MACOMB, Ill. – Omaha baseball secured a 10-inning win over Western Illinois, 4-3, in the series opener Friday afternoon.
 
The Mavericks (27-16-1, 19-6) forced the first extra-inning loss for the Leathernecks (18-28, 12-13) this season.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Senior Payton Kinney tossed 7.1 innings with five strikeouts on three walks, three hits and three runs allowed. Cal Hehnke picked up the win (4-2) with three strikeouts and one hit allowed through 2.2 relief innings. WIU's Jace Warkentien pitched 6.0 innings with three strikeouts, five walks, four hits and two runs allowed, while Austin Emmanuel (2-2) picked up the loss.
 
Parker Smejkal had two hits and two RBI, while Thomas DeBonville also registered a pair of hits. Grant Suponchick registered a hit with an RBI in the game.
 
INSIDE THE INNINGS
Both teams did not see the scoreboard until the fifth inning. Smejkal knocked a line drive down the left side the field that scored Keil Krumwiede and Matt Bondarchuk. WIU, however, answered with a two-run homer by Diego Munoz in the same inning.
 
In the top of the seventh, Suponchick scored Krumwiede and put Omaha ahead on a two-out double. The team then put two more runners on base, but they were left stranded. A WIU sacrifice fly for an RBI in the bottom of the eighth evened the game up at 3-3.  
 
After Omaha could not plate on through in the top of the ninth, the Mavericks found themselves against the ropes in the bottom of the inning. WIU put runners on first and third, but a crucial strikeout by Hehnke forced the game into extras.
 
In the 10th, Breyden Eckhout and Matt Bondarchuk were both walked. That brought up Krumwiede. A pair of WIU infield errors scored Eckhout as he rounded third plated the go-ahead run on an off-target throw. From there, Omaha was able to hold on for the one-run victory.
 
UP NEXT
Omaha returns to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available for fans to follow at OMavs.com.