PROVO, Utah -- Despite a combined 14 hits Saturday afternoon, the Omaha baseball team dropped its series finale at BYU, 6-4, at Miller Park. The Mavericks are now 4-11 on the season, while the Cougars improve to 8-6.
Grant Suponchick led the Mavericks at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
Keil Krumwiede (2-for-3, one RBI),
Thomas DeBonville (2-for-6, one run),
Ben Palensky (2-for-5, one RBI) and
Max Gamm (2-for-5) also turned in multiple hits. Every Omaha hitter but one tallied at least one hit on the afternoon.
Drew Zimmerman (1-1) earned the win for BYU, going 2.1 shutout innings with one hit, two walks and three strikeouts. Reliever
Jake Pennington (2-2), who entered the game after starter
Payton Kinney came out in the first frame, took the loss for Omaha, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout over 2.1 innings pitched. Jake Suddreth recorded his third save.
BYU scored first with a solo leadoff homer to left by Brock Hale in the second. The Cougars added three more runs on four hits in the third, which pushed it to 4-0.
Omaha cut the lead in half in the fourth with a pair of runs on four straight hits.
Adam Caniglia started it off with a single through the left side, followed by singles up the middle from
Tyler Daugherty and Palensky, the last of which drove in Caniglia for the Mavericks' first run. Gamm added a first-pitch single to right center to load the bases, and
Cole Thibodeau's sacrifice fly to left plated Daugherty to make it 4-2.
But BYU responded immediately, getting both runs back in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run double from Daniel Schneemann for a 6-2 advantage. Omaha loaded the bases in the fifth with a Suponchick double and walks from Krumwiede and
Braden Rogers, but a strikeout and two popups got BYU out of the inning unscathed.
The Mavericks staged a late push in the eighth with two runs on three hits. Thibodeau opened it up with a one-out walk and DeBonville singled through the left side to put two on and prompt a BYU pitching change. Suponchick then singled through the right side to drive in Thibodeau, and Krumwiede doubled to right center to plate DeBonville for a 6-4 tally.
Omaha threatened a final time in the ninth, putting the tying run aboard when Daugherty drew a leadoff walk and Gamm singled with one out. BYU, though, issued a strikeout for the second out and ended the game on a groundout.
Omaha caps its 16-game road swing on Wednesday, March 14 with a visit to Kansas. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. in Lawrence, Kan., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. Links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
