By the time Mike Boeve came to the plate to lead off the Omaha half of the eighth inning at Tal Anderson Field, the result of Sunday's game against South Dakota State was all but decided.

The Jackrabbits (18-19) had just scored multiple runs in three consecutive frames and were well on their way to an 8-3 victory and a Summit League series win over the Mavericks (21-24).

The fate of Boeve's long hitting streak, however, was still in doubt.  

Omaha's third baseman had grounded out in each of his first three plate appearances. But in his fourth at-bat, he lined a single through an SDSU defensive shift to stretch his string to 21 consecutive games.

That was one of the few bright spots for the Mavericks on a day when clutching hitting was absent. They also let the game get away from them from the sixth inning on as the Jackrabbits added to their lead.

"We got outpitched and outcompeted at the plate, and it showed throughout the weekend," Omaha coach Evan Porter said. "We couldn't get that timely hit again today. And we need to a better job as coaches of getting our guys ready to play and compete day in and day out. That's the separator between championship teams."

Omaha fell to 11-7 in conference play by dropping two of three at home over the weekend. SDSU, meanwhile, improved to 9-7 to inch closer to the Mavericks in the league standings with two weeks left.

The Jackrabbits were up 1-0 in the fifth when Omaha starter Charlie Bell (4-4) exited after issuing back-to-back one-out walks. Two wild pitches by reliever Wyatt Sellers aided the oncoming onslaught by SDSU.

Porter said the Mavericks needed to do a better job of coming through in clutch situations, whether that be putting up a zero while on the mound in a tight game or finding a barrel with two strikes at the plate.

"We didn't do that today, and they did," he said. "And I think that comes down to competing a little bit harder. You're not going to win a series if you can't do that, and you are going to win a series if you can."