Box Score OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha baseball team saw its weekend series with South Dakota State evened at one apiece Saturday afternoon, as the Mavericks fell 15-3 at the Ballpark at Boys Town. UNO is now 18-20 (9-8 Summit League) on the season, while SDSU improves to 15-23 (10-7 Summit League).
The win went to Landon Busch (6-2), who threw 5.0 innings of shutout relief with five hits, four walks and six strikeouts. Junior left-hander
Sam Murphy (2-3) took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks over 3.0 innings.
Junior
Sam Palensky finished 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI to lead Omaha, while senior
Clayton Taylor was 2-for-5 with a run scored.
The Mavericks had no match for SDSU's 19 hits on the day, sparked by Luke Ringhofer's 4-for-6 effort with three runs scored. Matt Johnson was also 3-for-5 with two runs scored and five more driven in.
South Dakota State wasted no time getting on the board, plating their first run in the top of the first inning. Nick Smith led off the game with a single to right center, followed by a Paul Jacobson double to center. With two outs, Jesse Munsterman's RBI groundout drove in Smith for a 1-0 SDSU lead.
The Jackrabbits added four more in the third, using five hits and an error. Smith again led off with a single up the middle, and Jacobson followed with a homer to left. After singles by Ringhofer and Matt Johnson, Newt Johnson reached on an error to load the bases. Anthony Schneider then singled to left center to plate Matt Johnson and Ringhofer for two more runs, extending it to 5-0.
The Mavericks cut the deficit to two with a three-run, four-hit fourth inning. Taylor and sophomore
Adam Caniglia both singled to right, and freshman
Grant Suponchick worked a full-count walk the load the bases. Two batters later, Palensky delivered a two-out, two-run single to left that scored Caniglia and Taylor. Senior
Collin Leif then added a single to right, driving in Suponchick and trimming the Jacks' lead to 5-3.
SDSU responded by putting up 10 unanswered runs over the final five innings. The Jacks tallied next in the fifth when Phil Velez singled to right to score Cody Sharrow. They added two more runs in the sixth, capitalizing on two hits and a fielding miscue. Jacobson doubled to left-center and eventually scored as Munsterman reached on the error, and Munsterman later crossed with Newt Johnson's RBI single down the left field line that pushed it to 8-3.
In the eighth, SDSU plated three more runs with three hits. Munsterman doubled to the left-center gap to drive in Ringhofer and Jacobson, and Matt Johnson added an RBI double to left to drive in Munsterman. The Jackrabbits capped it in the ninth with Johnson's grand slam, which brought the final score to 15-3.
Omaha and South Dakota State conclude their series on Sunday, April 24 at the Ballpark at Boys Town, with first pitch moved up to 11 a.m. due to rain in the afternoon forecast. Links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.
