In the moments after arguably the biggest hit of his college career,
Harrison Denk shared a story.
The Omaha outfielder told a local reporter about playing center field at perennial power Arkansas earlier this month, when the Razorback fans in the vaunted Hog Pen taunted him the entire game.
"It's either going to make you tougher or you're going to crumble," he said.
Denk proved Sunday that he's not the type to crumble, delivering the one-out RBI single that gave Omaha a 4-3 walk-off win over Nebraska before a standing room-only crowd at Tal Anderson Field.
Jack Lombardi slid across home plate with the decisive run before racing to join the Mavericks (5-9) as they mobbed Denk near first base. The game-winning hit came on the first pitch from NU's Kyle Perry.
"I just got a sense of calmness right when I stepped in the box," Denk said. "He threw me a changeup. Luckily, it was right down the middle. And I took advantage of it. The rest is history."
It made program history, giving Omaha its second win in less than a week over an in-state Division I program. The Mavericks beat Creighton 5-3 on Tuesday before weather forced schedule changes.
Omaha starter
Charlie Bell limited Nebraska (4-9) to two hits while striking out nine over five innings. He exited with a 3-1 lead thanks to a two-run blast by
Mike Boeve in the third that broke an early 1-1 tie.
The Huskers pulled even in the sixth when Core Jackson hit a two-run homer off
Joey Machado. But that was the only hit the Omaha reliever allowed during his four innings of work.
Machado (2-1) retired seven straight batters after the home run before walking Josh Caron to open the ninth. He rebounded to strike out Jack Steil with a runner at third to set the stage for Denk's heroics.
Lombardi doubled to left center off of Perry (0-2) with one out. Denk ended the game on the next pitch.
"
Charlie Bell set the tone and had a fantastic outing. And Joey picked up right where Charlie left off and kept it going," Omaha coach
Evan Porter said. "When you pick up the ball behind them, you're going to be in lots of games. And Jack and Harrison stepped up in the ninth.
"That's how you do it. It's a pretty fun game when you play well."
Omaha and Nebraska will meet again Monday in Lincoln for a 1 p.m. game. The home-and-home series was put together last week when the games both teams had scheduled were canceled due to weather.
Monday's contest will be the first on the road for the Mavericks since the Arkansas game on March 2. Omaha will look to carry the momentum of Sunday's win to Monday, when
Mark Timmins gets the start.
"It's good to be playing better than we have, and they're a really good team," Porter said. "That one was kind of how you want it to go. You get deep in the ball game, and then it usually comes down to one or two plays or one or two hits. Our guys did a great job.
"Being able to figure out how to win those tight ball games is something that every good team does. It was great to pull one off today. But we've got a quick turnaround. We're on the bus at 8 a.m. tomorrow and right back at it. We'll enjoy this now, but it's back to work right away."
