Leading Off
The Omaha baseball team opens the 2015 season this weekend, traveling to the GCU Classic at Brazell Stadium in Phoenix, Ariz. The Mavericks will square off with Bradley on Friday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. (CT), followed by a tilt with host Grand Canyon on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. (CT) and a non-conference game with North Dakota State on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. (CT). Links to live stats for all three games will be available on OMavs.com.
    
Quick Hits
•The Mavericks return 19 letterwinners and five All-Summit selections from a year ago: junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Fox, junior infielder Clayton Taylor, junior outfielders Cole Gruber and Alex Schultz and senior outfielder Daniel Jewett. Fox was also tabbed 2014 Summit League Pitcher of the Year.
•UNO's five returning all-conference selections are the most of any team in the Summit League.
•Omaha opens the year with 15 straight road games, its most since 15 in 2012.
•UNO ended the 2014 season on a seven-game win streak, and in two years in the Summit League, the Mavericks have compiled a 35-15 conference record.
•UNO is 114-91 all-time against the five other teams in the Summit League and 228-227 against all opponents on the schedule this year.

Scouting the Bradley Braves
Bradley finished 24-27 (5-16 MVC) in 2014. The Braves return second-team All-MVC infielder Tyler Leffler, as well as infielder Spencer Gaa, who was All-MVC honorable mention. Leffler hit a league-best .354 in 2014 and tied for 10th nationally with 10 hit-by-pitches a year ago.

Elvis Dominguez (Creighton, 1986) is in his seventh season at BU with a record of 127-181-1. Dominguez also holds a career mark of 305-380-3 over 13 years.

Omaha leads the all-time series against Bradley, 4-0. The two squads last met April 18-20, 2014, when UNO swept a three-game series in Peoria, Ill., 4-2, 7-0 and 11-6.

Scouting the Grand Canyon Antelopes
Grand Canyon posted a record of 30-23 (19-8 WAC) in 2014. The Antelopes return a pair of first-team All-WAC selections in infielder Chad De La Guerra and left-handed pitcher Andrew Naderer, while right-handed pitcher Coley Bruns was also a second-team all-conference honoree. De La Guerra was solid at the plate in 2014, batting a conference-best .373, and was a perfect 16-for-16 in stolen base attempts. Naderer finished 9-3 on the mound last season and tied for second in the league for wins.

GCU is led by head coach Andy Stankiewicz (Pepperdine, 1986), who is in his fourth year with the program and holds a career record of 97-65.

Grand Canyon leads the all-time series with Omaha, 3-1. The Mavericks last met the Antelopes March 7-9, 2014 in Phoenix, where GCU won the weekend series. UNO opened with a 6-0 win before falling 9-2, 14-0 and 5-2 in the remaining games.

Scouting the North Dakota State Bison
North Dakota State captured its first Summit League tournament championship in program history in 2014 en route to an NCAA Tournament berth. The Bison finished 25-26 (10-12 Summit League) last season.

NDSU lost four seniors who earned All-Summit recognition but returns a trio of second-team all-conference pitchers with David Ernst, Parker Trewin and Trevor Jaunich. Ernst went 5-5 on the mound last with a 3.60 ERA over a team-high 95.0 innings pitched, while Trewin finished 7-3 with a 2.57 ERA and a team-leading 68 strikeouts. Jaunich was second in the Summit League last season with seven saves over 18 appearances, finishing 1-3 with a 3.18 ERA.

Head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his eighth year at NDSU and carries a career mark of 166-193.

North Dakota State leads the all-time series with Omaha, 25-24. The two teams last met in conference play with a four-game weekend series at the Ballpark at Boys Town, April 25-26, 2014, with the Bison winning three of four games.

Picked to Win It
Omaha is favored to repeat as the Summit League's regular-season champion in a preseason vote among the league's head coaches, the conference office announced Feb. 5. It marked the second straight season that UNO was tabbed No. 1 in the league's preseason poll.

The Mavericks received three first-place votes and 23 total points. Oral Roberts came in second with the remaining three first-place votes and 21 points. In third place was South Dakota State with 17 points, followed by North Dakota State (15), Western Illinois (eight) and Fort Wayne (six).

UNO capped 2014 with an overall record of 31-20 and a league mark of 15-9. The Mavericks won their second consecutive regular-season title in just their second year as a member of the league and their third year as a Division I school.

What Does the Fox Say?
Right-handed pitcher Tyler Fox is back for his junior season in 2015 after earning Summit League Pitcher of the Year plaudits as a sophomore. The Thornton, Colo., native was outstanding on the mound last year, recording a league-leading nine wins to go 9-1 with a 2.59 ERA. He tallied 57 strikeouts in a team-high 78.2 innings pitched and finished a perfect 5-0 in league play with a 2.40 ERA in seven appearances. Conference foes struggled at the plate against Fox, batting just .255 for the year.

League Leaders
Junior outfielder Cole Gruber led the Summit League in stolen bases (34) and runs scored (47) last season, while junior infielder Clayton Taylor topped the charts for RBI (48). On the mound, junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Fox compiled a league-best nine wins, and former Maverick lefty Steven Schoonover led the way with a 1.58 ERA.

The UNO pitching staff also put together 283 total strikeouts for the year, the most of any team in the conference.

What's Back on the Mound
Of the 432.2 innings pitched by Omaha's staff last season, the Mavericks' returning hurlers accounted for 303.1 innings thrown (70 percent). The returning members of the pitching staff also accounted for 200 of UNO's 283 total strikeouts in 2014 and combined for a record of 25-13 with two saves.

Taylor, Gruber Among Nation's Best
The NCAA's final 2014 statistical release included a pair of Mavericks ranking among the top 25 in the nation. Cole Gruber finished his sophomore year ranked fifth with 34 stolen bases, while sophomore Clayton Taylor was 25th nationally with a .619 slugging percentage in his sophomore season.

Turning to the Bullpen
Omaha's bullpen has traditionally held its own late in the game, as the Mavericks are 409-34-1 in the Bob Herold era when leading after the sixth inning. UNO was 25-4 when leading after the sixth in 2014 and 23-1 in the 2013 season, both of which were years in which the Mavericks went on to win Summit League regular-season titles.

Offense Keying Wins
In the last two conference championship seasons in 2013 and 2014, Omaha has gone a combined 41-7 when outhitting its opponent. In 2014, the Mavericks were 21-2 when registering more hits than its opposition, up from 20-5 in 2013. Over 15 seasons in the Bob Herold era, UNO is 392-68-1 when outhitting the other team.

Going the Extra Mile
When registering three or more extra-base hits in a game, UNO went 14-7 last season. The 2014 Omaha squad finished with 107 extra-base hits, the most since registering 159 in 2011, the Mavericks' last year in Division II.

Herold at the Helm
Head Coach Bob Herold is in his 16th year as the skipper of the Omaha baseball program in 2014, having compiled a career record of 478-322-2. Herold earned his 400th career win on April 22, 2011 against Fort Hays State, becoming the third coach in school history to reach the milestone. He joined Bob Gates (464-273) and Virgil Yelkin (439-196) in the prestigious club, and with Omaha's 7-0 shutout at Bradley on April 22, 2014, he officially became the winningest coach in UNO history with his 465th victory.

Over his Maverick career, Herold has guided Omaha to seven NCAA Division II postseason appearances and four conference championships. In 2013 and 2014, he was honored as Summit League Coach of the Year.

Herold's most recent draft pick was right-handed pitcher Joe Holtmeyer, who was taken in the 22nd round (No. 682 overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox. Holtmeyer was the fifth Maverick drafted under Herold and the second-highest pick of any player during the Herold era.

Herold is assisted by assistant coaches Chris Gadsden, in his 16th year, and Evan Porter, in his third year, as well as volunteer assistant coach Brian Strawn, who is in his first year.

Double Digits
As a team, Omaha produced double-digit hits in 22 games last season, including a season-high 23 hits against Chicago State on Feb. 28, 2014. Last year, UNO was 18-4 when producing 10 or more hits in a game, similar to its mark of 18-6 for double-digit hits in 2013.

Home Sweet Home
The 2015 season will see Omaha play 23 home contests, including 15 conference tilts. UNO will play at two venues, with 21 games at the Ballpark at Boys Town and a pair of premier games at Werner Park with Nebraska (April 1) and Kansas State (April 8).

Since moving to Division I in 2011-12, UNO has enjoyed a combined record of 25-19 at home.

Mixed Schedule Takes Mavericks Around the Nation
Omaha's 2015 schedule includes 56 games against 20 different opponents, and the team will play in 11 states and three time zones across the country. UNO will match up with opponents from 12 other conferences: the ACC, Big 12, BIG EAST, Big Sky, Big Ten, Colonial, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Southland, Sunshine State and WAC.

Two foes -- North Dakota State and Nebraska -- were 2014 NCAA Tournament qualifiers. NDSU, which finished fifth in the Summit League's regular-season standings and went on to win the tournament championship for a berth to the NCAA Tournament, lost to Oregon State and UNLV in the Corvallis Regional. Nebraska played in the Stillwater Regional, where it defeated Binghamton and lost twice to Cal State Fullerton.

Additionally, three opponents finished in the top 100 for RPI in 2014: Nebraska (No. 32), Creighton (No. 70) and Oral Roberts (No. 96).

The Mavericks have never faced six of their 2015 opponents: Saint Leo, Boston College, Northeastern, Mount St. Mary's, Oral Roberts and Incarnate Word. Omaha holds a combined all-time record of 228-227 against all teams on the slate this season.

Five All-League Picks Highlight 2015 Roster
Five All-Summit selections from the 2014 squad highlight Omaha's 2015 roster: first-team picks in junior infielder Clayton Taylor and junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Fox and second-team selections in junior outfielders Cole Gruber and Alex Schultz. The position player foursome combined to hit .324 last season with 36 doubles, seven triples, 12 home runs and 93 walks drawn, and they went 52-of-62 on the basepaths.

Fox became Omaha's first player to be named Summit League Pitcher of the Year, recording a league-leading nine wins to go 9-1 with a 2.59 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 78.2 innings pitched. The Thornton, Colo., native was a perfect 5-0 in league play with a 2.40 ERA in seven appearances, and conference foes batted just .255 against him.

Taylor, a Mount Michael graduate, started every game last season and picked up his second all-league award. He led the Summit League in RBI (48) and total bases (112), and he was second in hits (64), doubles (17), home runs (nine) and slugging percentage (.599). Taylor batted a team-best .342, led his team with 18 multi-hit and 12 multi-RBI games last season and also had a team-long 24-game reaching base streak.

Gruber, who came to UNO from Papillion-LaVista, led the Summit League with 47 runs scored and 34 stolen bases, the latter of which ranked fifth nationally among Division I players. He started all 51 games and batted .319 with 47 runs scored, 18 RBI, seven doubles, two triples and a home run.

Jewett hit .333 with 21 runs scored, 29 RBI, five doubles, two triples and a home run in his first season as a Maverick. In conference play, the Poulsbo, Wash., native was fifth in RBI (18), sixth in batting average (.359) and seventh in hits (28) and on-base percentage (.446).

Schultz, who hails from Sioux Falls, S.D., split time between center field and first base in his sophomore season. He batted .302 with 43 runs scored, 23 RBI, seven doubles, a triple and a home run, and he drew a league-leading 30 walks. Schultz was also second in the conference for runs scored.

Looking Back at 2014
•Omaha won its second straight Summit League regular-season title in 2014.
•UNO had eight All-Summit selections a year ago. First-teamers were right-handed pitcher Tyler Fox and infielders Caleb Palensky and Clayton Taylor, while second-team honorees were infielder Tyler Splichal, designated hitter Brett Bass and outfielders Cole Gruber, Daniel Jewett and Alex Schultz.
•Head coach Bob Herold also honored as the 2014 Summit League Coach of the Year after leading the Mavericks to their second straight regular-season conference championship.
•Gruber ranked fifth nationally in stolen bases (34), while Taylor was 25th in slugging percentage (.619).
•Taylor and Palensky were both named first-team Academic All-District by CoSIDA, with Palensky going on to earn first-team Academic All-America honors.
•Palensky, Taylor and Fox were all named to 2014 the Academic All-Summit Team.

No Longer the Newcomers
Omaha is in its fourth and final year as a reclassifying Division I school in 2014-15 and its third as a member of the Summit League. In 2014, the Mavericks played their second full season as a member of the conference, finishing 15-9 in league play to sit atop the standings.

UNO is ineligible for the Summit League Tournament and NCAA Tournament until 2015-16 but will play a full regular-season conference schedule through its transitional years. It is, however, eligible to contend for the league's regular-season championship, which the Mavericks won for the second straight time last season.

Next Up
Omaha travels to Atlanta, Ga., for a three-game series with Chicago State, Feb. 20-22.