It was just one game in February, but it will be one players for the Omaha Mavericks will remember for a lifetime.
In the biggest upset of the season so far, Omaha’s Ben Weber, Luke Gainer and Oliver Mabee held an LSU team ranked as high as No. 2 in the polls hitless into the eighth inning and the Mavs hung on for a 5-4 win Saturday in Baton Rouge.
The Mavs (2-5) of the Summit League haven’t posted a winning record since 2019. LSU was by far the highest ranked opponent they’ve knocked off since they became a full-fledged Division I program in 2016.
“It was a big moment for our program even though it’s a regular-season game,” coach Evan Porter said Monday. “I think we’re 12-13 years (since transitioning) into Division I, and we didn’t have a stadium until four years ago. Before that we were playing at a city park and maybe not all the students on campus knew we had a baseball program.”
The victory was especially meaningful for Porter and pitching coach Michael Bradshaw. Porter grew up in Omaha, was a two-time Division II All-America shorstop for the Mavs and still holds the program record for games played (239 from 2005-09). Bradshaw pitched at Nevada when LSU coach Jay Johnson led the Wolf Pack and he was an assistant under Johnson at Arizona.