Box Score PHOENIX, Ariz. -- The Omaha baseball team opened its weekend on a high note Friday night, defeating Grand Canyon 7-2 in the first of a three-game series at Brazell Stadium. With the win, the Mavericks improve to 6-4 (0-0 Summit League), while the Antelopes drop to 5-4 (0-0 WAC).

Senior right-hander Tyler Fox (2-1) got the win, holding GCU to one run on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts over a season-long 7.0-inning outing. Jorge Perez (0-2) took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk with nine strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Junior left-hander Sam Murphy earned his first save of the season, limiting the Lopes to one run and three hits with three strikeouts over the final 2.0 innings.

Senior Cole Gruber finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, two walks, three RBI and a run scored. Freshman Riley Herold joined him with a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-4 and scoring three times.

Grand Canyon was led by Thomas Lerouge's 3-for-4 night with a run scored.

The game was scoreless through the first two innings, until Omaha got on the board in the top of the third with a run on two hits. Herold led off with an infield single, went to second on a wild pitch and advanced on a groundout. Gruber's two-out RBI single to right then brought him in for a 1-0 UNO lead.

Grand Canyon knotted it in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Haggerty singled and Austin Bull doubled to put runners in scoring position for Zach Stierstorfer, who reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Haggerty to score for a 1-1 tie.

The next two innings were scoreless again, until Gruber doubled down the left field line in the sixth and scored immediately on Taylor's RBI double to center. Sophomore Cole Patterson then put down a sacrifice bunt to cross Taylor, building the Mavericks a 3-1 lead. In the seventh, Omaha added another run when Herold scored on a wild pitch to put UNO up 4-1.

GCU strung together three hits in the eighth inning to eke out one run. Lerouge, Paul Panaccione and Garrison Schwartz had three consecutive one-out singles, the last of which drove in Lerouge from second to cut Omaha's lead to 4-2.

The Mavericks weren't done scoring, however, as they added three runs on two hits and an error in the top of the ninth. Herold singled to right, senior Collin Leif was hit by a pitch and senior Alex Schultz walked, loading the bases with one out. Following a pitching change, Gruber sent a two-run single to center to plate Herold and Leif, and Taylor's sacrifice bunt on the next play drove in Schultz to extend Omaha's lead to 7-2. UNO then finished it off in the bottom half of the inning, as two Murphy strikeouts and a groundout ended the game.

Omaha resumes the weekend series at Grand Canyon on Saturday, March 5, with first pitch at 8 p.m. (CT) at Brazell Stadium in Phoenix, Ariz. A link to live stats will be available on OMavs.com.