OMAHA, Neb. — A weekend of outstanding pitching led Omaha Baseball to a three-game sweep of defending Summit League champion North Dakota State on Saturday at Tal Anderson Field.
Omaha defeated the Bison 6-2 and 2-0 Saturday after the Mavericks (7-10, 3-0 Summit) won 4-2 Friday as they allowed four runs in 27 innings.
"The nonconference schedule that we played, we had a lot of moments like we had this weekend where the game could have gone either way, and we executed today," head coach
Evan Porter said. "We had plays and pitches, and then we came up with some big hits."
The timeliest hits came from outfielder
Hayden Lewis as he got tie-breaking hits in both games. He had a three-run double in the sixth inning of the opener and a two-run single to left in the seventh in the nightcap.
"Those were two huge moments," Porter said. "Hayden did a great job of slowing the game down and not letting the moment be too big."
North Dakota State led 2-0 in the opener before
Chase Diggins drove in a run with a single in the fifth before a four-run sixth put Omaha in command.
Tyler Bishop singled to tie it and then Lewis delivered a three-run double down the left-field line.
Henry Zipay tacked on an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI single.
Four Omaha relievers combined for five shutout innings in that win as
Cameron Teinert went 2 2/3 innings for the win.
The second game was scoreless until there were two outs in the bottom of the seventh. That's when the left-handed Lewis hit a grounder that was out of the reach of NDSU's shortstop and brought home Bishop and
Cardel Dick.
Tanner Foertsch shut out NDSU's offense in the second game as he went seven innings, allowed three hits, walked none and struck out nine.
"He just pounded the zone," Porter said of Foertsch. "Tanner was a great guy to have in game three."
Tanner Hosick pitched a scoreless eighth, and then after Hosick walked the first batter in the ninth,
Drew Iverson earned his first save by retiring the next three batters.
"Our bullpen came in and had some big moments this weekend with inherited runners," Porter said.
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