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Western Illinois University Athletics

Ryan Dunne
Larry Dean
4
Winner Western Illinois WIU 16-27
1
Omaha OMAHA 14-34
Winner
Western Illinois WIU
16-27
4
Final
1
Omaha OMAHA
14-34
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 4 7 1
Omaha OMAHA 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 9 1

W: Dunne, Ryan (4-6) L: Joey Machado (4-7) S: Borchers, Colan (5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Coming Up Big Down the Stretch

Western defeated Omaha, 4-1, and are now 6-for-8 in recent wins.

OMAHA, Neb. – With a lot of success coming down in the stretch of its 2018 season, Western Illinois' baseball team has won six out of its last eight games, recently taking a 4-1 decision at Omaha Thursday (May 17). 

With the exception of Alex Dorethy's RBI single in the first inning, neither offense was able to plate a run until the seventh. The game's action was completely dictated by another pitching gem from Ryan Dunne. 

He surrendered seven hits and one walk in the appearance and tallied nine strikeouts for the third time in as many starts (each game has resulted in a Leatherneck win). Pitching in his first season at WIU, Dunne paces The Summit League in strikeouts and currently possesses 91 on the year. 

His bid for a shutout ended in the seventh inning where a single up the middle led to Omaha's lone run.

"Really, I'm just trying to keep it simple, try to focus on attacking each batter," said Dunne. "We go through a game plan before each start. What's been happening a lot lately is that I've been getting myself in a good position to finish guys off. I'm able to bury my stuff and get some swing and misses. It's about executing and keeping it out of the zone of anywhere that they can hurt you." 

As the team's leader in RBIs, Deion Thompson added two more in the top of the seventh with a two-RBI home run to left field. 

The Leathernecks ran into a bit of trouble with a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and two on in the eighth, but their relievers helped bail them out. Austin Emanuel used three pitches to record the final out of the former frame, and Colan Borchers entered the game with two quick outs in the latter. 

Borchers didn't allow a Maverick to reach base in his 1.1 innings, retiring the side with two swinging strikeouts and ground out in the ninth, en route to his fifth save of the year. 

Western continues its series at Omaha Friday at 2 p.m. 
 
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