Not long ago, Payton Kinney was the ace of the Omaha staff in the midst of an All-American season.

Now, he's a third-year pitching coach for his alma mater overseeing a staff with that kind of potential.

Heading into this weekend's series with North Dakota State, the Mavericks rank 41st nationally in team earned-run average. Starter Caleb Riedel's 0.83 ERA sits third, individually, and reliever Joey Machado's 1.34 comes in 14th. Starters Charlie Bell (2.50) and Mark Timmins (2.77) are also in the NCAA's top 115.

"They compete super hard – every pitch, every inning," Kinney said. "That's all we've asked them to do. They can mix it well and pound the zone with multiple pitches. The competitiveness is through the roof."

Pitching is the reason Omaha (15-15) is challenging for the top spot in the Summit League as the first-place Bison come to town for the lone series between the rivals. Its three weekend starters have allowed only five earned runs combined in nearly 53 innings of work during the first three league series.

Riedel, Bell and Timmins have left six of their nine Summit starts without allowing a run. Four of their team's last six games have been shutout wins. Another ended in a tight 1-0 loss to Northern Colorado.

"In the fall, [Kinney] prepared us really well, just being competitive with what you've got every single outing," said Riedel, the Friday starter. "Going out and attacking, trusting your stuff, throwing strikes and letting the defense make plays. That's probably the biggest key to our success, in my opinion."

The left-hander from Millard West, who joined the Mavericks from Iowa Western, hasn't allowed a run in the last 26 innings he's pitched, dating back to an early-season game at Southern California on Feb. 27.

"Caleb just goes right at guys and doesn't allow many earned runs at all," Timmins said.

Timmins, an Omaha Central and Southeast Community College product, doesn't either. His streak of innings without allowing an earned run has reached 21 after blanking Oral Roberts and Northern Colorado over seven and eight frames, respectively, in his last two conference outings. His ERA in conference play in a miniscule 0.41.

"Timmy just fills up the zone with at least two pitches every outing," Riedel said.  "And he's really good at going late into games and just eating up innings."

Bell, a 6-foot-5 Kansas native who had a dominant season at Fort Scott last spring, is an intimidating presence with a big fastball, Timmins said. He racked up 20 total strikeouts in consecutive games against Valparaiso and Nebraska prior to conference play and has been dominant early in his last two starts.

"Chuck's really good at attacking early and throwing a lot of strikes," Riedel said. "He's great at moving his fastball around and not getting rattled when things aren't going his way – got a pretty level head."

The trio of weekend starters have given the Mavericks consistency throughout every series. Unlike many other teams at their level, they have no drop in talent or effectiveness in starters from Friday to Sunday.

"We knew we had potential, but I definitely couldn't see this coming," Bell said. "But here we are."

Omaha's weekend rotation gives it a chance to win every series. But Machado is the staff's wild card. After spending his entire career as a starter, the sixth-year senior from Omaha Creighton Prep has been dominant in a relief role. In addition to his four wins, Machado has two saves. In Tuesday's 11-10 victory at Kansas, he came on in the ninth inning to strike out the side to secure a road win over a Big 12 foe.

"Those three starters have been awesome, but I would argue that Joey's been the MVP so far," Kinney said. "He's been a Friday guy here forever, and we asked him to move to the [bullpen]. He took it head on, and he's just been everything. If it's a close game late, he's getting the ball and he's going to go pound the zone and, usually, get us a 'W.' He's been awesome."

The quartet of Machado, Riedel, Bell and Timmins have thrown most of the innings for Omaha since Summit League play began. In fact, each of them has pitched more than the rest of the staff combined.

Head coach Evan Porter said that's a good problem to have. In order to get some other guys some needed work, the Mavericks used 12 pitchers in their midweek game with Kansas, mostly by design.

"We've been riding the same six or seven guys every weekend, and they've been winning us series," Kinney said. "But we have eight to 10 arms that have under 10 innings that are electric."

The Mavericks, batting just .237 as a team through nine Summit games, expect to continue to rely on pitching and defense as the conference season moves on. Porter said his staff gives Omaha a chance to win every game. And he's grateful the Mavericks have their former staff ace around to give guidance.

"I'm really proud of our pitchers and what P.K.'s doing with them as our pitching coach," he said. "It's a good feeling. When our defense is playing well behind them, those guys … they're tough.

"P.K., when he was pitching, was one of the toughest competitors I've ever seen. I think the guys feed off that when he's around them because he just doesn't allow them to have any excuses. But he does it in a way where it's not a separation between coach and player. He knows what they're going through."