Box Score OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha baseball team saw its season series against Oral Roberts swept on Sunday, as the Mavericks fell 18-7 in eight innings at Millard North High School. UNO is now 17-26 (10-14 Summit League), while the Golden Eagles improve to 32-13 (19-5 Summit League).
Colin Hightower (2-0) recorded the win in relief for ORU, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three in 5.0 innings of work. Junior right-hander
Marcus Ethen (1-2) was tagged with the loss in his 1.1-inning outing, as Oral Roberts scored three unearned runs on one hit and a walk.
Redshirt freshman
Ryan Cate starred for Omaha at the plate, going a perfect 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Sophomore
Mark Handberg finished 2-for-3 with four RBI and his second home run of the season.
Oral Roberts registered 17 hits as a team, led by a 4-for-4 day from Noah Cummings.
Omaha appeared poised for a strong offensive performance, taking a seven-run lead by the third inning. The Mavericks opened to a quick 1-0 advantage in the second when senior
Daniel Jewett doubled down the left field line and later scored on Handberg's RBI double to center.
UNO exploded for six runs on two hits and an error in the third, sparked by a walk from junior
Cole Gruber, junior
Clayton Taylor being hit by a pitch and Cate singling through the left side to drive in Gruber. As freshman
Isaac Holt then reached on a fielder's choice, Taylor advanced to third and scored on an ORU throwing error. Later, with two runners in scoring position, junior
Alex Mortensen reached on a fielder's choice, which allowed Cate to score. Handberg followed with a three-run bomb to left, pushing Omaha's lead to 7-0.
The lead was squandered, however, as Oral Roberts answered immediately with six runs in the top of the fourth to pull within one. The Golden Eagles then added a three-spot in the sixth, going ahead 9-7. Finally, ORU's last offensive flurry resulted in nine runs on seven hits in the eighth, ending the game due to the run rule and taking the sweep with a final score of 18-7.
Omaha returns to action on Friday, May 8, traveling to Western Illinois to start a six-game league road stretch. First pitch is set for 3 p.m., and links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.
