Box Score OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha baseball team halted its four-game losing skid on Friday, defeating Western Illinois 4-1 at the Ballpark at Boys Town. With the victory, the Mavericks improve to 14-12 (7-3 Summit League), while the Leathernecks drop to 8-16 (4-6 Summit League).

Junior Cole Gruber finished 4-for-4 at the plate to lead Omaha, drawing a walk, scoring once and driving in another run. The Papillion-LaVista product also had three stolen bases, which moved him up to third in school history for career steals at 54.

Senior Justin Threlkeld was 3-for-4 for joined Gruber with another multi-hit effort, and senior Daniel Jewett had a 2-for-4 day.

Junior right-hander Tyler Fox (4-2) earned the win, throwing a season-high tying 7.0 innings and allowing one run on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts. The loss went to WIU starter Joe Mortillaro (2-2), who gave up four runs (three earned) on nine hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Junior right-hander Marcus Ethen picked up his first save of the year, limiting the Leathernecks to one hit and a walk over 2.0 innings while fanning two.

The game proved a battle early, with Omaha accounting for three hits and Western Illinois posting just two in the first four scoreless innings. Finally, in the top of the fifth, the Leathernecks were the first to get on the board. Consecutive two-out singles from Colton Pogue, Mark Garton and Brent Turner loaded the bases for Roman Visintine, who drew a walk to drive in Pogue for a 1-0 lead.

The Mavericks struck back in the bottom half of the inning, plating a trio of runs on four hits and an error. Junior Alex Schultz got on with a one-out single to left center, followed by a walk by Gruber. A double steal put both runners in scoring position, and Schultz came in on junior Clayton Taylor's sacrifice fly to center. A single to shortstop by junior Alex Mortensen pushed Gruber across, and Mortensen later scored on a Leatherneck throwing error to make it 3-1.

Omaha crossed its next run in the sixth. Freshman Cole Patterson led off with a single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch, then advanced to second on junior Collin Leif's sacrifice bunt and to third on a groundout by Schultz. Gruber delivered an RBI infield single to score Patterson, giving UNO a 4-1 advantage.

Ethen relieved Fox in the eighth, and the Leathernecks went down in order. In the ninth, Western put two runners on with one out and had the tying run at the plate, but Ethen got out of it with a strikeout and a groundout over the next three batters for a final score of 4-1.

Omaha returns to action on Saturday, April 4, hosting Western Illinois at 1 p.m. at the Ballpark at Boys Town. Links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.