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MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Omaha baseball team had the winning run on second with a two-out, bases-loaded situation on Wednesday but was unable to get past Kansas State, falling 3-2 at Tointon Family Stadium. The Mavericks are now 6-15 (0-0 Summit League), while the Wildcats improve to 20-10 (2-3 Big 12).
K-State's Jared Moore (1-0) earned the win, throwing 4.2 innings of scoreless relief with just two hits, three strikeouts and no walks. The loss went to junior
Steven Schoonover (1-2), who tossed a season-long and career-best-tying 6.0 innings. Schoonover allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Gerardo Esquivel, who nabbed his first save of the year, surrendered one run on four hits in the ninth.
Junior
Brett Bass tallied his team-leading 10th multi-hit performance of the season, going 2-for-4 with a walk. Sophomore
Alex Mortensen finished 1-for-4 with an RBI, and junior
Caleb Palensky and freshman
Alex Schultz both went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Kansas State was led by Tanner Witt, who finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and another driven in. Clayton Dalrymple also went 2-for-3, and Blair DeBord and RJ Santigate each tallied hits that drove in a run for the Wildcats.
Omaha broke open a scoreless game in the third inning as Palensky reached on a single to left, stole second and third and scored on Mortensen's sacrifice fly to left to make it 1-0.
The Mavericks threatened again in the fourth by loading the bases with two outs, but K-State shut it down with a popup to short.
Schoonover was perfect through 3.1 innings of work, and Kansas State finally reached based in the bottom of the fourth. Shane Conlon opened with a bunt single and advanced to second on an error, then tied it at 1-1 on an RBI double to the left field corner from Witt. DeBord followed suit with another RBI double to the same place, plating Witt to push the Wildcats ahead, 2-1.
In the sixth, K-State extended its lead to 3-1 as Witt singled to left and moved to second on an error, then came in on Santigate's two-out RBI single to right. On the next play, Santigate was gunned down attempting to steal on a throw from Mortensen.
Omaha was held off the basepaths until the eighth, when the Mavericks left one runner on base.
The top of the ninth inning saw the Mavericks pull within one, as Schultz sparked a rally with his leadoff double to deep center. After a groundout, senior
Cory Buckley singled to short, and Schultz scored on an error, cutting it to 3-2. Palensky then reached on a fielder's choice that allowed KSU to get pinch runner
Cole Gruber for the second out. Bass followed with a single to left, and Mortensen singled to short to load the bases, but K-State escaped with a flyout to center to grab the 3-2 win.
Omaha returns to action on Friday, April 5, hosting Fort Wayne for a doubleheader in the Mavericks' official Summit League baseball debut. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at the Ballpark at Boys Town, and links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com. The game will also be broadcasted live on KVNO 90.7 HD-2 with student broadcasters Jared Meyer and Paul Dobler on the call.