Omaha Set for Meetings With Ohio, Minnesota

Friday, March 2

Emerson, Ga.

2 p.m.

Omaha

Ohio

Payton Kinney and the Omaha baseball team face Ohio in a four-game series this weekend.

Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann

Omaha Set for Meetings With Ohio, Minnesota

Mar 1, 2018 | Baseball

Game Notes

Leading Off
The Omaha baseball team continues its opening road swing, meeting Ohio for a four-game series March 2-4 at Perfect Game Park at LakePoint in Emerson, Ga. First pitch for Friday's opener is at 2 p.m. CT, followed by a Saturday doubleheader at Noon CT and a single game Sunday at 10 a.m. CT. No live stats, audio or video will be available.

Omaha then ventures to Minnesota on Tuesday, March 6, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. The game will be broadcast live on BTN Plus, and links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.

Quick Hits
• Omaha's nine-hole hitters have batted .304 this season.
• The Mavericks have generated the most runs in the third and seventh innings with eight runs apiece in those frames.
• 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), Parker 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 213-272 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 Ohio Bobcats
Ohio is 4-4 (0-0 MAC) after splitting a four-game series with Maine last weekend. The Bobcats lost 5-1 in the Friday opener, split a Saturday doubleheader with a 7-5 win and a 2-1 loss and closed Sunday with a 6-2 victory.

Head coach Rob Smith is in his sixth season at OU, carrying a career record of 119-161.

Friday marks the first meeting all-time between Omaha and Ohio.

Scouting the Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota is 5-2 (0-0 Big Ten) after sweeping three games last weekend at the Snowbird Classic -- 14-1 vs. Boston College, 16-5 vs. Chicago State and 16-5 vs. Mount St. Mary's -- as well as a midweek home win over North Dakota State, 3-1 on Tuesday.

Head coach John Anderson is in his 37th season at Minnesota, carrying a career record of 1,249-847-3.

Tuesday marks the fifth meeting all-time between Omaha and Minnesota, and the Golden Gophers lead the series, 3-1. They last met March 13, 2013 at the Metrodome, where the Mavericks won 10-9 in 11 innings.

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 Friday's opener vs. Ohio. Earlier this season, he picked up his first career win vs. Northwestern (Feb. 17). 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 (0-2) redshirted in 2017. He has started two games so far this year, throwing a season-long 7.0 innings with a season-high four strikeouts last weekend at Wichita State (Feb. 25).
• Opponents are hitting just .125 against right-hander Cal Hehnke (0-0), who will start this weekend's third game. Last weekend, Hehnke threw 3.2 innings of relief at Wichita State, limiting the Shockers to a run on two hits and a walk with a season-best five strikeouts.
• In 2017, right-hander Payton Kinney 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).

Welcome, Freshmen
Four Maverick freshmen have seen time in Omaha's starting lineup over the first two weeks.

Max Gamm has started all seven games at second base and has scored a team-leading six runs. Tyler Daugherty has started seven games between center field and right field, and Braden Rogers has started all seven games at first base while ranking third on the team with a .273 batting average. Hughes has started three games at DH.

2018 Slate Takes Mavericks Around the Nation
Omaha's 2018 schedule includes 54 games, and the team plays in 11 states against schools from six other Division I conferences. Four opponents – Ohio, BYU, Oral Roberts and Nebraska – played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

Entering the season, Omaha has never faced just one of its opponents -- Ohio. The Mavericks hold a combined all-time record of 213-272 over all teams on the regular-season slate.

Thibodeau On the Move to Third
After starting 43 games at second base as a freshman, sophomore Cole Thibodeau has made the move to third base in his sophomore campaign. In the opening weekend of play vs. Northwestern, 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 played in his first game and picked up his first career win on the same night over the Mavericks' opening weekend. The freshman from Hamilton, Ohio, threw against Northwestern, tossing 5.0 innings of shutout relief, limiting the Wildcats to one hit and a walk with four strikeouts.

Pennington boasts the lowest ERA on the team at 3.38, and opponents are hitting just .115 against him.

Double Digits
Omaha produced double-digit hits in back-to-back games to open the season vs. Northwestern, with 18 in game one of the 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 visits BYU for a three-game weekend series, March 8-10, in Provo, Utah. First pitch in Thursday's opener is set for 6 p.m. CT, followed by 6 p.m. CT on Friday and Noon CT on Saturday. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.