OMAHA, Neb. - Opening the final series of their two-week homestand, the Mavericks got things started tonight with a bang as they forced the run rule in under seven innings with an 11-1 win over Northern Colorado.

Omaha, having won seven of its last 10, is now 11-22 overall and has the most conference wins in the Summit League at 9-7. As for the Bears, they drop to 7-28-1 on the season and 6-9-1 in league play.

Innings 1-3
Omaha got off to another fast start offensively, taking a 7-0 lead by the end of the third inning. In the first, UNC's third baseman misplayed the bounce on a grounder from Noah Greise which allowed the first run to score. Then, after Matt Goetzmann's league-leading 11th steal got runners on second and third with two outs in the second inning, Drew Lechnir laced one into left to bring home two more, before Greise made it 4-0 with a single up the middle. Lechnir would drive in his third, fourth, and fifth runs in the bottom of the third with a bases-clearing double.

Meanwhile on the mound, Charlie Bell was completely lights out, throwing three scoreless innings with only two base runners allowed.

Innings 4-7
Bell tossed another scoreless inning in the fourth bookended by a pair of strikeouts, followed by a 1-2-3 fifth inning. He ran into some trouble in the sixth, though, allowing a one-out single to center that got the Bears on the board. With runners on second and third and two outs, Cooper Prososki was brought in to finish off the inning and promptly struck out his first batter. 

After a quiet three innings for the Mavericks bats, the team got the job done in the bottom of the seventh as Zach Lechnir made it 8-1 with a double to the left field gap with one out. Then, after a walk to Henry Zipay to load the bases, Trent Burkhalter scored on a wild pitch before Goetzmann drew a bases loaded walk two batters later to make it 10-1. All that was left was for Tyler Bishop to sky one to dead center and bring home Zipay with the game-winning sac fly.

Inside the Box Score
With 5.2 strong innings under his belt, Bell finally earned his first win of the season.

Drew Lechnir finished with a career high six RBIs tonight, as well as a season high three hits.

On Deck
Omaha plays game two of the series tomorrow at 5 p.m., with Caleb Riedel (3-1) starting against Hunter Gibson (1-4).