OMAHA, Neb. – The Mavericks saw their four-game win streak end Thursday night as they dropped game one of their series vs. Oral Roberts 5-4.
Omaha is back under .500 at 11-12 on the year, while also falling to 4-3 in the Summit League. The Golden Eagles remain undefeated in league play at 7-0 as they improve to 21-10 overall.
Innings 1-3
Oral Roberts plated three in the top of the first thanks to a couple of well placed bloop hits that barely cleared the infield. In the bottom of the inning Mike Boeve got the first hit of the day for Omaha on a two-out double to center for the 47th of his career, tying him for fourth all-time in Mavericks history.
Caleb Riedel recovered with a 1-2-3 inning in the second, and later stranded a couple of runners with his fourth strikeout of the day to end the third.
Innings 4-6
Trailing 0-3 in the fourth, Noah Greise went yard for the third game in a row as he sent one just out of reach of the leaping center fielder at the wall. ORU got that run right back the next inning, however, with a two-run home run from Matt Hogan.
In the bottom of the fifth, after the first hit of the season from Garrett Kennedy gave the Mavericks runners on first and second, Zach Lechnir lined an RBI single to center to get Omaha within three.
Innings 7-9
In the bottom of the eighth, Omaha cut the deficit down to one run as they smoked three-straight one-out singles, capped off by an RBI knock by Devin Hurdle. Then, with two outs, Brennen Bales came in to pinch hit and ripped the second pitch he saw down the left field line for an RBI double to make it 4-5.
This would be as close as the Mavericks would get, though, as ORU’s closer Cade Denton set Omaha down in order to close out the bottom of the ninth.
Inside the Box Score
Now tied for fourth on the all-time doubles leaderboard, Boeve is just two away from reaching third place (49 doubles) and four away from second (51).
Luke Gainer had his best outing yet for the Mavericks, relieving Riedel in the sixth and throwing three shutout innings.
Going 2-for-4 at the plate today, Hurdle now has four-straight multi-hit games and 10 overall this season.
Up Next
The Mavericks will look to get even tomorrow as game two of the series is set to begin at 3 p.m.
