Box Score COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Wednesday afternoon was a slugfest with a combined 37 hits between the Omaha and Air Force baseball teams, as UNO fell 18-10 at Falcon Field in a midweek matchup. The Mavericks are now 7-7 (0-0 Summit League) on the season, while the Falcons improve to 8-3 (2-0 Mountain West).

Senior Cole Gruber finished 4-for-6 on the day, scoring once and driving in another run. The Papillion-LaVista product also had two stolen bases to claim Omaha's career stolen bases record, as his 73 swiped bags passed former Maverick Bryan Frew's 72 from 2005-08.

Sophomore Ryan Cate went 3-for-6 with a run and four RBI, highlighted by his three-run home run in the sixth inning. It marked his second roundtripper of the season, and the Omaha native was a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Senior Alex Schultz (2-for-5, one run, one RBI), junior Sam Palensky (2-for-5), sophomore Adam Caniglia (2-for-4, two runs) and freshman Jack Kalina (2-for-5, one run) also had multi-hit performances, and senior Clayton Taylor was 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI. Omaha totaled 18 hits for the day in its seventh double-digit hit effort as a team.

Reliever Tyler Mortenson (1-0) picked up the win in relief, going 1.1 innings with three runs on five hits with a strikeout. Freshman Grant Suponchick (0-1) took the loss for the Mavericks, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks in his 3.1-inning start.

Omaha got the first tally of the afternoon in the top of the first when Taylor, who got aboard after being hit by a pitch, scored on Cate's two-out RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.

Air Force came back for two runs on two hits in the bottom of the first. Adam Groesbeck led off with a single up the middle and stole second, Bradley Haslam walked, and both runners stole a base to move into scoring position. Nic Ready then placed a two-out, two-run single down the left field line to give the Falcons their first lead at 2-1.

In the top of the fourth, singles by Caniglia, Kalina and freshman Riley Herold loaded the bases with one out for senior Collin Leif, whose sacrifice fly to center allowed Caniglia to score and tie the game at 2-2. Schultz came up next with an RBI single to second to drive in Kalina for a 3-2 lead, and Gruber followed with an RBI single through the right side to drive in Herold for a 4-2 advantage.

Air Force batted around in the bottom of the fourth, as an eight-run, six-hit inning blew the game open. Tyler Jones's two-out, two run double down the left field line capped the Falcons' offensive stretch for a 10-4 AFA lead.

The Mavericks then stormed back in the sixth, when Cate blasted a three-run bomb to left that cut Air Force's lead to 10-8. Caniglia was then hit by a pitch, and singles by Palensky and Kalina loaded the bases for Herold, but AFA got out of the inning with a double play to hang on to its two-run edge.

In the top of the seventh, Omaha brought in another run with the help of two Air Force errors. Schultz was plunked with a pitch to get on, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing miscue. After Taylor walked, an errant throw on his stolen base attempt went into center field, which allowed Schultz to score for a 10-9 ballgame.

The Falcons, however, put together another big offensive push in the eighth, plating eight runs on eight hits to go up 18-9. Omaha managed one final run in the ninth with Taylor's RBI single that scored freshman Henry Wittren, bringing the final tally at 18-10.

Omaha returns to action on Friday, March 11, facing Iowa at the Perfect Game Spring Swing. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. (CT), and links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.