LINCOLN – When Omaha was giving Southern Cal fits in California last month, someone – either a local reporter or a USC coach, no one seems to recall – used "cockroaches" when describing the Mavericks.
The Omaha players fully embraced the moniker, even breaking down at times with "1-2-3 Roaches." They thoroughly enjoy being the pesty team that their opponents just can't ever seem to get rid of.
Monday, the Roaches were bugging Nebraska again, going down to the final pitch for a second straight day.
The Huskers (5-9) turned the tables on Omaha (5-10) this time, however. They posted a 6-5 walk-off win at Hawks Field one day after suffering a defeat to the Mavericks in the same fashion back in Omaha.
Nebraska scored three runs, on a pair of homers, in the seventh inning to take a 5-3 lead only to have the Mavericks rally with single runs in the eighth and ninth to tie the game at 5-5. The Huskers plated the game-winning run when Max Anderson doubled and then scored on Griffin Everitt's one-out single.
"I think both of those games we just played could've gone either way," Maverick coach
Evan Porter said. "It comes down to those deciding factors at the end of the ballgame.
"We were on the bottom of it today, but our guys did a great job. We scored one run in the seven, the eighth then the ninth. That's really hard to do when you're down late in a game and a huge momentum swing happens like what happened to us in the seventh. I'm proud of the effort they kept going with."
Omaha opened the scoring in the top of the third when
Mike Boeve launched a tape-measure home run into the parking lot beyond the right field fence.
Jack Lombardi's RBI single made it 2-0 an inning later.
Maverick starter
Mark Timmins kept the Huskers scoreless until the sixth, when they plated two runs off him to tie the game up. Omaha reclaimed the lead when Lombardi scored on a wild pitch in the seventh.
Nebraska then countered with homers from Efry Cervantes and Everitt, his second, in the bottom half.
The Mavericks, though, didn't give in. They pulled within a run on a sacrifice fly by
Devin Hurdle in the eighth before mounting a two-out rally in the ninth.
Noah Greise and
Eddie Satisky recorded back-to-back singles to right field with a man on – when they were down to their last strike – to tie the game.
The Huskers then scored to win the game with consecutive hits against
Tanner Howe, who fell to 0-3.
One day after his team celebrated at home, Porter took the road loss to Nebraska in stride.
"You can't focus on your record early on in the season," he said. "It's all about how you're competing and how you're playing. I think we played well today. And the next step is playing better tomorrow and better the next day. They're doing that now. And that's a recipe for, I think, a successful season."
