The Omaha Baseball team got three great starting pitching performances en route to a weekend sweep of Air Force in games heard on MavRadio.
Omaha started off the weekend on Friday afternoon with a 7-3 victory over the Falcons. Tyler Fox struck out a career-high seven batters in 6.0 innings of work to earn his second win of the young season. Sophomore Sam Murphy picked up his first career save, throwing 3.0 perfect innings on the mound, striking out two.
Air Force struck first in the game, tallying three runs in the top of the fifth. The Mavericks responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. The score remained the same up the bottom of the eighth inning, when the Mavericks added three insurance runs to seal the victory.
Saturday featured a doubleheader to close out the series. Zach Williamsen threw seven strong innings on the mound, striking out a career high eight batters. Williamsen allowed three runs — two earned — in the outing, earning his first win of the season.
Caleb Palensky paced the Maverick offensive attack, going 3-for-5 and driving in three runs. Clayton Taylor and Daniel Jewett each added two hits to help the Maverick offense explode for 9 runs.
Omaha used seven runs in the first two innings and coasted the rest of the way to collect their seventh win of the season.
In the final game of the series, it was Marcus Ethen’s turn to get into the pitching act. The sophomore only allowed one run and three hits in six solid innings of work. Cole Gruber led the way offensively with a 2-for-3 performance and a run scored.
Omaha again started this game off strong, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on two hits. The Mavericks added another run in the third, before the Falcons scratched for the first time in the sixth inning.
Josh Bullock pitched the final inning, earning his second save of the season.
The weekend sweep moves the Mavericks record to 8-8 on the season. Omaha will be in action again March 18-20 when they travel to Lawrence, Kansas for a neutral-site series against Dartmouth. MavRadio’s next baseball broadcast will be on March 30th when Omaha hosts South Dakota State for a doubleheader beginning at noon. Paul Dobler and Ryan Matheny will be there with pregame coverage beginning at 11:50 a.m.
