TULSA, Okla. – As only the seventh No. 4 seed to advance to the Summit League championship game, Omaha had a tough task ahead of it knowing it had to beat Oral Roberts on its home field twice Sunday.
After all, the Golden Eagles entered the championship having won the tournament title in each of the 14 previous times that they've entered the final day as the lone unbeaten team left in the event since 2000.
If that weren't enough, ORU strung together four straight two-out hits to open the game with a five-run first inning. It was one of three frames in which the Golden Eagles batted around in their 21-2 victory.
The Mavericks, who finished at 26-31, had chances to get back into the game early. They left two runners on base in each of the first three innings and trailed 5-1 after a double play ended their third.
Mac McCroskey's grand slam in ORU's five-run fifth all but sealed Omaha's fate. He later added a three-run homer in a nine-run outburst in the seventh. The second baseman finished the day with seven RBIs.
Jack Lombardi had two of the seven hits for the Mavericks and joined teammates
Caleb Riedel,
Eduardo Rosario,
Noah Greise and
Harrison Kreiling on the Summit League All-Tournament Team.
Joey Machado (4-6) suffered the loss for the Mavericks, allowing six earned runs in three-plus innings in only his second start of the season. Omaha used seven pitchers in all in its final game of the tournament.
Only one No. 4 seed has ever won the tourney. North Dakota State claimed the championship as the four-seed in 2014, when ORU had left for a brief stay in the Southland Conference and regular-season champion Omaha wasn't eligible for postseason play as it was in its final year of transition to Division I.