JONESBORO, Ark. - The Mavericks officially opened their 2024 season with a 14-4 loss at Arkansas State on Thursday night.

Omaha (0-1) is now 3-5 on Opening Day under Head Coach Evan Porter, while the Red Wolves (1-0) improved to 9-8 under Tommy Raffo.

Innings 1-3
After a scoreless first, the Mavericks had the makings of a rally top of the second when Trent Burkhalter and Tyler Bishop, in their first ever D1 at bats, reached on a four-pitch walk and a hit by pitch and advancing to second and third with no outs on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, ASU starter Jelle van der Lelie set the next three Mavericks down in order. Caleb Riedel responded in kind for Omaha in the bottom of the second, though, striking out two and picking off another.

In the bottom of the third, the Red Wolves got on the board first after a lead-off home run Allen Grier. Riedel got the next two batters to ground out, before working around a couple of walks to limit the damage.

Innings 4-6
Omaha again got two on in the top of the fourth, with Burkhalter reaching base for the second time and Tyler Palmer drawing his first walk, but neither would come around to score. In the bottom of the inning, Reed Scott came in to relieve Riedel after 3.2 innings and struck out his first batter at the Division I level to keep it 1-0.

Finally, in the top of the fifth, Omaha was able to get on the board as Henry Zipay recorded the team's first hit of the year on a single up the middle and then immediately stole second. Two batters later, Haiden Hunt drove him home with a double to left center, before rounding the bases himself on a single from Drew Lechnir to make it 2-1 Mavericks. The lead was ultimately short lived as the Red Wolves came right back and scored five in the bottom of the inning to go up 6-2.

The Mavericks got one run back in the sixth after four batters in a row reached base on an error, a HBP, and two walks, the second of which was drawn by Zipay with bases loaded. However, another lead-off ASU homer in the bottom of the inning regrew their lead to four runs.

Innings 7-9
With two outs and a 1-1 count in the top of the seventh, Burkhalter sent one over the left field fence for his first career home run to cut the deficit back to three runs. The Mavericks had another chance to make up ground in the eighth after loading the bases, but could not capitalize on the opportunity. Meanwhile, ASU got its third lead-off home run of the day in the bottom of the inning, later going up 14-4 en route to winning the game.

Inside the Box Score
All four newcomers in the starting lineup reached base today, led by Burkhalter who got on four times and Cardel Dick who walked once and hit a double in the eighth.

Omaha used seven pitchers today, four of which were making their Division I debut (Scott, Gage Ingram, Nick Scanlon, and Ethan Louthan).

Up Next
The Mavericks play game two of the series tomorrow at 3 p.m., with Charlie Bell set to make his season debut on the mound opposite Arlon Butts for ASU.