By DAYNE MCELWEE, Western Courier Staff
WIU Baseball had a tough series this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. The series started on Friday as Western lost to Omaha by a score of 11-1. Omaha started the first inning with the bases loaded and Keil Krumwiede gets hit by a pitch to bring in the first run. The game stays 1-0 Omaha until the 4th inning as Omaha gets a 3-run Home Run by Masen Prososki to make it a 4-0 game. The next inning, Eduardo Rosario singles to bring in Krumwiede to make it 6-0. Western would get on the board in the top of the 6th as Adam Juran hits a Home Run to left field to make it 6-1. Omaha would score in the bottom of the 6th on a bases loaded walk by Parker Smejkal to increase the lead to 7-1. Later on in the same inning, Krumwiede gets a 2 run single to drive in Boeve and Prososki and Brett Bonar getting a sacrifice fly to right field to make it a 10-1 Omaha lead. Western would get a balk to bring the 11th run for Omaha near the end of the game.
On the second game, Omaha scores in the 1st inning on a wild pitch to bring in Harrison Denk from 3rd base. Western would score in the 2nd inning as Jayden Gibson singles to center field to drive in Alex Dorethy to tie the game at 1. Western would take the lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning as Trenton Bauer singles to left field to bring in Derek Botaletto to make it 2-1. Omaha scores in the 5th inning as Grant Goldston reaches on a throwing error by the first basemen to bring in Rosario to tie the game at 2. Harrison Denk would get a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in Grant Goldston to give Omaha the 3-2 lead. Omaha would score 8 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning as Parker Smejikal hits a 2-run homer to center, Harrison Denk doubles to left center to bring in Goldston and Rosario, Masen Prowoski hits a 3-run homer to center field to bring in Denk and Goldston, Chris Esposito doubles in Boeve and Krumwiede getting a single to bring in Esposito to make a 11-2 game. Esposito singles in the bottom of the 7th to bring in Goldston to make it 12-2 which would be the final score.
The last game of the series on Sunday was a big game on offense for both teams. Western got on the board first with a 2-run home run hit by Luke Schwartz to make it 2-0 WIU. Omaha would also score in their 1st inning on a single by Mike Boeve to drive in Prososki to make it 2-1. Western would get 2 more runs in the 2nd inning as Dillion Sears hits a 2-run home run to right center to bring in Este to make it 4-1 WIU. Omaha gets a run back as Esposito homers to make it 4-2. Sears gets an RBI single for western to make it 5-2 with an error. Schwartz increased their lead with a single to make it 6-2. Rosario gets Omaha back in the game as he hits a 2-run homer to right field to make it 6-4 WIU. The next inning Omaha gets an infield single by Smejkal to put Omaha down by only 1 run. Western would get runs right back as Raisbeck singles to right field to drive in 2 to increase westerns lead to 3. Omaha would have a big 6th inning as Boeve gets a bases loaded walk to make it 8-6, Esposito gets another bases loaded walk to make it 8-7, Smejkal gets another bases loaded walk to tie the game at 8, Krumwiede gets another walk to give Omaha their first lead of the day at 9-8. Western would have a big 7th inning as Estes gets a RBI single to tie the game at 9, Gibson also gets an RBI single to give western the lead again 10-9, Sears gets another RBI single to make it a 11-9 game, and Raisbeck gets a sacrifice fly to make it 12-9. Omaha also has a big 7th inning as they get a 2-run homer by Denk to make it 12-11, Krumwiede gets a 2-run single to give Omaha the lead again 13-12, and Bonar doubles to bring in 2 more to increase their lead to 15-12. Western gets back in the 8th as Allred brings in a run on a ground ball to a double play. The final score was Omaha winning 15-13 and sweeping Western.
