Omaha Resumes League Play With Bison
Apr 25, 2013 | Baseball, General
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Leading Off
With a perfect 8-0 start to Summit League play, the Omaha baseball team resumes conference action this weekend, hosting North Dakota State at the Ballpark at Boys Town, April 26-28. The series starts with a single game on Friday at 2 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. and a single-game finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. Links to live stats will be available on OMavs.com, and the games will also be broadcast live on KVNO 90.7 HD-2, with student broadcasters Jared Meyer and Paul Dobler on the call.
Omaha is in its second year as a reclassifying Division I school in 2012-13 and officially joined The Summit League in July 2012 with a full regular-season conference schedule ahead. The Mavericks are led by head coach Bob Herold, who is in his 14th year at the helm of the UNO program with a career record of 434-296-2.
Quick Hits
•UNO has gone 8-0 over the opening weeks of Summit League play and sits atop the conference standings. The Mavericks had back-to-back weekend sweeps, taking doubleheaders from Fort Wayne (April 5) and Oakland (April 7), followed by four wins at Western Illinois (April 12-14).
•The Mavericks' eight-game win streak from April 5 to April 14 was snapped with a 3-0 loss to Iowa on April 16. The streak was Omaha's longest since an 11-game stretch from March 18 to April 2, 2011.
•UNO is 19-20 all-time against North Dakota State. The Bison won a four-game series, 3-1, last season in Omaha, but the Mavericks closed it out strong with a 9-1 victory at the Ballpark at Boys Town.
•Three multi-hit games helped senior Cory Buckley tally a team-leading eight hits in UNO's last conference series two weeks ago, hitting .471 for the weekend at Western Illinois. Sophomore Alex Mortensen hit .368 (7-for-19) with four doubles, six RBI and three runs, and freshman Alex Schultz hit .545 (6-for-11) with four RBI and five runs scored.
•Omaha's sweeps of Fort Wayne, Oakland and Western Illinois have highlighted the Mavericks' official Summit League debut as a member of the conference. All-time, UNO is now 93-79 against the five other teams in the league.
•Mortensen ranks eighth nationally with 0.48 doubles per game, and he leads the Summit League with a .355 batting average and 14 doubles. He is also second in hits (39) and slugging percentage (.509) and third in total bases (56).
•Buckley's .423 batting average in conference play ranks fourth among league hitters. Sophomore Zach Williamsen's 2.61 ERA is fourth among league pitchers, and junior Josh Bullock is second with six saves.
Scouting the North Dakota State Bison
North Dakota State is 15-15 (3-3 Summit League) after falling 5-3 at Minnesota on Wednesday. Kyle Kleinendorst finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Wes Satzinger went 1-for-4 with a run scored and another driven in. The loss went to reliever Brian VanderWoude (0-1), who threw 0.2 innings and allowed two runs on one hit with two walks.
Head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his sixth year at NDSU with a career record of 130-155.
Last Time Out
Omaha saw its eight-game win streak snapped on April 16, falling 3-0 to Iowa at Werner Park. The win went to Calvin Mathews (2-4), who threw 5.0 innings of shutout ball and limited Omaha to three hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Senior Cory Buckley (1-4) took the loss, surrendering three runs (two earned) on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Taylor Kaufman earned his second save of the year, tossing 4.0 innings of relief with four hits and a strikeout.
Kris Goodman led the Hawkeyes, finishing 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI, and Anthony Torres went 2-for-3. Omaha finished with seven hits – all singles -- but no Maverick tallied a multi-hit day.
Rewind with the Bison
Omaha last faced North Dakota State in 2012, hosting a four-game series in Omaha, April 6-8. The Bison won the series, 3-1, but Omaha prevailed in the final game with a 9-1 win. As a team, the Mavericks totaled nine runs on 13 hits. Colby McCord finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Mark Waldron and Scotty Donner and Connor McCrite all went 2-for-5. Waldron and McCrite each scored once, and McCrite added two runs driven in.
Brady Hohl was 1-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored, while freshman Alex Mortensen was 1-for-4 with a pair of runs of his own.
Zach Williamsen (2-1) shined on the mound, allowing one run on five hits over 7.0 innings. The loss went to Zach Wentz (1-2), who surrendered four runs on eight hits. Wentz struck out four and walked four over 5.1 innings of work.
For the day, the Bison were limited to five hits, with four singles and one home run.
Going Streaking
Senior Cory Buckley carries a team-best seven-game hitting streak into the weekend, the second-longest of any Maverick this season. In that span, he has hit .500 with a team-leading 11 hits, two RBI and five runs scored.
Redshirt freshman Clayton Taylor had the longest hitting streak of any UNO hitter this year, recording nine straight games with a hit from March 18 to March 31.
Do the Splichal Slide
Omaha played no games last weekend, but the Mavericks' efforts on the field still gained attention in an unexpected way. A YouTube clip of junior Tyler Splichal scoring in UNO's April 7 win over Oakland has gained over 122,000 views online in the last week, spurred by social media exposure from Bleacher Report and Yahoo! Sports. The viral clip was also shown on ESPN and “MLB Now” on MLB Network.
On the Hill: Notables About the Weekend Rotation
True freshman Tyler Fox (3-1) has moved into Omaha's Friday starter role in his first season as a Maverick. He most recently earned a 3-1 win at Western Illinois on April 12, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits over 5.0 innings of work while striking out four batters. Fox has 23 strikeouts in his inaugural campaign, ranking second on the squad.
Sophomore righthander Zach Williamsen (2-1) enters the weekend with a 2.61 ERA, the lowest of any starter on staff, and his 21 strikeouts rank third on the team. Williamsen has thrown a season-long 6.0 innings three times this year, and he last took the mound at WIU on April 13. He threw 6.0 innings against the Leathernecks, surrendering three runs on six hits with two strikeouts. For the season, opponents are hitting just .204 against Williamsen.
Senior righty Matt Tew (2-4) had the most starting appearances of any pitcher on the 2012 staff, totaling 13 starts over 14 appearances as a junior with a team-leading 38 strikeouts. This season, Tew paces Omaha's hurlers with 27 strikeouts in eight appearances and six starts. He threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout against Oakland on April 7for his longest appearance of the year at 7.0 innings. Tew followed up with a six-inning outing at Western Illinois on April 13, allowing one run on seven hits with three strikeouts.
Junior Steven Schoonover (2-2) last took the mound on April 14, tossing 5.0 innings at Western Illinois. He allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts.
Tew, Bass Sweep Weekly Summit League Honors
Omaha's Brett Bass and Matt Tew swept the Summit League's Player and Pitcher of the Week awards for their performances April 1-7, the conference office announced April 9.
Bass earned his first career Player of the Week award after leading the Mavericks to a perfect 4-0 league record to open up Summit League play. The junior had at least one hit in every game, including three multi-hit performances. In game two against Oakland, Bass had three hits with two runs scored and also recorded two hits in game one vs. the Golden Grizzlies and in a one-run loss at Kansas State. For the week, Bass hit .529 (9-of-17) with a .619 on-base percentage and .529 slugging percentage. He recorded three RBI, two runs scored, four walks and three stolen bases in the five games last week. Bass has a .340 batting average for the year, which ranks second in the league, with a team-leading 35 hits and seven stolen bases this season.
Tew captured his first career Pitcher of the Week award after tossing a complete game shutout in a 7-0 win over Oakland Sunday. The senior threw four perfect innings to start the game before allowing his only hit, a single, in the fifth. He finished with a season-high seven strikeouts and just one walk, spurring the Mavericks' doubleheader sweep of the Golden Grizzlies. Tew also threw one inning of scoreless relief at Kansas State earlier in the week, striking out one and holding the Wildcats hitless.
Omaha has had a total of three weekly conference award winners this season, as senior Ryan Keele was previously named Summit League Player of the Week on March 18.
Falcone Nearly Flawless vs. Hawkeyes
In UNO's 9-6 victory over Iowa on March 16, the win went to junior reliever Anthony Falcone, who threw 3.2 innings of hitless relief and allowed no walks. He entered the game in the sixth inning and was nearly flawless over 3.2 innings, holding the Hawkeyes to nine straight groundouts before the ninth-inning leadoff reached on an error and one batter was hit by a pitch in the last inning.
Fresh Faces Seeing the Field
Twenty-nine Mavericks have seen the field in the first six weeks of the season, 16 of whom are newcomers. Six true freshmen have made their way into the lineup: Cole Gruber, Alex Schultz, Collin Leif, Sam Murphy, Marcus Ethen and Tyler Fox.
Junior Brett Bass is third among Maverick starters with a steady .315 batting average, and he is hitting an outstanding .426 (23-for-54) when leading off an inning.
Palensky, Mortensen Earn Preseason Recognition from College Sports Madness
Junior Caleb Palensky and sophomore Alex Mortensen earned preseason all-league recognition from College Sports Madness, the online publication announced on Jan. 21. Both players were named to the All-Summit Second Team.
In 2012, Mortensen's .292 batting average as a freshman was fourth on the team, and he finished with a squad-leading 26 RBI, nine doubles, one triple and a team-best four home runs. Palensky hit .250 in his sophomore year with nine doubles, two triples, two homers and 17 RBI, and he drew a team-leading 19 walks.
Herold at the Helm
Head Coach Bob Herold is in his 14th year as the skipper of the Nebraska Omaha baseball program in 2013, having compiled a career record of 434-296-2. 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 (464-473) and Virgil Yelkin (439-196) in the prestigious club, and Herold needs 33 more wins to pass Gates as the all-time winningest coach in UNO history.
Over his Maverick career, Herold has guided Omaha to seven NCAA Division II postseason appearances and three conference championships.
Herold's most recent draft pick was righthanded 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 14th year, and Evan Porter, in his first year, as well as volunteer pitching coach Dan McGinn, who is in his 13th year.
Welcome to The Summit League
The 2013 season marks UNO's first year with a full regular-season Summit League schedule. UNO will play all five of its Summit League foes, once in Omaha and once on the road. Although the Mavericks will appear in the Summit League standings, they cannot qualify for the Summit League Championship or the NCAA Tournament until 2015-16.
Mixed Schedule Takes Mavericks Around the Nation
Omaha's 2013 schedule includes 56 games against 17 different Division I opponents, and the team will play in 12 states across the country. UNO will match up with opponents from eight different conferences: Big 12, Big Ten, Great West, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Southland, the Summit League and Western Athletic (WAC).
Two foes were 2012 NCAA Tournament qualifiers: Missouri and Creighton. CU played in the Los Angeles Regional, while MU was sent to the Tucson Regional.
The Mavericks have never faced three of their 2013 opponents -- UTSA, Penn State and Western Illinois -- and they hold a combined all-time record of 195-195 over all teams on the slate entering this season.
MAVERICKS VS. OTHER CONFERENCES IN 2013
Big 12 -- 0-1
Big Ten -- 3-4
Great West -- 1-4
Missouri Valley -- 1-3
Mountain West -- 1-1
SEC – 0-1
Southland – 0-1
WAC – 0-1
Summit League Preseason Poll Announced
In its first year as a member of the Summit League, Omaha was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll released by the conference office last month.
North Dakota State was favored to capture its first Summit League Baseball Tournament title in a preseason vote among the league's six head coaches. The Bison received five first-place votes and a total of 25 points. South Dakota State placed second with 17 points, followed closely by Oakland who received the final first-place vote and 16 points. Western Illinois (15 points), Fort Wayne (nine points) and league newcomer Omaha (eight points) round out the poll.
Former Maverick Cloyd Makes MLB Debut With Philadelphia Phillies
Former Omaha baseball player Tyler Cloyd made his Major League debut last fall on Aug. 29, as he was called up by the Philadelphia Phillies. Cloyd debuted against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park, giving up three runs on seven hits over six innings of work, striking out five and walking two. Cloyd became just the second Maverick to play in the Majors, joining Bruce Benedict, who played 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves.
A native of Bellevue, Neb., and the Phillies' 18th-round pick in the 2008 Draft, Cloyd also went 15-1 overall in the Minor Leagues last season. His stint with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs resulted in a 12-1 record with a 2.35 earned-run average, which led all pitchers the International League.
Cloyd lettered two seasons at UNO (2006-07), earning third-team All-America honors and first-team all-region recognition in his final season. A two-time All-NCC honoree, he was twice named NCC Most Valuable Pitcher.
On to the Next One
Omaha returns to action May 3-5, traveling to Fort Wayne. The series begins with a single game on Friday at 11 a.m. (CT), followed by a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. (CT) and a Sunday series finale at 11 a.m. (CT), all at Mastodon Field in Fort Wayne, Ind. Links to live stats will be available on OMavs.com.
