Box Score OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha baseball team took an early lead over Incarnate Word Thursday but dropped an 11-9 loss in the first game of its final weekend series at the Ballpark at Boys Town. The Mavericks are now 19-31 on the season, while the Cardinals improve to 21-31.
The win on the mound went to UIW reliever John Shull (2-2), who allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout in 4.2 innings. Sophomore right-hander
Brett Sasse (0-2) took the loss, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 3.0 innings of work. Cody Richey earned his second save of the year for Incarnate Word, throwing two innings of scoreless, hitless ball.
Senior
Daniel Jewett led the Mavericks with a 3-for-5 day at the plate, scoring once and driving in another run. Juniors
Cole Gruber and
Clayton Taylor both finished 2-for-4 with a home run apiece, with Gruber scoring twice with two RBI and Taylor chipping in three runs scored and two RBI. Freshman
Cole Patterson also had a multi-hit day, going 2-for-5.
Incarnate Word jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, helped by Matt Morris's RBI single to left and Ethan McGill's RBI groundout.
The Mavericks responded just as swiftly in the bottom of the first. They posted four runs on three hits and an error, sparked by Gruber's two-run homer to right. Later, with two outs, junior
Alex Mortensen reached on a fielding error that allowed Taylor to score, and Jewett sent an RBI single to left center to plate Caniglia for a 4-2 Omaha advantage.
UNO then added two more runs in the second inning. Junior
Alex Schultz led off with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gruber and scored on freshman
Adam Caniglia's RBI single through the left side. Taylor, who also walked, scored when senior
Justin Threlkeld reached on a fielder's choice and stretched it to 6-2.
The Cardinals erased the four-run deficit in the third, taking the lead with five runs on five hits. Austin First, Hoffman put a two-run double down the left field line to start the scoring. McGill, Jesse Hoover and Mark Whitehead then all drove in another run apiece, putting Incarnate Word ahead 7-6. In the fourth, UIW added another run with back-to-back doubles by McGill and Brance Kahle, extending the Cardinals' lead to 8-6.
Omaha, however, found new life in the sixth, as Taylor's two-run roundtripper to right tied the game at 8-8. But Incarnate Word rallied with a homer of their own in the next inning, going ahead again on Whitehead's two-run shot to right that made it 10-8.
The Mavericks pulled within one at 10-9 in the bottom of the seventh when Jewett singled to right center, then scored on Schultz's single to center and a subsequent UIW fielding error. The Cardinals, though, posted an insurance run in the ninth on Morris's sacrifice fly that drove in Aaron Warren, bringing the final score to 11-9.
UNO and Incarnate Word resume their weekend series on Friday, May 21, with first pitch at 2 p.m. at the Ballpark at Boys Town. Links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.
