Omaha Cruises Past Bison in Series Opener, 10-0

Friday, March 31

Isaacson Field at Seymour Smith Park

4:00 PM

Omaha

6-19, 0

North Dakota State

9-15, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
North Dakota State	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Omaha	3	0	1	0	4	2	X	10	16	1

Omaha Cruises Past Bison in Series Opener, 10-0

Apr 1, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Omaha Athletics

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha baseball team cruised to a 10-0 shutout over North Dakota State in seven innings Friday afternoon at Seymour Smith Park. With the win, the Mavericks improve to 6-19 (4-3 Summit League) on the year, while the Bison drop to 9-15 (2-5).

Junior right-hander Corey Binger (3-4) hurled a complete-game two-hitter with no walks and three strikeouts. It was the third complete game of the season for the Victoria, Minn., native. The loss went to NDSU's Luke Lind (2-3), who gave up seven runs on 10 hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 4.1 innings.

Sophomore Nate Mallott and senior Marcus Ethen each keyed three hits for the day, with Mallott finishing 3-for-3 with three RBI and Ethen going 3-for-3 with a run scored and another driven in. Junior Ryan Cate (2-for-4, two runs, two RBI), freshman Cole Thibodeau (2-for-4, two runs) and sophomore Grant Suponchick (2-for-4, one run, one RBI) also had multi-hit plate efforts. As a team, Omaha had a season-high 16 hits on the afternoon.

The Mavericks promptly built a three-run advantage in the bottom of the first inning with six hits. Senior Sam Palensky led off with a single to right and Thibodeau got on with a bunt single to put two men aboard, and Suponchick followed two batters later with an RBI single to left center to score Palensky. Cate then singled in Thibodeau with a base knock to left, and another single to right by Ethen loaded the bases. Mallott then singled through the right side to plate Suponchick, spotting Omaha a 3-0 lead.

Cate opened the bottom of the third with a double down the left field line, advanced on an Ethen sacrifice bunt and scored on Mallott's RBI single to right center for a 4-0 edge.

The Mavericks poured on more offense in the fifth, posting four runs on four hits and an error. A sacrifice fly to center by Mallott scored sophomore Parker Smejkal, followed by a sharp RBI single up the middle by sophomore Jack Kalina to plate Cate. With runners on first and second, junior Adam Caniglia singled to right and advanced to third with a two-base throwing error, with Ethen and Kalina both scoring on the play to make it 8-0.

Omaha pounded out four more hits on the way to another pair of runs in the sixth. Thibodeau led off with a bunt single and Smejkal sent another single down the left field line to put two on, and both runners moved into scoring position with a Suponchick groundout. Cate then drove in Thibodeau with an RBI groundout, and Ethen added an RBI single to third base to push in Smejkal for a 10-0 lead, which held over the last half-inning for the final tally.

NDSU managed only two hits for the day -- a leadoff single to right by Drew Fearing in the top of the first and a single up the middle by Ben Petersen in the sixth. No Bison runner advanced past second over Binger's seven-inning performance.

Omaha and North Dakota State continue their weekend series on Saturday, April 1, with first pitch at 2 p.m. at Seymour Smith Park. Links to live audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.