Ryan Matheny, General Manager
(Omaha) – The Omaha bats came to life and the pitching staff did just enough as the Maverick baseball team swept its second-straight Summit League series taking all three games from North Dakota State.
“We are starting to gel as a team,” said head coach Bob Herold after the series. “We stayed with it all weekend.”
Omaha won a slugfest in game one, holding on to win 20-14. The Mavericks scored the first 12 runs of the game, including nine in the third inning.
The Bison responded two in the fourth before Omaha answered with two more of their own to make the score 14-2 after six innings.
NDSU put up three more runs in the seventh and Omaha tacked on two more to make it 16-5 before the Bison exploded for a nine-run frame of their own to cut the lead to 16-14. Omaha would tack on four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to hold on for the win.
Clayton Taylor finished the game a triple shy of the cycle. Taylor drove in five runs including a massive home run to right field – his fourth of the season. Alex Mortensen added four RBI of his own and Tyler Fox earned the victory on the mound, throwing 5.0 innings and allowing two earned runs.
Omaha came back in game two to earn an 11-6 victory. For the first time in the series, NDSU had a lead as the Bison scored a single run in the second inning.
The Mavericks responded with three runs in the third. After a single NDSU run in the fourth, Omaha came through with six runs, all with two outs.
NDSU scored two runs in each of the next two innings, but Omaha had just enough and tacked on an insurance run in the eighth to win.
Mortensen continued his big weekend with four more RBI and three hits. Zach Williamsen (3-2) picked up the win, throwing 5.0 innings and striking out two.
Game three provided much of the same as the rest of the series – plenty of offense. Omaha jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after one, before the teams traded three-run innings in the third.
The Mavericks added a single run in the fourth and then three each in the sixth and seventh. NDSU scored twice in the top of the eighth and twice more in the ninth, but an insurance run for the Mavericks in the eighth provided enough cushion as Omaha won 12-7.
Mortensen collected four more RBIs to give him 12 runs driven in for the series. Cole Gruber finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored in the winning effort. The win went to Shane Meltz (2-2) who pitched 3.0 innings of scoreless relief in the victory.
Overall, the Mavericks scored 43 runs and pounded out 46 hits. The sweep moves Omaha to a perfect 6-0 in the Summit League, leaving them one game ahead of Oral Roberts. The Mavericks have a busy week ahead, traveling to Kansas State on Wednesday for a 6:35 p.m. mid-week game.
Omaha will then visit Oral Roberts for a three-game series between the top two teams in the Summit League. The Mavericks return home on April 1st for a game against Nebraska at Werner Park at 6:35 p.m.
