By: Jordan McAlpine, Sports Reporter
OMAHA, Neb. – When Omaha senior outfielder Harrison Denk was growing up, he liked to envision himself on a baseball field with the game on the line. This spring Denk has seen that dream become a reality and he’s delivered when called upon.
Sunday afternoon, the Mavericks capped off a series win over St. Thomas in walk-off fashion. The win was Omaha’s fourth walk-off win of the season and once again, Denk found himself at the plate with a chance to play hero.
“I think that’s every baseball player’s dream growing up,” Denk said. “To be up at the plate when your team needs you the most or to be out in the field when your team needs you the most on a play. That’s something I take great pride in and I look forward to those moments each and every time I step on the baseball field.”
The Andale, Kansas native has been the man at the plate in two of those four wins and played a role in one other. Denk hit an RBI single in the win over Nebraska, drew a bases-loaded walk in the win over St. Thomas, and his leadoff walk set up a win over Rutgers on March 18.
Coming up in the clutch is something he takes a lot of pride in.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just this year is my final year and being a fifth-year senior, it’s important to come up for your team big in big situations,” Denk said. “So going through my head in those situations, I’m just trying to simplify everything. I’m just trying to make everything as easy as I possibly can for myself and then hopefully make a play for our team ultimately leading to a win.
“That’s been beneficial to obviously winning the Nebraska game and then having the walk-off in the Rutgers series and finishing the St. Thomas series with a walk-off as well. It’s been a blast these past couple weeks.”
As a team, Omaha has won four of their last six games and the Mavericks are now 9-13 on the season. After a 2-8 start, the Mavericks responded with wins over Nebraska, Creighton, and two against both Rutgers and St. Thomas.
They’ll now look to continue riding that momentum into Summit League play.
“Those are games that we circle on the schedule against Nebraska and Creighton,” Denk said. “Being able to beat them in the same week is huge for us, and it’s something we can use in conference play. I think one thing that we can credit for our season has been our pitching.”
“Our pitching has been magnificent and kept us in so many ballgames. It’s allowed us to compete at the end of the game and give us hitters a chance to go out and win a game.”
When the pressure is on late in games, there’s little doubt inside the Omaha dugout, and Denk is the poster child of that. Denk, who is one of 10 seniors on the Omaha roster, said it goes back to the Mavericks’ leadership core, which he is a part of.
He also believes the Mavericks are playing their best baseball of the season, and they’ll need to build off that momentum this weekend. Omaha will travel to Oral Roberts, who was the Summit League preseason favorite.
“Our confidence level is extremely high, and I think that’s important heading into this weekend against ORU,” Denk said. “It’s probably the biggest weekend of the year so far, because everyone knows Oral Roberts every year is the team to beat in the conference. The confidence factor is going to play a huge role.
“We’ve got to go down to Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend and play with a chip on our shoulder to prove we belong at the top of this conference.”
Game one of the series will get underway at 6 p.m. Friday in Tulsa. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday and the series will wrap up at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
