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Western Illinois University Athletics

Erik Maki
6
Omaha OMAHA 24-24, 14-11 Summit
7
Winner Western Illinois WIU 14-30, 11-14 Summit
Omaha OMAHA
24-24, 14-11 Summit
6
Final
7
Western Illinois WIU
14-30, 11-14 Summit
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Omaha OMAHA 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 14 0
Western Illinois WIU 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 2 X 7 15 5

W: Pannell, Jordan (2-2) L: Shane Meltz (1-3) S: Westfahl, Nate (5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Baseball Rallies for 7-6 Win Over Omaha

Erik Maki hit a pinch-hit homer in the eighth, Nate Westfahl earned his fifth save of the year

MACOMB, Ill. – Senior Erik Maki hit a pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning to put Western Illinois in the lead and the Leathernecks ended an Omaha threat in the ninth to close the door on a 7-6 Summit League victory Friday afternoon (May 13).
 
For the first time since the season-opening series (at Tennessee Tech), Western hit multiple home runs in a game (3). After the Mavericks tied the game in the top of the eighth at 5-5, Maki came on to pinch-hit to start the eighth. Entering the at-bat 1-for-23, his only hit a pinch-hit homer in the season-opening game, Maki took Shane Meltz's pitch opposite field for a solo homer and give Western a 6-5 lead.
 
"Anytime a guy gets a chance to get in there and hit a home run... Maki hasn't had the best year, but I give him all kinds of credit. He's handled things the right way as a senior leader. He hasn't gotten down, he stayed positive and he's been a good teammate. Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come from him down the stretch here," said head coach Ryan Brownlee.
 
The Leathernecks (14-30 overall, 11-14 Summit League) added what proved to be the game-winning run later in the inning. Roman Visintine singled then Chris Tschida followed with another one-out single to put runners on the corners. Adam McGinnis dropped down a bunt single to score Visintine and make it 7-5.
 
Omaha (24-24, 14-11) staged a two-out rally in the ninth. Jack Kalina singled then pinch-hitter Grant Suponchick reached on an infield single. Collin Leif singled home a run and put runners on the corners for the leadoff hitter Cole Gruber. Nate Westfahl got the senior centerfielder, who already hit three doubles in the game, on a grounder to end the contest.
 
"Obviously, we've had our battles with Omaha and you have to come ready to play against them and if you don't they're going to take advantage of your mistakes. I thought we were ready to go and we didn't pout when we got down and we stayed with it, I give our guys a ton of credit for sticking with it," said Brownlee. "We need everybody. We're banged up but this team still has a good story to tell if we stay positive and stay after it. We always talk about staying in our circle of control and really just worrying about what we can control. There are a lot of things in baseball that you can control and you can't worry about the things that are out of your control and I thought we did a good job of that today." 
 
The Mavericks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to three doubles in the first inning. Western loaded the bases in its half of the first inning, but second baseman Sam Palensky made a running catch into right field to end the inning. They added two more runs in the second on a home run and two-base fielding error.
 
Western got on the board in the fourth when Mark Garton lined a solo home run to left field. McGinnis added a RBI double in the fifth. The Leathernecks tied the game in the sixth when Garton singled to start the inning and Deion Thompson hammered his team-leading fifth home run of the year, a shot over the scoreboard in left field.
 
One of six seniors who will be honored this weekend, Garton's RBI single in the seventh put Western briefly ahead 5-4. He matched a career-high of three hits and added two runs scored and two RBI.
 
Western out-hit Omaha 15-14 and won despite five errors. Omaha stranded 13 runners while Western left 10 on base.
 
Visintine matched a season-high of three hits while Tschida, McGinnis and Currier added two apiece.
 
Senior Jordan Pannell earned the win in relief. After Omaha loaded the bases with no one out in the seventh, he retired Kalina on a strikeout then got Riley Herold to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Pannell (2-2) was charged for one run on three hits in two innings.
 
Earning his first save since game two at Omaha last month, Westfahl moved into a tie for third place on the season 'Top 10' with five saves, and now ranks tied for fourth place all-time.
 
Starter Ian Koch went six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits. He walked five (two intentional) and struck out two.
 
"Koch did a good job, he learned from last week. We talked about that after his outing last week that he let it get to him early but he didn't today. We dropped a ball but stayed with it and kept putting 0s up. Jordan and Nate did a tremendous job but it's nice for our lineup. We haven't hit a ton of home runs this year and it's nice to see guys cutting loose. That's a really good arm that we beat today," said Brownlee. "Fox is good, he's at some point going to break their career wins record for a reason. He's competitive and he just doesn't give you much and I give our guys credit because they stuck with it."
 
Omaha starter Tyler Fox allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings. He did not walk a batter and fanned eight. Gruber and Kalina added three hits apiece.
 
Game two of the weekend series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday (May 14).
 
 
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