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OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha baseball team opened its weekend series with Creighton on Friday night, falling 4-3 at TD Ameritrade Park. The Mavericks are now 5-13 (0-0 Summit League), while the Jays improve to 13-5 (2-1 MVC).

Mark Winkelman (3-0) earned the win in relief, going 4.0 innings while allowing one run on four hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Senior Matt Tew was tagged with the loss, throwing the final three innings with one unearned run on four hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Jake Peter took his third save of the year over a final hitless inning.

CU starter Tommy Strunc put in four innings of work, allowing two runs on one hit with three walks and a trio of strikeouts. Strunc retired 16 straight batters before issuing two walks in the top of the fifth. Sophomore Zach Williamsen, making his first Friday night start for the Mavericks, went 3.0 innings, giving up two runs on two hits with a strikeout and three walks.

Freshman Alex Schultz finished 1-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk, while redshirt freshman Connor Messinger was 1-for-2 with a run driven in and a walk drawn. Senior Ryan Keele and junior Brett Bass also tallied one run apiece.

The Jays were led by Brennan Murphy, who finished 2-for-3 with a run, and Peter, who was 1-for-3 with two RBI.

Creighton got on the board first, Alex Staehely scored in the bottom of the second on a Ryan Fitzgerald RBI single up the middle. The Jays made it 2-0 in the third, when Brad McKewon came in on Peter's RBI single to left. In the fourth, CU added another run to push it to 3-0 when Murphy scored on a balk.

Omaha made its first noise in the fifth, loading the bases with no outs with walks from Schultz and Keele and a bunt single from Gruber. Messinger then drew a walk, allowing Schultz to score for UNO's first run.  Following a pitching change that brought in Winkelman for Strunc, senior Tyler Splichal grounded into a double play, plating Keele and pulling the Mavericks within one at 3-2.

UNO added another run to make it a tied game in the sixth. Bass drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, then moved to third on redshirt freshman Clayton Taylor's single to right. Schultz followed up with an RBI single to short, crossing Bass and knotting the score at 3-3.

The stall was short-lived, however, as Creighton came back for an unearned run in the bottom of the inning. Kevin Lamb singled to left and McKewon reached on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt, and both runners moved into scoring position on the error. Two batters later, Peter fouled out to left on a sacrifice fly, allowing Lamb to score and giving the Jays the 4-3 lead.

Omaha threatened again with a pair of hits in the seventh, as Messinger started the inning with a single through the left side. Splichal then doubled to right, and Messinger attempted to score but was thrown out on the 9-4-2 play at the plate. CU got the Mavs with a groundout and a lineout, quelling the potential comeback.

The series resumes on Saturday, March 30, as Omaha hosts Creighton at Werner Park. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., and links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com. The game will also be broadcast live on KVNO 90.7 HD-2, with student broadcasters Jared Meyer and Paul Dobler on the call.