OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks and Cougars took a game each in today's doubleheader at Tal Anderson Field, with Omaha falling 2-0 in game one before bouncing back and taking game two 9-4.
Both teams will end the week at 4-10 on the season.
Game 1
Omaha's bats could not back up its solid pitching in the first game of the day as the offense was limited to a pair of doubles from
Drew Borner in the second and
Henry Zipay in the eighth. In between those two in the bottom of the fifth, the Mavericks did load the bases on a couple of walks and a hit batter, but all three wound up stranded.
On the mound,
Brayden Curtis got the day started with two scoreless innings, striking out two and allowing no hits.
Cameron Teinert then came in to relieve him and proceeded to fire six innings with just one earned run allowed. An error prolonged the bottom of the third and saw two runs come home for SIUE, one being unearned. After that, though, Teinert settled in with five straight scoreless innings. At one point he retired seven in a row before a single to open the top of the sixth broke his streak. He would follow up by setting down his final nine batters of the day in order.
Tanner Foerstch rounded out the strong showing from the staff with a scoreless top of the ninth for Omaha. The Mavericks did not have a ninth-inning comeback in them, though, as game one ended in a 2-0 shutout.
Game 2
The Mavericks got some more sharp pitching to start game two as
CJ Hood turned in four innings of one-run ball to go along with his six strikeouts. Unlike in game one, however, Omaha's bats did more than enough to back up the pitching as a double from
Sam Beck in the bottom of the fourth drove in the first Maverick run of the day to make it 1-1.
Following a scoreless top of the fifth from
Luke Gainer, the Mavericks erupted on offense in the bottom of the inning with six runs.
Noah Greise and
Grant Sommers knocked back-to-back RBI singles to get things started, before
Blake Stenger made it 4-1 with a sac fly. Then, with two outs,
Tyler Palmer legged out his first career triple to plate two more. Zipay would cap off the rally with one last RBI single to make it 7-1.
The Cougars did manage to score three more in the top of the sixth, but responded an inning later as Beck recorded the team's second triple of the day to drive in one, before Palmer bunted him home on a perfectly executed squeeze play. With a 9-4 lead in tow,
Matt Dreher was able to shut the door on SIUE in the ninth with one final strikeout to take game two.
Inside the Box Score
- Teinert struck out eight batters while allowing three hits and zero walks today. So far as a Maverick, he has recorded 17 strikeouts in 16.2 innings pitched
- Game two marked the first time this year the Mavericks hit two triples in one game. The team did so twice in 2024.
Up Next
The homestand continues next week, starting with a midweek game vs. K-State on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
