MINNEAPOLIS — Omaha's postseason run came to an end Thursday at the Summit League Baseball Championship as Oral Roberts broke open a pitchers' duel with a big sixth inning to secure a 9-0 victory.
Both the No. 2-seeded Mavericks and No. 1-seeded Golden Eagles entered the elimination game after dropping their tournament openers. Omaha finished the season 21-26 overall and 16-11 in Summit League play, placing second in the regular-season standings behind ORU (33-23, 23-6 Summit).
Starting pitchers
Tanner Foertsch and Brendan Asher traded zeros early, with Oral Roberts scoring the game's first run on an RBI single by Cooper Combs in the third inning.
Foertsch, a two-time All-Summit League selection, kept Omaha within striking distance through five innings before the Golden Eagles erupted for eight runs in the sixth. ORU chased Foertsch and capitalized against the Mavericks bullpen to build a 9-0 lead.
Foertsch took the loss despite allowing three runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk over 5 1/3 innings.
Omaha struggled to capitalize on scoring chances, stranding nine runners, including leaving the bases loaded in both the first and sixth innings.
The loss marked the end of
Evan Porter's tenure as Omaha head coach. Porter, a former NCAA Division II All-American for the Mavericks, finished his 10 seasons with a 196-275-2 record, two Summit League Coach of the Year honors and the program's first NCAA Division I tournament appearance in 2019.
Several veteran Mavericks concluded their careers Thursday, including three-time All-Summit League selection
Tyler Bishop, two-time all-conference honoree
Jackson Trout and former Summit League Player of the Year
Henry Zipay, a three-time all-league selection.
The Summit League Championship continues through May 23 at Siebert Field in Minneapolis, with the tournament champion earning an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
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