Messinger, Pitching Carry Mavs to League Doublehea

Friday, April 5

Omaha, Neb.

TBA

Omaha

8-14, 0

Fort Wayne

11-13, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Fort Wayne	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Omaha	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	X	2	4	2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Fort Wayne	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	3	8	0
Omaha	4	0	0	0	0	2	X	6	9	1

Messinger, Pitching Carry Mavs to League Doublehea

Apr 5, 2013 | Baseball, General

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Omaha Athletics

Game 1 Box Score (PDF/HTML)
Game 2 Box Score (PDF/HTML)

OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha baseball team swept into the Summit League era on Friday, taking both games of a doubleheader against Fort Wayne, 6-3 and 2-0, at the Ballpark at Boys Town. With the wins, the Mavericks are now 8-15 (2-0 Summit League), while the Mastodons drop to 11-13 (0-2 Summit League).

Redshirt freshman Connor Messinger homered twice in the first game, and pitching starred in both contests for the Mavericks, as game one starter Tyler Fox and game two starter Zach Williamsen each finished with a career-high six strikeouts.

GAME 1 – OMAHA 6, FORT WAYNE 3
Messinger starred in the opening game, going 3-for-3 with two home runs. Messinger had a three-run shot in the first and a two-run roundtripper in the sixth, accounting for two runs scored and five RBI.

Senior Tyler Splichal also had a multi-hit effort, finishing 2-for-3 with one run scored and another driven in.

Fox (3-1) earned the win, allowing one run on five hits over 5.0 innings of work while striking out a career-high six batters and walking one. Jason Kalber (0-4) threw a complete game in the loss, giving up six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Junior Josh Bullock earned his fifth save of the year, throwing 2.0 innings with two runs on three hits, three strikeouts and one free pass.

Omaha started out hot in the first inning, with sophomore Alex Mortensen doubling to left center and Splichal singling to the same spot to score the Mavs' first run. Senior Ryan Keele then drew a walk to put two runners on, and with two outs Messinger delivered his first home run over the wall in left center to extend it to a 4-0 opening lead.

Fort Wayne struck back in the fifth, as Kevin Wirth sent a solo home run to left, cutting it to 4-1. In the sixth, the Mastodons posted another pair of runs on three hits to pull within one. Clay Hathaway and Brandon Soat both singled, and Caleb Fenimore walked to load the bases, and Tyler Shepherd later came through with a two-run single to right that plated Soat and Hathaway and made it 4-3.

The bottom half of the inning saw Keele lead off with a double to center. With one out, it was all Messinger again, as he homered to left to tally two more Omaha runs and push the final score to 6-3.

GAME 2 – OMAHA 2, FORT WAYNE 0
Williamsen (1-1) shut out Fort Wayne in game two, limiting the Mastodons to just three hits with a career-best six strikeouts and one walk. The loss was tagged to Chuck Weaver (2-2), who surrendered two runs on three hits with three strikeouts and seven walks over 4.1 innings of work. Senior Derek Landis earned his first save of the season, holding IPFW scoreless with three hits and two strikeouts in the last two innings.

Splichal finished 2-for-3 with a run scored, while senior Cory Buckley went 1-for-3 with a run scored and another driven in. Junior Brett Bass was also 1-for-2 with an RBI.

Omaha took the lead in the fourth, opening with a single to right from Splichal. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Messinger, moved to third on a groundout by junior Caleb Palensky and scored on Buckley's RBI single to center. Buckley stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, then tallied a run of his own on an RBI single up the middle from Bass that pushed it to 2-0.

Omaha returns to action on Sunday, April 7, hosting Oakland in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at the Ballpark at Boys Town, and links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com. The game will also be broadcast live on KVNO 90.7 HD-2 with student broadcasters Jared Meyer and Paul Dobler on the call.