BROOKINGS, S.D. – With just three games left in the regular season, the Mavericks, looking to claim their fourth Summit League Regular Season Title, opened their final series at South Dakota State with a bang as they rode an eight-run fifth inning to a 16-6 win in eight innings.
Omaha improves to 17-29-1 with a 15-12-1 conference record, while the Jackrabbits fall to 19-28 with a 10-16 conference record.
Regardless of the rest of the series, the Mavericks have already clinched a spot in the Summit League Tournament. Now, Omaha’s path to a Regular Season Title is as follows:
If the Mavericks go 3-0 against SDSU, UST would need to lose at least twice and NDSU would need to lose at least once.
If the Mavericks go 2-1 against SDSU, UST would need to be swept by ORU and NDSU would need to lose at least twice to Northern Colorado.
If the Mavericks go 1-2 they cannot win the regular season title.Innings 1-3
Playing small ball carried Omaha through the early innings as Jackson Trout beat out an infield single to bring home Matt Goetzmann in the first to quickly make it 1-0.
Then, after the Jackrabbits tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the inning, the Mavericks went back up 2-1 in the second after Haiden Hunt knocked the team’s third infield single and came around to score on a groundball from Trent Burkhalter. The next inning, a walk, a double, a hit by pitch, and back-to-back wild pitches brought home two more Maverick runs.
Meanwhile on the mound, Caleb Riedel was at the top of his game, striking out five through the first three innings, with his fifth strikeout being the 200th of his career.
Innings 4-6
Riedel continued to mow down SDSU’s hitters into the middle innings, punching out two in the fourth and three in the fifth to reach 10 strikeouts on the day.
Omaha’s bats would then blow the game wide open in the top of the sixth as they batted around and got RBI singles from Goetzmann, Drew Lechnir, Trout, Hunt, and Dick to make it 12-1. Goetzmann personally bookended the inning with two hits for two RBIs.
Innings 7-8
After SDSU got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, Trout responded the next inning with a towering two-run home run to left to make it 14-2. With a chance to force the run rule after seven innings, the Mavericks could not finish things off so quickly as the Jackrabbits scored four in the bottom of the seventh to keep the game going for another inning.
In the eighth, Lechnir got Omaha to 15 runs with a single up the middle, before Tyler Bishop regrew the lead to 10 runs with a double to left. Ethan Louthan would shut the door on the Jackrabbits with a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to force the run-rule victory.
Inside the Box Score
Riedel is just the third Maverick in the Division I era to reach 200 career strikeouts. Today was also the third time this season he reached double-digit strikeouts.
Goetzmann and Trout combined to go 7-for-7 with three walks, two hit by pitches, seven RBIs, and five runs as both reached base safely in all 11 of their plate appearances.
This is Omaha’s ninth game this season with at least 10 runs. The team’s 16 runs today are also its third most in a game this season,
Up Next
The Mavericks will look to take another step towards winning the Regular Season Title tomorrow at 1 p.m. as Harrison Kreiling (2-1) gets the start for Omaha.
