Leading Off
The Omaha baseball team plays a three-game series at Wichita State this weekend, Feb. 24-25, at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kan. The series opens with a single game Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Sunday at Noon. Omaha then ventures to Kansas on Monday, Feb. 26, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, Kan. Live video, audio and stats, as available, will be linked on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
• Four Mavericks --
Parker Smejkal,
Braden Rogers,
Ben Palensky and
Max Gamm -- carry three-game hitting streaks after last weekend's season-opening series.
• Omaha returns 12 letterwinners, including five position players who were starters last season:
Adam Caniglia (51 starts in 2017),
Grant Suponchick (47),
Cole Thibodeau (44), Smejkal (40) and
Jack Kalina (35).
• Suponchick is the Mavericks' lone returning All-Summit selection, as he was a first-team pick as a designated hitter in 2017.
• Omaha was picked fifth in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• Omaha's four captains are seniors Caniglia and
Payton Kinney, junior
Cal Hehnke and sophomore
Keil Krumwiede.
• Omaha is 213-268 all-time against all opponents on the schedule this year and 154-145 all-time against the five other teams in the Summit League. The Mavericks have compiled a 74-64 record in Summit League play since 2013.
Scouting the Wichita State Shockers
Wichita State is 3-0 (0-0 American) after sweeping a three-game series from McNeese State last weekend, 10-7 on Friday, 11-2 on Saturday and 11-10 on Sunday.
Head coach Todd Butler is in his fifth season at WSU, carrying a record of 109-128 and a career mark of 199-211 over eight years.
Saturday marks the 13th meeting all-time between Omaha and Wichita State, and the Mavericks lead the series, 7-5. The two teams last met March 1, 2017 in Wichita, with the Shockers taking an 8-0 win.
Scouting the Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas enters the weekend with a record of 2-1 (0-0 Big 12). Last weekend, the Jayhawks opened the season with a 5-3 win over Murray State on Friday, fell 10-5 to the Racers on Saturday and closed with a 4-1 victory on Sunday.
Head coach Ritch Price is in his 16th season at KU, carrying a record of 467-430-3 and a career mark of 684-658-4 over 24 years.
Monday marks the sixth meeting all-time between Omaha and Kansas, and the Jayhawks lead the series, 5-0. The two teams last met March 8, 2017 in Lawrence with KU taking a 6-5 win.
Road Warriors
Omaha opens the 2018 season with 16 straight road games in six different states, playing in Arizona once, Kansas three times, Georgia once, Minnesota once and Utah once. Out of the gate, the Mavericks see two 2017 NCAA Tournament teams between the third and fourth weekends, facing Ohio for a four-game series (March 2-4) and BYU for a three-game set (March 8-10).
Maverick Mound Notes
• Right-hander
Grant Suponchick (1-0) is slated to start in Saturday's opener at Wichita State after picking up his first career win last weekend vs. Northwestern. In 2017, he made 17 mound appearances with six starts and a team-leading two saves, totaling 42.2 innings on the bump.
• Right-hander and game two starter
Joey Machado (0-1) redshirted in 2017 and made his first career start last weekend against NU.
• Right-hander
Payton Kinney made his season debut in last weekend's series finale, throwing 3.0 innings of relief with one run allowed on three hits. In 2017, he threw 51.0 innings, and opposing batters hit just .204 against him. For the season, he finished with a 3.88 ERA and ranked second on the team and ninth in the Summit League for strikeouts (56).
• Left-hander
Spencer Koelewyn is set to make his career debut with the Monday start at Kansas.
Strong Series for Smejkal
Parker Smejkal was a major offensive factor in Omaha's season-opening series with Northwestern, batting .500 (6-for-12) over three games. The junior scored three times and had a team-best .667 slugging percentage and .538 on-base percentage.
Smejkal tallied back-to-back multi-hit games in Saturday's doubleheader, finishing 3-for-5 with a pair of runs in game one, then 2-for-4 with a run and two doubles in the nightcap.
Welcome, Freshmen
Three Maverick freshmen were part of Omaha's starting lineup vs. Northwestern last weekend, with
Max Gamm at second base and
Tyler Daugherty in center field for all three games, as well as
Hunter Hughes at designated hitter for the first two. Saturday's season opener marked the third straight year that at least one true freshman started on Opening Day for Omaha.
Gamm scored a team-leading five runs for the weekend, and Daugherty batted .273 with four runs and two RBI. Hughes added a pair of runs scored and two more driven in.
Thibodeau On the Move to Third
After starting 43 games at second base as a freshman, sophomore
Cole Thibodeau made the move to third base last weekend. Thibodeau hit .455 with three runs and a team-leading four RBI for the series.
In 2017, Thibodeau ranked sixth nationally and led the Summit League with 14 sacrifice hits last season, helping Omaha as a team to 10th in the country and first in the conference for sac bunts (52). For the year, he batted .273 with 26 runs scored and had 11 multi-hit games.
Pennington Out of the Pen
Right-hander
Jake Pennington (1-0) made his collegiate debut in game two of last weekend's doubleheader vs. Northwestern, tossing 5.0 innings of shutout relief. The freshman from Hamilton, Ohio, picked up his first career win after limiting the Wildcats to one hit and a walk with four strikeouts.
Caniglia Entering Senior Campaign
Early in his senior year,
Adam Caniglia is Omaha's active career in nearly every offensive category. The Omaha, Neb., native has been a four-year starter, including all of his 55 games played as a sophomore and all of his 51 games played as a junior.
Caniglia is a career .258 hitter and put together his best season in 2016 with a .310 average and 10 doubles. Last year, he ranked third in the Summit League for hit-by-pitches (10) and led the Mavericks in walks (23). Caniglia's junior season included eight multi-hit games and three multi-RBI performances.
Double Digits
Omaha produced double-digit hits in back-to-back games to open the season vs. Northwestern, with 18 in game one of last Saturday's doubleheader sweep and 10 in game two. Last season, the Mavericks had 10 or more hits in 15 games, going 9-6.
Over the last seven years of Division I play, UNO is a combined 99-42 when keying at least 10 hits.
Up Next
Omaha returns to action with a four -game weekend series against Ohio, March 2-4, in Emerson, Ga. First pitch in Friday's opener is set for 2 p.m., followed by a Noon doubleheader on Saturday and 10 a.m. on Sunday. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
