their final three outs, James Triantos singled and Owen Miller drew a walk before Ayers hit a walk off two-run double to win the game for Iowa...Grant Kipp earned his third win of the season, pitching 2.0 innings of one run ball out of the bullpen...Andrew Wantz started the game for Iowa, pitching five scoreless innings...Jaxon Wiggins and Eduarniel Nunez combined to throw 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.

WALK IT OFF: The I-Cubs earned their fourth walk off win of the season last night with Owen Ayers’ two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning...it was the first walk off win for Iowa since June 17 when James Triantos hit an RBI single to walk it off in a 6-5 victory over Indianapolis in ten innings...it was the first time this season Iowa has earned a walk off victory when trailing heading into the ninth inning...the last time Iowa earned a walk off victory in nine innings when entering the inning trailing was May 8, 2024 in a 9-8 victory over Columbus.

HIGH TIDE: Iowa has won six of their last seven games dating back to last Thursday, including a four game winning streak to end the series in Toledo...the winning streak was one shy of tying their season long five game winning streak from April 1-5 at Louisville...it is their third wining streak of four games this season, last doing so July 8-11 against St. Paul...prior to that stretch, Iowa previously won four in a row May 23-27 versus Memphis (one) and Indianapolis (three).

CHAS: Over his last nine games, Chas McCormick is batting .444 (12-for-27) with eight runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI, nine walks, and four stolen bases...McCormick has also recorded an RBI in four straight games for the second time this season, also doing so June 14-June 18...he has notched four multi-hit games during the stretch, including a three-hit game last Thursday at Toledo... it marked his third three-hit game of the season and first since June 27 against Buffalo...he reached base four times Wednesday, going 1-for-1, three walks...the three walks are the most he has drawn in a single game in his professional career...since August 18, Chas leads Triple-A in on-base percentage (.583), is third in walks (9), fourth in batting average (.444) and sixth in OPS (1.324).

COMEBACK CUBS: Last night the I-Cubs secured their third victory when trailing after eight innings in their last six games... they notched two comeback wins last week in Toledo...last Thursday, down to their final out, James Triantos laced an RBI double off the left field wall to tie the game in an eventual 5-4 victory in ten innings...down to their final two outs on Saturday, they rallied to tie the game on an RBI single from Ethan Hearn before winning 7-3 in ten innings...prior to this stretch, Iowa was 0-50 in games when trailing after eight innings.

KOHL WORLD: Iowa starting pitcher Kohl Franklin pitched 4.2 scoreless innings Wednesday, striking out a season high seven batters...the seven strikeouts were the most he has posted in a single outing since September 16, 2023 with Double-A Knoxville against Rocket City... Kohl had only pitched three combined times between the 2024 and 2025 seasons due to injury...prior to this season, he only made one career appearance at Triple-A, coming April 13, 2024 versus St. Paul before being shut down due to injury...since returning to Triple-A this year, he has a 2.70 ERA across four starts (16.2 IP) allowing five earned runs and striking out 17...Kohl was selected by Chicago in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

SERIES-LY: After winning four in a row to close out the week in Toledo, the I-Cubs won their third six-game series of the 2026 season...their last six-game series victory came July 7-12 against St. Paul...prior to that, they had not won a six-game series since March 31-April 5 at Louisville...they also won a three-game series July 17-19 at Memphis.

AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect catcher Owen Ayers recorded his first walk off hit since joining the I-Cubs on July 17...Owen threw out two players stealing Wednesday night...Owen has thrown out 32 runners this season between Advanced-A ,Double-A and Triple-A, which is tied for 12th-most of any player at those levels...at the time of his promotion, Ayers ranked first in the Southern League in on-base percentage (.417), slugging percentage (.591), and OPS (1.008), second in batting average, third in extra-base hits (33), fifth in total bases (136), and sixth in home runs.

IN THE ‘PEN: Cubs’ top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins made his fifth consecutive relief appearance Thursday night...Wiggins worked a scoreless frame and struck out one and allowed a hit...in all five outings, Jaxon has pitched a scoreless frame and has seven total strikeouts.

KIPP TO MY LOU: Right-hander and Cubs’ No. 20 prospect Grant Kipp earned his third victory of the season last night after pitching 2.0 innings of one run ball out of the bullpen...he worked 3.0 scoreless innings last Friday night and allowed just two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts...the seven strikeouts matched a career high in Triple-A and were one short of his season high, set on May 27 at Chattanooga and May 7 vs. Birmingham... it marked the third time this season Grant has reached seven strikeouts at Triple-A, with the others coming on July 4 at Toledo and June 27 vs. Buffalo...Kipp is the lone I-Cubs pitcher to reach seven strikeouts in a game on three occasions and the first since Will Sanders (4) and Connor Noland (5) in 2025.

ELECTRIC AVENUE: James Triantos stole two bases last night, his fourth game this year with multiple stolen bases and bringing his season total to 27...it is the third most in a season of his career following 47 in 2024 and 28 in 2025...Triantos is one of two Cubs’ farmhands with at least 115 hits and 25 stolen bases, along with Knoxville’s Alex Ramirez...in addition, is he one of two players in the International League with such numbers, along with Indianapolis’ Ronny Simon...Triantos made his Major League debut on July 25 and batted .125 (1-for-8) in seven games with Chicago.

HEADIN’ TO THIRD: Cubs No. 19 prospect BJ Murray tallied his ninth triple of the season last night as he went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk...he leads the International League in triples, three ahead of teammate Owen Miller and ranks tied for second in all the minor leagues...the nine triples are the most by an I-Cub since Arismendy Alcántara had 10 in 2015...BJ also ranks among IL leaders in total bases (4th, 209), hits (T-4th, 125), walks (5th, 69), extra-base hits (T-5th, 47) and on-base percentage (7th, .400).

LIKE PANTS: Iowa starter Andrew Wantz threw five scoreless innings last night against Omaha...it was the first time he has thrown five scoreless innings since May 25, 2019 with Single-A Inland Empire against Stockton...it was his fifth outing of at least four innings this year and second with five after throwing 5.2 innings on July 8 versus St. Paul.