Box Score BROOKINGS, S.D. -- The Omaha baseball team drew its weekend series to 1-1 on Saturday afternoon, defeating South Dakota State 8-6 at Erv Huether Field. With the win, the Mavericks improve to 17-18 (10-7 Summit League), while the Jackrabbits drop to 23-14 (10-7 Summit League).
Senior right-hander
Zach Williamsen (6-4) earned his league-leading sixth win of the season in the start. The Omaha native tossed 5.0 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. Chris Anderson (4-2) took the loss for SDSU, giving up six runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Sophomore right-hander
Brett Sasse picked up his second save of the year, surrendering one run on one hit and a walk with two strikeouts in the final inning.
Junior
Clayton Taylor led Omaha at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a run scored. Junior
Alex Schultz was also 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI, while junior
Cole Gruber had a hit, scored twice and drove in two more runs.
South Dakota State started the scoring swiftly in the bottom of the first inning, as Paul Jacobson led off with a leadoff triple to left center and promptly scored on Zach Coppola's RBI groundout for a 1-0 lead.
Omaha then tied the game at 1-1 in the third. Gruber drew a one-out walk and went to third on a Taylor single up the middle, then came in on junior
Alex Mortensen's RBI single to left center.
The Mavericks opened it up offensively in the fourth, notching six runs on three hits and an error. After UNO loaded the bases with no outs, Schultz sent a two-out double down the left field line to score senior
Daniel Jewett and sophomore
Mark Handberg. Gruber followed suit with a two-run single up the middle to plate Schultz and junior
Collin Leif, which prompted a Jackrabbit pitching change. SDSU got two outs with a flyout and a groundout, but Gruber advanced to second, then stole third in that span. Freshman
Isaac Holt then worked a four-pitch walk and stole second to put himself in scoring position, and redshirt freshman
Ryan Cate came up with a two-run single to right center that stretched Omaha's lead to 7-1.
SDSU cut it to 7-4 in the fifth, posting three runs on two hits and capitalizing on three Maverick miscues. Coppola and Eric Danforth both scored on errors, while Luke Ringhofer crossed with the help of Matt Johnson's RBI single through the right side. The Jacks added another run in the seventh, when Coppola led off with a single to center and later scored on Reid Clary's sacrifice fly to right to make it 7-5.
UNO put up an insurance run in the ninth, with Taylor leading off the inning with a triple to right center. He was driven in with a sacrifice fly to center from Mortensen, giving the Mavericks an 8-5 advantage.
South Dakota State countered in the bottom half of the inning, when Clary led off with a solo homer to left. Sasse then struck out Johnson and got Zach Holt with a groundout before the Jacks put a runner on with a walk by pinch hitter Anthony Schneider. Facing the tying run at the plate, Sasse fanned Cody Sharrow looking and finished off Omaha's win with a final score of 8-6.
Omaha returns to action on Sunday, April 19, closing the series with South Dakota State at 1 p.m. at Erv Huether Field. Links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.
