Box Score EMERSON, Ga. -- A ninth-inning rally took down the Omaha baseball team Sunday morning, as Seton Hall defeated the Mavericks 2-1 on a walkoff single at the Perfect Game Complex. UNO is now 9-9 (0-0 Summit League) on the season, while Seton Hall improves to 9-6 (0-0 BIG EAST).
The win went to Matt Leon (1-0), who threw the final inning for Seton Hall with no hits, no runs, one walk and a strikeout. Junior right-hander
Brett Sasse (0-2) was tagged with the loss, surrendering two runs on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Senior
Clayton Taylor went 1-for-4 with a run scored, and junior
Sam Palensky was 1-for-4 with an RBI.
It was a pitchers' duel to start, as junior left-hander
Sam Murphy threw a career-long five shutout innings with two hits, no walks and four strikeouts in his first start of the season and the second of his career. SHU's Chris Morris went 6.2 innings, holding Omaha to one run on three hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. Neither team registered a hit until the third inning, and neither scored until the seventh.
UNO finally broke through the Pirates' shutout in the top of the seventh. Taylor singled to start the inning, went to second when sophomore
Adam Caniglia was hit by a pitch and was driven in with Palensky's RBI double to give Omaha a 1-0 lead.
The Mavericks' one-run edge held until the bottom of the ninth, when Seton Hall used two hits to score two runs. Joe Poduslenko led off with a double and Mikael-Ali Mogues walked, and both runners were put into scoring position on Jackson Martin's sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout and a Maverick pitching change to bring in sophomore right-hander
Ryan Cate in relief of Sasse, Mike Caputo delivered a two-out single to score Poduslenko and Mogues for the Pirates' 2-1 walkoff win.
Omaha opens Summit League play next weekend, hosting Fort Wayne on Friday, March 18. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at the Ballpark at Boys Town, and links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.