OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha baseball came up short in the final game of the series Saturday, falling 8-5 to Oral Roberts at Tal Anderson Field. With the win, the Golden Eagles take the series 2-1.
The Mavericks fall to 13-22 and 7-11 in the conference, while Oral Roberts is now 22-15 and 9-6 in the Summit.
Oral Roberts wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the first as it used a one-out solo home run down the left field line to take a 1-0 lead.
The Mavericks, in their half of the first, threatened when leadoff hitter
Jackson Trout singled but, attempting to take second and got caught in a rundown later to be tagged out. Now with one down,
Henry Zipay walked and later moved to third when
Mason Gaines singled to center. Gaines then moved to second off a wild pitch to give Omaha two runners in scoring position, but the Mavericks were unable to capitalize.
Both teams found themselves in a scoreless deadlock for the next three innings, even with Omaha putting the tying run on third off a triple down the left field line by Gaines.
In the top of the fifth, the Golden Eagles plated three runs off a two-out three-run home run to make it 4-0.
The Golden Eagles added a fifth run in the top of the sixth, coming off their third home run of the day and second solo shot of the contest to make it 5-0.
Blake Stenger singled to left to start things off in the sixth for the Mavericks and later moved to third when
Noah Greise singled up the middle with no outs. Following back-to-back outs, Omaha was down to its final out with two men on. Stenger stole third, to be only the third Omaha player on the day to reach third, but a flyout to center ended the threat.
Oral Roberts broke the game open in the top of the seventh when it connected for its fourth home run of the game and its second three-run shot to increase its lead to 8-0.
Down to their final nine outs, the Mavericks ended the scoreless drought in the bottom of the seventh when they pushed five runs across on six hits. With one down, Zipay singled to the right-center field gap and later moved third off of
Tyler Bishop's single up the middle. The back-to-back hits forced Oral Roberts to make a pitching change.
The new Golden Eagles pitcher walked Gaines to load the bases full of Mavericks with one down. Stenger then greeted the new reliever with a two-run double down the right field line to get Omaha on the board and make it an 8-2 game. Gaines took third on the play. Greise got in on the action when he drove in two with a single up the middle to cut the lead to four and make it 8-4.
Grant Sommers kept things rolling when he singled, which sent Greise to second. Following a flyout to center,
Tyler Palmer doubled down the right field line for his second double of the season, which scored Greise to make it 8-5 before the inning ended.
The Oral Roberts closer got two fast outs in the bottom of the ninth before allowing back-to-back walks to
Drew Borner and Palmer, before the inning ended on a strikeout to secure the Golden Eagle victory.
Zipay and Palmer paced all Omaha hitters as they tallied three hits each. Palmer tallied one of the team's two doubles while registering an RBI.
Bishop, Gaines, Stenger, Greise and Sommers all finished the contest with two hits apiece while Stenger and Greise led the team in RBI with two each. Gaines recorded the team's only triple.
Starter
Maddox Meyer took the loss to drop to 1-1 on the season. He allowed four runs on eight hits over five innings of work, while striking out three.
Omaha is on the road next weekend when it travels to Greeley, Colo., to open a three-game conference series with Northern Colorado. Game one is set for 3 p.m. CT on Friday, April 25.
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