OMAHA, Neb.- Backed by a lights out pitching performance from starter
Ben Weber today, the Mavericks evened up the series against North Dakota State with a 5-1 victory today.
Omaha gets its 10th win of the season to move to 10-18 overall and 4-7 in the Summit League, while the Bison see their win streak end at four as the move to 9-17 with a 7-3 record in league play.
Innings 1-3
From the very beginning of the game Weber looked as sharp as he has all season, catching the lead-off batter looking for his first strikeout. Weber continued to deal through the next two innings, racking up five total strikeouts and just two hits allowed through the third.
Omaha managed to get two runners on against Logan Knight in each of the first three innings, finally getting through to him in the third on a slow roller from
Mason Gaines that ended up in no man's land and allowed
Henry Zipay to score.
Innings 4-6
Both starters retired the side in order in the fourth, but the Mavericks once again got to Knight in the fifth with three more runs.
Jackson Trout and Zipay led off the inning with back-to-back singles, with the former scoring on a sac fly from Gaines and the latter on a double from
Cardel Dick.
Tyler Palmer drove in run number three of the inning with a single to right center.
Following a scoreless fifth, Weber came back out for the sixth and had his toughest inning yet. After getting the lead-off man looking, the Bison would see three of the next four batters reach base to load them up with two outs. Already well over 100 pitches, Weber managed to finish off what he started and with one final breaking ball got his final batter looking to complete six shutout innings.
Innings 7-9
Tanner Foerstch came in to pitch the top of the seventh and had little trouble retiring the side in order, getting two strikeouts in the process. Omaha, meanwhile, got another run in the bottom of the inning as Dick laid down a perfect bunt and managed it beat out a wide throw for a single and bring in the fifth Maverick run of the day.
In the top of the ninth, the Bison made it interesting as they got the first three men on to break up the shutout and make it 5-1. Fortunately, Foerstch settled back in and retired the next three batters in order to earn his first career save.
Inside the Box Score
- Weber set new season highs for Mavericks starters this year with six innings pitched, 117 pitches, and eight strikeouts.
- With another two hits today, Zipay's on-base streak has reached 12 games
- Borner also got another hit today to grow his hitting streak to eight games.
Up Next
Omaha wraps up its eight-game homestand tomorrow at 1 p.m. as they go for the rubber game in the series finale vs. North Dakota State.
