Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 EMERSON, Ga. – Head coach Bob Herold earned his 500th career win in the Omaha baseball team's opening game Saturday, as the milestone highlighted two Maverick victories over Eastern Michigan, 2-1, and NJIT, 9-3.

Herold, in his 17th year at the helm of the Omaha program, is now 501-354-2 in his decorated coaching career. With its two wins today, UNO improves to 2-1 (0-0 Summit League) on the season.

OMAHA 2, EASTERN MICHIGAN 1
In Saturday's first game, junior left-hander Sam Murphy (1-0) returned to the mound for the first time in nearly a year, picking up the win with three innings of scoreless relief work. The Lake Worth, Fla., native allowed two hits and one walk while striking out two. Kyle Huckaby (0-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up the go-ahead run in in two innings of relief with three hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Sophomore Ryan Cate earned his first save of the season, throwing a hitless, scoreless ninth and fanning two.

Senior Clayton Taylor and sophomore Cole Patterson each finished with two hits apiece in the win. Freshman Grant Suponchick came up big in his first career at-bat, as his pinch-hit RBI double in the sixth inning drove in the Mavericks' go-ahead run.

EMU was led by two hits apiece from Brennan Williams and Mitchel McGeein.

Omaha got on the board first, as senior Alex Schultz led off in the bottom of the first with a hit-by-pitch, advanced to third on a Taylor single through the right side and scored on an error to make it 1-0.

Eastern Michigan evened the score in the top of the third, with David Lett drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second and moving to third on a Marquise Gill groundout. He then scored on Williams' RBI single to short, pushing the game to 1-1.

The Mavericks finally broke past the tie in the sixth, as junior Sam Palensky started the inning with a walk and came in on Suponchick's two-out RBI double to left center to score the decisive run. The 2-1 lead was all the Mavericks needed, as Murphy held the Eagles to two singles over the seventh and eighth innings, and Cate shut down EMU with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth to preserve the win.

OMAHA 9, NJIT 3
In the nightcap, sophomore right-hander Corey Binger earned the victory, going 5.0 innings in his start while allowing one run on seven hits and one walk with four Ks. NJIT starter Ian Bentley was saddled with the loss in his 6.0-inning start, giving up four runs -- three earned -- on nine hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.

Taylor led Omaha at the dish, finishing 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and four more driven in. Schultz went 3-for-5 and scored three times, and senior Cole Gruber added a 2-for-5 effort with three more runs and two stolen bases. Freshman Riley Herold also had a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 and scoring once.

Michael Anastasia went 3-for-4 and Jesse Uttendorfer was 2-for-5 with a run scored for NJIT.

The Mavericks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, posting four consecutive singles. Schultz and Gruber both singled through the right side, and Taylor drove in both with a double through the right side. A bunt single by Palensky then put Taylor on third, and he scored on an RBI groundout by sophomore Adam Caniglia.

NJIT got back one run in the top of the third when Rex MacMillan led off with a single to right, advanced to third with Uttendorfer's double to right center and came in via an RBI groundout by Evan Pietronico.

Omaha extended its lead to 4-1 in the fifth when Gruber reached on a throwing error, stole third and scored on another Eagle error. NJIT then put up two runs in the seventh, with Uttendorfer and Haberstroh both coming in on errors to make it 4-3.

The Mavericks then added three more runs on three hits and three errors in the seventh, shooting ahead 7-3. UNO made its final noise in the eighth with Taylor sending a two-out, two-run single to right center to plate Schultz and freshman Riley Herold. The 9-3 lead held through the top of the ninth, when reliever Eric Moreno retired the side and Omaha claimed its second win of the day.

Omaha caps its first weekend of play on Sunday, Feb. 21, facing Eastern Michigan. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. (CT) at Perfect Game Complex in Emerson, Ga.