TULSA, Okla. – After Omaha's Friday loss to Oral Roberts, Jack Lombardi told his teammates Saturday wouldn't be their last day at the Summit League tournament. Then he did his part to make sure of it.

Lombardi drove in two insurance runs that ended up being the difference as the Mavericks beat top-seeded North Dakota State for the second time in three days to advance to Sunday's championship.

Omaha (26-30) will have to beat Oral Roberts twice on its home field to claim the title and an NCAA tournament berth following its 5-3 win over the Bison (31-19) in a tight game that it led the whole way.

Eduardo Rosario's two-run homer in the first put the Mavericks up early. Lombardi's two late-inning RBIs finished the job. He had three on the day.

The senior utility man, playing second base this weekend, homered to lead off the sixth to extend his team's lead to 4-1. He then knocked in a run with a single in the ninth to put the Mavericks back up two.

"We've been putting together great at-bats this year, especially in the tournament," said Lombardi, claiming he's not a home-run hitter. "I know that if I don't get the job done, someone behind me will."

Lombardi and Mike Boeve each had three hits as Omaha advanced to the tournament's final day. The Mavericks used only two pitchers to survive the elimination game, setting themselves up for Sunday.

Charlie Bell (5-5) gave Omaha the quality start it needed, allowing three runs in six innings of work. Harrison Kreiling came on in the seventh, survived a rocky start then finished the game for the save.

Kreiling, a potential candidate to start on Sunday prior to Saturday, hit the first batter he faced and then walked the second one. But he rebounded to strike out three straight batters to get out of the inning.

Then, with the potential tying runs on in the ninth, he got NDSU's Calen Schwabe to ground into a game-ending double play. Kreiling allowed only one hit while striking out four in the three innings he pitched.

"You've got to win this game to get to the next game so you've just got to use whatever you can," he said. "And whatever happens the next day happens. But you've got to get to the next day."

Omaha coach Evan Porter praised Bell and Kreiling for getting the Mavericks to Sunday without having to exhaust more pitching after their bullpen was taxed on Friday. They potentially have 18 innings to play.

"I'm really proud of those two guys," Porter said. "That allows us to have more options for tomorrow. We've got a lot of guys who are fresh. And guys like Eduardo Rosario and Jack Lombardi really stepped up today and came up with some big hits in big moments."