Leading Off
The Omaha baseball team hits the road for a three-game series at Western Illinois this weekend, May 8-10, at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium in Macomb, Ill. Friday's opener is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch, followed by Noon starts on Saturday and Sunday. Links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.
    
Quick Hits
•Junior Cole Gruber is sixth in the nation with a .506 on-base percentage. He is also 10th among Division I players with a .403 batting average and 28th with 0.53 stolen bases per game.
•Gruber has made a splash since his return to the lineup March 13, when he moved to the No. 2 spot. He has hit .444 (44-for-99) there over the last 27 games, as compared to a previous .300 (12-for-40) mark from the leadoff position.
•Junior Alex Schultz is on 20-game reaching base streak coming into the weekend, the longest of any Maverick this season. Schultz's longest stretch over his career is 25, set in 2014.
•Junior right-hander Tyler Fox's career-high 13 strikeouts against Fort Wayne on April 24 marked the most strikeouts by a Maverick hurler in UNO's four-year Division I era and was the highest single-game total since Joe Holtmeyer had 16 against Truman on March 22, 2010.
•Head coach Bob Herold sits just five wins away from earning his 500th career victory in 16 seasons of directing the Omaha program.
•UNO's six-game win streak March 13-22 marked its most consecutive wins since seven straight, May 10-17, 2014.
•The Mavericks return 19 letterwinners and five All-Summit selections from a year ago: Gruber, Schultz, Fox, senior Daniel Jewett and junior Clayton Taylor. Fox was also tabbed 2014 Summit League Pitcher of the Year.
•UNO's five returning all-conference selections back this year are the most of any team in the Summit League.
•UNO ended the 2014 season on a seven-game win streak, and in two years in the Summit League, the Mavericks have compiled a 44-27 record in conference play.
•UNO is 124-105 all-time against the five other teams in the Summit League and 239-248 against all opponents on the schedule this year.

Scouting the Western Illinois Leathernecks
Western Illinois carries a record of 15-29 (8-16 5 Summit League) into the weekend after a 7-5 loss at No. 15 Iowa on Tuesday. Last weekend, the Leathernecks dropped two of three against South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D., winning 9-4 in 12 innings on Friday before falling 19-9 in eight innings on Saturday and 12-2 in eight innings on Sunday.

Head coach Ryan Brownlee is in his third season at Western Illinois and owns a career record of 55-98.

Omaha leads the all-time series against the Leathernecks, 13-2. The two teams last played April 3-5 at the Ballpark at Boys Town, with the Mavericks picking up wins in two of three games. UNO won the Friday opener 4-1, then fell 8-4 on Saturday before clinching a 17-8 victory on Sunday. In its last trip to Macomb, May 15-17, 2014, Omaha swept a four-game series from WIU.

Last Time Out: Fort Wayne Sweeps Past Mavericks
Omaha saw its three-game home series with Oral Roberts swept last weekend, falling 5-3 on Friday, 8-6 on Saturday and 18-7 in eight innings on Sunday. Redshirt freshman Ryan Cate hit .462 (6-for-13) for the weekend, scoring twice and driving in another run. On Sunday, Cate starred at the plate, going a perfect 4-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Junior Cole Gruber went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, an RBI, a double and his first home run of the season on Saturday.

Omaha Trio Named Academic All-District
Junior baseball players Alex Mortensen, Clayton Taylor and Cole Gruber were named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District 7 Baseball First Team on Thursday, it was announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The team was selected by a vote of sports information directors whose institutions are located within CoSIDA District 7, which includes the states of Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

It marks the second career inclusion on an Academic All-District team for both Mortensen and Taylor and the first for Gruber. All three now advance to the Academic All-America ballot and will be considered for national accolades later this month. Omaha was one of three Division I teams nationally with three Academic All-District selections, joining MIT and LaSalle.

The trio make up Omaha's seventh, eighth and ninth Academic All-District selections in baseball program history. UNO has had six Academic All-District picks since beginning the Division I reclassification, the most recent being Taylor and former Maverick Caleb Palensky in 2014.

League Leaders
Junior Cole Gruber's recent offensive push has him pacing the Summit League with a .403 batting average and a .506 on-base percentage. He is also second in stolen bases (20), followed by junior Alex Schultz, who is fifth with 10 swiped bags.

On the pitching side, right-hander Zach Williamsen is second in the conference with six wins.

Gruber Swiping Bags
Junior Cole Gruber has made a name for himself in the Summit League for his sneaky work on the basepaths, as he ranks second in the conference with 20 stolen bases. Now two-and-a-half years into his career, Gruber has worked his way up Omaha's career chart for swiped bags with 60 as a Maverick, which ranks third in school history. The Papillion-LaVista product is 14 away from tying former Maverick Jake Wurth (2001-04), who had 70.

Cracking Into the History Books
This season, senior right-handed pitcher Zach Williamsen has broken into the top 10 in school history in a variety of pitching categories: batters faced (fourth - 958), games started (seventh - 34), innings pitched (seventh - 213.1) and appearances (10th - 47).

Junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Fox is in the top 10 for batters faced (sixth - 859), games started (fourth - 36), wins (seventh - 19) and innings pitched (eighth - 203.2).

Senior left-hander Cole Volkers also recently moved into the top 10 for saves, as he has four over his career.

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.

On Feb. 20, Fox picked up his first win of the season against Chicago State, limiting the Cougars to just three singles over 5.0 scoreless innings. He earned his second on March 7 against North Dakota, secured his third vs. North Dakota State on March 20 and grabbed his fourth over Western Illinois on April 3, which put him at seventh in school history for career wins (19).

Fox settled for a no-decision against Fort Wayne last Friday, holding the Mastodons to one run on four hits and a walk with his career-best 13 strikeouts. After that performance, he leads the Omaha pitching staff with 58 Ks in 2015.

Production Up Top
Omaha's 1-4 batters in the lineup this year have produced a significant portion of the Mavericks' offense, combining to hit .309. The 1-4 hitters have accounted for 51 percent of UNO's hits, including 62 percent of its extra-base hits, as well as 59 percent of all runs scored, 56 percent of all RBI and 53 percent of all walks drawn.

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 495-348-2. 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.

Next Up
Omaha travels to Fargo, N.D., for a three-game league series with North Dakota State, May 14-16. First pitch on Thursday and Friday will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. game on Saturday. Links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.