OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks had one of their best offensive days of the year, but it was not enough to best Oral Roberts on Friday as the first-place Golden Eagles came out on top of the slugfest 16-9.
Omaha falls to 11-13 on the year and is back at .500 in the Summit League at 4-4, while the ORU stays undefeated in the conference at 8-0 and improves to 22-10 overall.
Innings 1-3
The Golden Eagles struck first again on a trio of extra-base hits in the top of the second to take an early 3-0 lead. This lead was short lived, though, as the Mavericks came right back out front in the bottom of the inning.
Devin Hurdle and
Eddie Satisky began the rally with a couple of singles, before
Eduardo Rosario sent a ground rule double over the wall in right to drive in one. Then, with two-outs,
Zach Lechnir crushed a three-run home run 412 feet to left to make it 4-3 Mavericks.
Innings 4-6
In the fourth, ORU retook the lead on another double to make it 5-4. Omaha had a chance to shift momentum back in its favor with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, but a looking strikeout cut the rally short.
The Golden Eagles proceeded to grow their lead to four runs in the fifth, including the second home run of the day from Matt Hogan, before taking an 11-4 lead in the sixth on yet another home run. The Mavericks did manage to get a run back thanks to a solo shot from
Cam Frederick in the sixth.
Innings 7-9
Each team knocked another solo home run in the seventh, with
Brennen Bales launching the first of his Mavericks career. Lechnir then followed up with the sixth extra-base hit of the day for Omaha as he drove in his fourth run with a double to left to get the Mavericks within five.
The bats stayed hot into the eighth as ORU plated three more runs in the top of the inning, while Bales mashed his second home run of the day on a two-run blast in the bottom half. In the end, though, the final seven-run deficit proved too great to overcome as the Golden Eagles held on to win game two of the series.
Inside the Box Score
Today marked the second time this season the Mavericks clubbed four home runs in a single game, previously doing so against Northern Colorado last week. This was also the fifth game this season that Omaha recorded at least seven extra-base hits.
Both Bales (three RBIs) and Lechnir (four RBIs) set new career season highs in RBIs, as well as each having their first game in Omaha with multiple extra-base hits.
Up Next
The Mavericks will look to prevent the sweep tomorrow as first pitch is set for 1 p.m.
