By Ethan Wolbach
After a historic 2019 season, Omaha Baseball looks to turn the page and continue its Summit League success. The 2020 campaign kicked off Tuesday, February 4th with Media Day at Baxter Arena where head coach Evan Porter fielded questions from reporters about the challenges that lie ahead this season.
Coach Porter said the team is focused on the present and will look to repeat success in a very competitive Summit League.
“We’ve been trying to leave the past in the past. We’re coming off a good year but it’s a new year, there’s new expectations, new guys on the team and we’re trying to build off that and it will be a very challenging year in the Summit League,“ Porter said.
Omaha will look to stay atop the Summit while recent success has placed a large target on their back for this season.
“Oral Roberts has been in that position almost every year since they’ve been in the conference. We were giving them our best shot all those years and this year it’s not any different than any other year, other than that fact that we’re the ones getting the best shot of each team in the conference,” Porter said.
Seniors, Brett Bonar and Parker Smejkal joined Coach Porter at the podium, as the duo talked about the feeling of being defending Summit League Champions.
“My past years, it’s been, we’ve always been going after guys, but this season like coach has been telling us all off-season, we’ve got a target on our back, but it will be fun and I think our guys are up for the challenge,” Smejkal said.
Coach Porter stressed that building a culture around the Omaha Baseball program will be a key part of the continued success and Porter believes they have the right group of guys together to do so.
“Culture triumphs everything. We saw that last year. I think it’s safe to say, I don’t know if we were top to bottom the most talented athletically or baseball-wise team last year in the conference, but we had a really tight group that knew how to compete and knew how to win,” Porter said.
Omaha’s first action of the season will come February 14-16 in Glendale, Arizona as the Mavericks will face off against Big Ten opponent, Northwestern.
