BROOKINGS, SD – Mavericks baseball couldn’t crack SDSU’s bullpen in the opener of a three-game Summit League series, falling 7-5 Friday afternoon in Brookings, South Dakota. Omaha (11-19, 5-8) and South Dakota State (5-22, 3-8) will meet again Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CT at Erv Huether Field.
Omaha entered the game having won six of seven games, including last week’s 11-9 win over Nebraska, their fourth defeat of a Power Four opponent this season, but they couldn’t climb back from an early 6-0 deficit.
Starter Oliver Mabee retired the first six batters he faced before SDSU broke open the scoreless game in the third. Jess Bellows’ solo home run sparked a five-run inning, and a wild pitch scored another run in the fourth to give South Dakota State a 6-0 lead.
The Mavericks battled back with four in the fifth. Drew Borner led off with a line drive to right center, extending his hitting streak to ten games, the longest for any Maverick this season. Sam Beck squibbed an infield hit to second, and Jackson Trout’s infield hit to the left side loaded the bases with no outs. Henry Zipay then walked to bring in Borner for Omaha’s first run. Tyler Bishop then bounced a chopper to the hole on the left side, where shortstop Carter Sintek threw to third for the force out, bringing home Beck to make it 6-2. Mason Gaines followed with a two-run double to deep right center, cutting the lead to 6-4.
Omaha cut the lead to one in the sixth after Blake Stenger was hit by a pitch, Borner moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Stenger stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly to deep left by Beck. SDSU led 6-5 after six.
SDSU threatened in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Tanner Foertsch. After Nicholas Werk doubled, catcher Cardell Dick gunned him down trying to steal third. Foertsch struck out the next batter to end the frame. In the seventh, the Jackrabbits extended their lead to 7-5 on a solo homer by Luke Luskey.
Omaha put their lead-off runner on six times in the first seven innings, but couldn’t manage anything against the SDSU bullpen. Reliever Dylan Driessen (Millard West HS) struck out six in 3.1 scoreless innings of relief to earn the save (2) for winning pitcher Caleb Duerr (2-3). Mabee pitched 5.0 innings and was tagged with the loss (0-1).
Zipay, who leads the Summit League in batting average (.382), extended his on-base streak to 14 games.
