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Western Illinois University Athletics

MBA_Omaha2_Home_FP
WIU Visual Productions Center
4
Omaha OMAHA 18-28, 12-15 Summit
5
Winner Western Illinois WIU 17-30, 11-16 Summit
Omaha OMAHA
18-28, 12-15 Summit
4
Final
5
Western Illinois WIU
17-30, 11-16 Summit
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Omaha OMAHA 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 11 0
Western Illinois WIU 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 5 11 0

W: Owings, Tyler (2-1) L: Marcus Ethen (1-3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Baseball Takes Series From Omaha in Walk-Off Fashion

Western Illinois defeated Omaha, 5-4, in game three on Sunday (May 10) in Macomb.

MACOMB, Ill. - Sunday (May 10) was Senior Day for Western Illinois baseball and it was seniors who stole the show in the Leathernecks' 5-4 walkoff win over Omaha at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. The win also clinched WIU's first series victory over the Mavericks in program history.

Senior left-handed pitcher Tyler Owings earned the win with an inning of scoreless relief, and senior center fielder Brent Turner collected the walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth. Colton Pogue hit his third home run of the season and Mark Garton finished 2-for-3 at the plate. The win improves Western to 17-30 overall and 11-16 in The Summit League. Omaha drops to 18-28 and 12-15.

"Obviously it feels good. We've face a lot of adversity lately and we've developed a lot of mental toughness over the last month," said head coach Ryan Brownlee after the win. "It's starting to show because we stay with it, and I'm really happy for our seniors because they've really taken charge of everything. That's when you have good teams. Omaha is a solid club and they've had our number it the past. To our guys credit they stuck with it and didn't think about the past, and two walk offs is obviously unbelievable. I'm really happy for our guys."

The game opened to an overcast and humid setting where both teams struggled to score with the tally knotted at zero through the first three frames. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Pogue broke things open with a leadoff home run to start the inning. JJ Reimer and Chris Tschida continued Western's run with back-to-back hits, and Garton added a walk to load the bases. An RBI-ground ball from Adam McGinnis gave the Leathernecks a two-run advantage.

Omaha rallied back in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with no outs and plating one run as WIU took the out at second. Then, with two outs, Omaha's Alex Schultz took a line drive to left-center field between Jake Moore and Turner. The result a scary collision between Moore and Turner that allowed Schultz to come around on a three-run inside-the-park home run to make the score 4-2. To Western's relief, both outfielders walked away from the incident, but Moore was done for the day.

"It was a weird play. Joe (Mortillaro) made a good pitch, it got in between those guys," said coach Brownlee regarding the play. "They were both going after it hard, and sometimes things like that happen because they both had a chance to catch it. We're lucky they didn't hit heads and the good thing is they're both okay."

With some of the wind out of their sails, the Purple and Gold remained focused and held the Mavericks scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings before grabbing a run in the bottom of the eighth. Pogue started the rally again, taking a pitch off the elbow. Erik Maki, who came on for the injured Moore, followed up by lacing a single to right field. Reimer drove in Pogue to cut the UNO lead to one.

Owings came on in the top of the ninth and posted a scoreless frame, allowing just one hit against four batters.

With only three outs to make up two runs, the Leathernecks wasted no time. McGinnis took his first pitch down the left-field line for a double. Roman Visintine laid down a beautiful bunt for an infield base hit, and Kendall King chopped a ball that resulted in an infield single to load the bases. Turner came to the plate with no hits on the day, and then smacked a sizzling ground ball through the right side to bring in McGinnis and Visintine for the win.

Turner ended the day 1-for-5 with two RBIs while Reimer and Garton collected two hits apiece. Pogue recorded a pair of runs in addition to his homer. In total, Western's senior hitters collected three hits with one run and three RBIs. As a team the Leathernecks notched 11 hits and now sit one game ahead of North Dakota State in the race for a Summit League Tournament berth. 

With three games remaining, WIU will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to close out the season against league-leading Oral Roberts. Game one is scheduled for Thursday (May 14) at 6:30 p.m. Due to scheduling conflicts, audio will not be available through Leatherneck All-Access.
 
   
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