OMAHA, Neb. -- A pair of Omaha baseball players were selected Saturday afternoon in the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Senior outfielder Cole Gruber was taken in the 27th round by the Oakland Athletics as the 802nd overall pick, while senior right-hander Robert Calvano went in the 38th round to the St. Louis Cardinals as the 1,156th overall pick.

Gruber and Calvano are the sixth and seventh Mavericks drafted under head coach Bob Herold and the first draft picks in UNO's Division I era. Omaha's last draft pick was in 2011, when Joe Holtmeyer was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 22nd round.

Gruber, the Summit League's leading hitter, started all 56 games this season and batted .376 with 13 doubles, two triples, one home run, 55 runs scored, 30 RBI, 32 walks and 43 stolen bases. He ranks third nationally for stolen bases and fourth for stolen bases per game (0.77), and he paced the Summit League for hits (83), runs and swiped bags. The Papillion-LaVista product had a team-high 26 multi-hit performances and five multi-RBI games en route to earning his third consecutive All-Summit award.

Over his four-year career, Gruber hit .353 and started in 192 of his 198 games played. He holds the all-time Summit League record for career sacrifice bunts (35) and is second for career stolen bases (105), while also ranking as Omaha's all-time career leader in both categories. An accounting major with a 3.97 grade-point average, Gruber is a two-time Academic All-American and was named the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Division I baseball earlier this month.

Calvano joined the UNO program in 2014 and was part of Omaha's second Summit League championship team that season. He made 18 mound appearances over his Maverick career, including eight in relief in his senior campaign. Over 6.2 innings of work this year, Calvano went 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA, issuing five strikeouts to three walks.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Calvano is a general studies major and is on track to graduate with his bachelor's degree this August.

1965 – Gary Girourard (New York Yankees, 9th round, 168th overall)

1969 – Louis Billmeier (Chicago White Sox, 4th round, 90th overall, January Secondary Draft)

1971 – David Kaster (Houston Astros, 1st round, 4th overall, June Secondary Draft)

1973 – Gary Walker (St. Louis Cardinals, 38th round, 712th overall)

1976 – Bruce Benedict (Atlanta Braves, 5th round, 99th overall)

1979 – Rich Shefte (Minnesota Twins, 6th round, 141st overall)

1981 – Joe Benes (Texas Rangers, 10th round, 242nd overall)

1998 – Ryan Christianson (St. Louis Cardinals, 27th round, 798th overall)

2008 – Tim Huber (Kansas City Royals, 27th round, 805th overall)

2008 – Bryan Frew (Philadelphia Phillies, 43rd round, 1306th overall)

2009 – Evan Porter (Philadelphia Phillies, 23rd round, 707th overall)

2009 – Chris Kessinger (Seattle Mariners, 37th round, 1103th overall)

2011 -- Joe Holtmeyer (Boston Red Sox, 22nd round, 682nd overall)

2016 -- Cole Gruber (Oakland Athletics, 27th round, 802nd overall)

2016 -- Robert Calvano (St. Louis Cardinals, 38th round, 1156th overall)

Note: All draftees were selected in the June Amateur Draft unless otherwise noted.