Mavericks Shut Out Western Illinois, 3-0

Thursday, May 15

Macomb, Ill.

3:00 PM

Omaha

28-20, 12-9

Western Illinois

19-27, 11-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Omaha	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	0
Western Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	2

Mavericks Shut Out Western Illinois, 3-0

May 15, 2014 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Omaha Athletics

MACOMB, Ill. -- The Omaha baseball team scored all the runs it needed in the top of the first inning on Thursday, defeating Western Illinois 3-0 at Boyer Stadium. With their fifth shutout win, the conference-leading Mavericks improve to 28-20 (12-9 Summit League), while the Leathernecks drop to 19-27 (11-10).

Sophomore Tyler Fox (9-1) earned his league-best ninth victory of the season, throwing 7.0 innings. Fox kept WIU to six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. The loss went to Tyler Willman (3-3), who gave up three runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out six over 6.2 innings of work. Senior Anthony Falcone got his fourth save of the year with the final 2.0 innings pitched, holding the Leathernecks to three hits with three strikeouts.

Sophomore Clayton Taylor finished 2-for-3 with a run scored for the day, while senior Brett Bass was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Sophomore Cole Gruber also tallied one run, while senior Tyler Splichal and junior Daniel Jewett each drove in a run apiece.

The Mavericks did their damage in the top of the first, scoring three runs on three hits and an error. Gruber was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, followed by a Taylor single up the middle. A Leatherneck throwing error put Taylor on second, and Bass came up with an RBI single up the middle to plate Gruber for Omaha's first run. Two batters later, Jewett's RBI groundout scored Taylor, and Splichal singled to left to drive in Bass, putting Omaha up 3-0.

Despite outhitting Omaha 9-7 for the afternoon, Western Illinois was unable to manufacture any runs, leaving nine runners on base.

With UNO still holding on to its 3-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth, Falcone entered the game to replace Fox. The Leathernecks threatened in the ninth by putting a pair of runners on with back-to-back two-out singles, but Falcone shut it down with a strikeout to give Omaha the 3-0 win.

Omaha and Western Illinois return to action with a Noon doubleheader on Friday, May 16 at Boyer Stadium in a bid for the Summit League regular-season championship. Links to live stats and audio will be available on OMavs.com.