No. 12 Huskers Play Host to Texas Tech this Weekend

This Week in Husker Baseball
Season Record (23-5, 5-1 Big 12)

National Rankings (15/13/12/16 - as of April 6)
Fri. (April 5) vs. New Mexico (10-16-1) Hawks Field W, 7-3
Sat. (April 6) vs. New Mexico Hawks Field W, 14-7
Fri. (April 9) vs. Texas Tech (17-11, 1-4 Big 12) Hawks Field 6:35 p.m.
Sat. (April 10) vs. Texas Tech Hawks Field 2:05 p.m.
Sun. (April 11) vs. Texas Tech Hawks Field 1:05 p.m.
Note: All rankings are listed as follows: Collegiate Baseball/Baseball America/Sports Weekly-ESPN Coaches/NCBWA

Pitching Matchups
Fri. - NU (Zach Kroenke, So., LHP, 5-0, 2.08 ERA) vs. TTU (Steven Thomas, Sr., RHP, 2-3, 3.89 ERA)
Sat. - NU (Phil Shirek, Jr., RHP, 5-0, 1.76 ERA) vs. TTU (Dallas Braden, Jr., LHP, 1-3, 4.14 ERA)
Sun. - NU (Justin Pekarek, Sr., RHP, 4-0, 4.71 ERA) vs. TTU (Michael McGowan, Jr., RHP, 2-1, 3.33 ERA)

Media Information
Radio: Pinnacle Sports Network and KRNU (Fri.-Sun.)
TV: NETV - Live /CSTV - Tape Delayed (Sat.)
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Internet Video Streaming: All three weekend games will be video streamed live on HuskersNside, which is a subscription-based service of the Nebraska Athletic Department. Nearly every 2004 Husker baseball game will be shown live on HuskersNside. For more information on how to subscribe, log on to Huskers.com.

No. 12 Huskers Play Host to Texas Tech this Weekend
Lincoln -- The Nebraska baseball team looks to extend its eight-game winning streak this weekend as the Huskers play host to Texas Tech at Hawks Field. The three-game series between the Huskers and Red Raiders commences Friday at 6:35 p.m. with afternoon tilts on both Saturday (2:05) and Sunday (1:05). Tickets for all three games are available by calling the NU Ticket Office at 800-8-Big Red or at Hawks Field 90 minutes prior to first pitch.

All three games will be carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network with Jim Rose and Gary Sharp calling all the action, while Saturday’s contest will be shown live state-wide on Nebraska Educational Television and tape-delayed on College Sports Television (Ch. 610 on DirecTV) with Kevin Kugler and Adrian Fiala. Live stats will also be available on Huskers.com all weekend.

The Huskers are enjoying one of their fastest starts in history, as NU’s 23-5 mark at the halfway point of the regular season is the best since 1983, when the Huskers shot out to a 26-2 start. NU has won 16 of its last 17 games after a 7-4 start on March 13. The Huskers, who were hovering in the mid-20s in the national polls in early March, made its biggest jump of the season, moving to as high as 12th nationally this week - their highest ranking of the season. NU opened the week with a pair of wins over New Mexico (7-3, 14-7), ending a stretch of nine games over 10 days.

Nebraska leads the Big 12 with a 5-1 mark, just ahead of Oklahoma (7-2) and Texas (6-2), as only three teams are above .500 through the first three weeks of league play.

Texas Tech comes to Lincoln with an 18-11 record after defeating Howard Payne, 17-5, on Wednesday. The Red Raiders have faced a brutal early conference schedule, having faced Texas A&M, a team that has been in the top-10 for most of the season, and Texas, which is ranked No. 1 nationally this week, in their first two weekends of league play.

The Huskers lead the all-time series, 14-11, and have won the regular-season series in each of the past four seasons. Last year, NU won 2-of-3 in Lubbock and have won eight of the past 10 meetings with the Red Raiders dating back to 2001.

Leading Off
? - Nebraska’s 23-5 start through 28 games is the best since the 1983 squad opened the year with a 26-2 mark, highlighted by a school-record 26-game winning streak. It marks only the sixth time in school history that NU won 22 of its first 28 games.

? - Nebraska tossed four consecutive shutouts from March 30 to April 3, marking only the second time in school history that NU has blanked four straight opponents and the first since a four-game stretch in 1977 and 1978. NU had never tossed four straight shutouts in a single season before last week. In fact, the four shutouts nearly equaled all of last season’s total of five.

? - Nebraska has opened April with five straight wins, which should not be surprising since the Huskers have traditionally played well in April. Over the last four-plus years (2000-present), NU is 66-20 (.767), including a 49-8 mark at Hawks Field.

? - The Huskers have won a league-best 10 straight conference series, dating back to last March. At home, the streak is even more impressive as NU is 10-0 in Big 12 series since Hawks Field opened in the spring of 2002. The Huskers have a streak of 13 straight series wins at home dating back to the final season at Buck Beltzer Stadium.

? - The Huskers have been perched in the national polls for the past 76 weeks, dating back to April of 2000. To put that in perspective, the only current Husker to have been on a team that was unranked in his career is fifth-year senior Justin Pekarek, who was redshirting in 2000.

? - Nebraska is 69-12 (.851) since moving into Hawks Field at the start of the 2002 season.

? - NU’s .978 fielding percentage is on pace to break the school record of .971 set in 1994 and 1995, as NU has put together a pair of streaks of 45 or more consecutive innings of error-free baseball.

Scouting Texas Tech
Under long-time Head Coach Larry Hays (683-361-2 in 18 years at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders come to Lincoln with an 18-11 mark after winning a mid-week game on Wednesday.

Tech, which had made eight straight NCAA appearances until the streak was snapped in 2003, brings a balanced offense to town, as the team is hitting .312 with six starters batting above .330, including Josh Brady’s team-high .367 average. The Red Raiders rank second in the league in both homers (62) and homers (41). Brady leads Texas Tech in nearly every offensive category, including homers (10) and stolen bases (15) while ranking second in stolen bases. Michael Mask is also above .350 with nine homers and a team-high 44 RBIs. On the hill, 11 pitchers have at least one of the Red Raiders’ 18 wins. Closer Steve Gooch is 3-0 with a team-best two saves. as Texas Tech is holding teams to a .270 average.

Nebraska has won eight of the past 10 meetings to take a slim 14-11 lead in the series that dates back to 1990. The teams met only five teams before the Big 12 was formed in 1997. Last season, NU took 2-of-3 in Lubbock en route to their second league crown in three years.

Last Time Out
Nebraska jumped right back into action after the Kansas State series, taking two games from New Mexico earlier this week. With the wins, NU won eight of nine games during a nine-game, 10-day stretch.

Monday (Nebraska 7, New Mexico 3) ? John Grose homered and drove in a career-high five runs to lead No. 12 Nebraska to a 7-3 win over New Mexico Monday evening at Hawks Field. The senior belted a third-inning grand slam off New Mexico reliever Karsten Gaarder ? the first of Grose’s career - as Nebraska jumped to a 7-2 lead and cruised to its seventh straight victory and 15th win in the last 16 games. While Grose provided most of the offensive firepower, Quinton Robertson and Brad Furnish combined to allow just one earned run and fan a season-high 14 Lobos without a walk. Robertson (3-4) went the first 5.2 innings for his second straight win, allowing three runs ? one earned - on nine hits, as he matched his career high with seven strikeouts. Furnish then closed the door, fanning a career-best seven Lobos in 3.1 innings of no-hit relief for his first career save. Second baseman Jake Mullinax had a three-hit night and reached base all five times, while center fielder Colin Shockey went 2-for-4 with a walk, as the Huskers had nine hits off four Lobo pitchers.

Tuesday (Nebraska 14, New Mexico 7) ? Alex Gordon had two hits, including a grand slam, and matched his career high with five RBIs, as No. 12 Nebraska posted a 14-7 win over New Mexico on Tuesday. Gordon belted his 11th homer of the season to highlight a seven-run fifth inning, propelling the Huskers (23-5) to their eighth straight win. He was one of five Huskers to record multiple-hit days, as Curtis Ledbetter and Chad Steele also had two hits and drove in a pair of runs, while Daniel Bruce went 2-for-4 with four runs scored. Braden Keith led NU’s 15-hit attack with three hits and scored twice, as all nine starters had at least one hit. Tim Schoeninger (3-0) struck out four in 1.2 innings for the win in relief of starter Jon Klausing, while Brett Jensen, Jeremy Becker and Colin Shockey all tossed scoreless innings of relief.

Gordon Makes Case at Third
One of the reasons for the Huskers’ quick start has been the play of third baseman Alex Gordon. The sophomore from Lincoln has been a steady force in the middle of the Husker lineup, leading the Big Red in nearly every offensive category. Gordon, who was named to the Golden Spikes Watch List on Wednesday, also paces NU in multi-hit games (13) and multi-RBI efforts (13) and has been walked a team-best 23 times. He also tied Curtis Ledbetter for the team lead with seven game-winning RBIs in 2004.

The following is a comparison of Gordon against the preseason All-American third basemen picked by national publications.

Pitchers Set Big 12 Mark
Last week, the Nebraska pitching staff established a record with 43.1 scoreless innings. The record, which included 42 complete innings and parts of two others, broke the Big 12 record of 41 set by Texas in 2002. In all, the Husker pitchers tossed a pair of one-hitters, a three-hitter and a five-hitter before Kansas State scored a run in the fourth inning of NU’s win. Oklahoma held the Big Eight record with 31 straight scoreless innings in 1971, while Arizona State set the NCAA mark with 64 straight scoreless innings back in 1972.

Ouch!
Husker hitters have been hit at an alarming rate over the first half of the season. Nebraska hitters have been hit 64 times, including 15 games of three or more. The Huskers have been hit 39 times over the last 14 games, including a season-high six times against UW-Milwaukee on March 30. Colin Shockey leads the Huskers with 14 HBPs, while Daniel Bruce been hit 11 times, increasing his school record to 53 in 146 career games. At the current rate, NU’s projected 56-game regular season total would be 128, breaking the NCAA record of 125 set by Nevada in 1997.

Checking the Calender
Nebraska’s game on April 24 at Texas has been moved to a 3 p.m. start (originally 2 p.m.) because the game will be televised on Fox Sports Net. The Huskers’ game against the Longhorns is one of three Big 12 regular-season games on Fox Sports Net this spring. It is one of four upcoming Husker games on TV this spring, as matchups with Texas Tech (April 10), Texas A&M (May 1) and Creighton (May 18) will also be televised.

Huskers are Making Sacrifices
Nebraska made sacrifice hits an art form through the early part of the year, ranking second in the Big 12 with 36 sacrifices. Jake Mullinax leads NU with 11 sacrifices, while Daniel Bruce (six), Braden Keith (four) and Joe Simokaitis (four) have combined for 24 of the Huskers’ 36 sacrifices. Of those, NU has enjoyed great success, as 26 of the sacrifices have led directly to runs. NU had a league-best five sacrifice hits against both New Mexico (Feb. 20) and San Diego State (March 14). The NCAA and Big 12 record for sacrifices in a season is 126 by Texas in 2000.

Thou Shall Not Steal on Husker Catchers
Nebraska’s catching duo of John Grose and Chad Steele have combined to throw out 12 of 25 would-be base stealers this season. Grose, who was limited by an elbow injury last spring, has thrown out 40 percent of runners, while Steele has thrown out 57 percent in 14 attempts. The 13 stolen bases given up by NU is the lowest in the Big 12.

NU Shows Outstanding Penmanship
Nebraska’s bullpen corps has proven to be among the Big 12’s best over the first half of the season. Husker relievers are a combined 6-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 94.1 innings of work. NU is 8-of-9 in save opportunities and has allowed just 14 of 59 inherited runners to score. The bullpen has allowed just 13 extra-base hits and opponents are hitting just .225 on the season. In all, six pitchers have at least one save, while Brett Jensen (2-of-10), Dustin Timm (2-of-12), Tim Schoeninger (3-of-10) and Jeremy Becker (0-for-12) have combined to allow just 7-of-44 (16 percent) of runners to score.