Huskers Return Home to Face Northern Iowa

This Week in Husker Baseball
Season Record (31-16, 10-11 Big 12)
National Rankings (--/--/23 - as of May 10)
Tues. (May 11) Northern Iowa (20-25) Hawks Field 6:35 p.m.
Wed. (May 12) Northern Iowa Hawks Field 2:05 p.m.
Fri.. (May 14) Baylor (23-23, 10-9 Big 12) Waco, Texas 7 p.m.
Sat. (May 15) Baylor Waco, Texas 7 p.m.
Sun. (May 16) Baylor Waco, Texas 1 p.m.
Note: All rankings are listed as follows: Collegiate Baseball/Baseball America/Sports Weekly-ESPN Coaches

Pitching Matchups
Tues. - NU (Brad Furnish, Fr., LHP, 2-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. UNI (Brandon Rinnan, Jr., LHP, 0-4, 5.23 ERA)
Wed. - NU (Jon Klausing, Fr., LHP, 0-0, 5.06 ERA) vs. UNI (Bill Zenk, Sr., LHP, 4-2, 6.21 ERA)

Media Information
Radio: Pinnacle Sports Network (Tues.)/KRNU (Wed.)
TV: None
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Internet Video Streaming: Every remaining regular-season game will be video streamed live on HuskersNside, which is a subscription-based service of the Nebraska Athletic Department. For more information on how to subscribe, visit Huskers.com.

Huskers Return Home to Face Northern Iowa
Nebraska continues its stretch of eight games in nine days Tuesday evening, as the Huskers return home to face Northern Iowa for a two-game series. The matchup, the Huskers’ final non-conference home series of the regular season, commences Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. with the finale slated for Wednesday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. Tickets for both games are available by calling 800-8-Big Red or at Hawks Field 90 minutes before first pitch.

Tuesday’s game will be carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network with Jim Rose and Gary Sharp calling all of the action (check local stations for broadcast availability), while Wednesday’s game will be carried in Lincoln by KRNU (90.3 FM). Live stats of both games will be available on Huskers.com, while a live video stream is available on HuskersNside, as every remaining regular-season game will be carried live on the premium site.

The Huskers come into the series with a 31-16 overall mark after winning the finale against No. 21 Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Monday. Nebraska snapped a four-game losing streak with Monday’s 9-1 win, and has played nine of its last 11 games against ranked teams heading into this week. The Huskers, who are ranked as high as 23rd (Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll) have played well at Hawks Field, winning 16 of 22 home games, including a 12-1 mark against non-conference foes.

Northern Iowa is 20-25 on the year after splitting a four-game series at Bradley last weekend. While UNI is a program familiar to Husker fans, the Panthers make their first appearance at Hawks Field on Tuesday. The two teams have not met since the 2001 season, when the Huskers won a pair of games (15-6, 16-6), including one in the NCAA Lincoln Regional at Buck Beltzer Stadium. Nebraska leads the all-time series 20-2, including wins in the last four meetings. Northern Iowa’s last win in the series came during the 1997 season.

The Huskers return to Big 12 play this weekend with an important three-game series at Baylor, which plays a pair of mid-week contests before hosting the Huskers at the Baylor Ballpark.

Saturday Time Change
Saturday’s game at Baylor has been moved from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to reduce conflict with Baylor’s graduation ceremonies also slated for May 15.

Alex the Ironman
Third baseman Alex Gordon is the lone Husker to start all 47 games this season, and has been in the starting lineup the past 71 contests, dating back to April 23, 2003. In 2004, Gordon has played in 406.2 of Nebraska’s 410.2 innings, sitting out the final two innings of NU’s wins over Kent State (Feb. 22) and Boston College (March 21).

The Huskers’ Bruise Brothers
At first glance, the Huskers’ career hit-by pitch list looks very much like the 2004 lineup. Of the 13 players on the all-time list (20 or more HBP), five are current players and a sixth is second-year volunteer assistant Brandt Vlieger

No. Mark Player Year
1. 56 Daniel Bruce 2002-
2. 34 Dave Crain 1994-95
3. 26 Brandt Vlieger 1999-00
26 Bryan Schmidt 1997-98
26 Derek Dukart 1993-94
6. 24 Corey Miller 1996
24 Jed Dalton 1992-95
8. 23 John Grose 2002-
9. 21 Joe Simokaitis 2002-
10. 20 Alex Gordon 2003-
20 Jake Mullinax 2003-
20 Darin Petersen 1992-95
20 Shawn Buchanan 1988-91

Leading Off
? - The Huskers have been ranked in the national polls for the past 81 weeks, dating back to April of 2000.

? - One of the strengths of the Huskers in 2004 has been the play of their defense. NU is ranked seventh nationally with a .975 fielding percentage, a pace that would break the school mark of .971 set in 1994 and 1995. The Huskers are 17-3 this season when they play errorless baseball. NU has had a pair of stretches of at least 45 innings without an error, including a 63.1 inning stretch - the longest stretch in over 20 years - earlier in the season.

? - With less than a month remaining in the regular season, sophomore third baseman Alex Gordon is looking to become the Big 12’s first triple crown (average, homers and RBIs) winner. Gordon is second in the league in hitting and third in both homers and RBIs, as he is hitting .380 with 15 homers and 64 RBIs. The last conference player (Big Eight/SWC) to lead the league in all three categories in a single season was Oklahoma State’s Pete Incaviglia (.464-48-143) in 1985.

? - Throughout 2004, the Huskers have bolted to fast starts, outscoring opponents 51-23 in the opening inning of games and 135-62 over the first three innings.

? - One trait the 2004 Huskers have shown is the ability to win close games, as Nebraska’s six one-run wins not only equals the entire 2003 team’s total, but is the most since the 1998 season.

? - Gordon looks to extend Nebraska’s streak of Big 12 home run champions, as he is third in the league with 15 round trippers, three behind Travis Metcalf of Kansas for the league lead. A Husker has led the Big 12 in homers in each of the past four seasons, dating back to the 2000 season (Matt Hopper and Dan Johnson, 2000; Dan Johnson, 2001; Jed Morris, 2002; Matt Hopper, 2003).

While Gordon adds his legacy to an impressive list of Husker sluggers, he also looks to become the first Husker third baseman to earn first-team all-conference accolades since Derek Dukart in 1994. Gordon’s performance not only potentially puts him among the favorites for league honors, but also compares very favorably to NU’s last two Big 12 Players of the Year (Jed Morris in 2002 and Matt Hopper in 2003). In addition, Ken Harvey’s numbers from the 1999 season when he was Smith Award and Golden Spikes finalist are included below.

Stats After 47 Games
Player, Year Avg. Runs HR RBI SLG. OBP
Gordon, 2004 .380 51 15 64 .789 .500
Hopper, 2003 .376 50 17 50 .729 .488
Morris, 2002 .361 50 13 54 .675 .428
Harvey, 1999 .497 57 19 68 .901 .558

? - Senior second baseman Jake Mullinax was chosen as the Husker Power Baseball Lifter of the Year prior to the May 2 game gainst Texas A&M. He was chosen by a vote of his teammates after lowering his body fat percentage from 19 percent to 10 percent and gaining seven pounds of mass. He also increased his vertical jump 2.5 inches and improved his Performance Index 215 points. Mullinax beat out finalists Alex Gordon, Zach Kroenke and Phil Shirek for the award.

? - Nebraska’s win against No. 1 Texas on April 25 in Austin was the Huskers’ first over a top-ranked team since an 8-7 win over No. 1 Texas A&M at the Big 12 Tournament on May 23, 1999.

? - A trio of Huskers have been nominated for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, as pitchers Mike Sillman (3.775 GPA in business administration) and Jeremy Becker (3.674 GPA in agricultural engineering) are joined by outfielder Daniel Bruce (3.872 GPA in English). This is the second time that Bruce has been nominated and the first for both Becker and Sillman.

? - The Nebraska baseball team joined the men’s basketball, track and cross country teams as the four finalists for the Herman Award. The honor is presented to the men’s and women’s teams with the highest GPA over the previous two semesters. It marked the second straight season that the Husker baseball team has been a finalist for the campus award (won by the cross country team).

? - The Huskers have scored five or more runs in an inning 10 times in 2004, spanning a total of nine games, including a five-run inning vs. Oklahoma State on Monday. The eight runs scored against Missouri on April 18 equaled the highest single inning total in 2004 (also vs. Northwestern on Feb. 20) and was the most in an inning since scoring nine runs in the fifth inning vs. Texas-Pan American on April 23, 2002.

Big Innings (Five or more Runs in an Inning in 2004)
No. Inn. Opponent Date Result
8 3rd Northwestern Feb. 20 W
8 5th Missouri April 18 W
7 5th New Mexico April 6 W
7 1st North Carolina Feb. 28 W
5 1st Northwestern Feb. 20 W
6 2nd Kent State Feb. 22 W
5 3rd Boston College March 21 W
5 5th Kansas-2 March 28 W
5 8th Kansas State April 2 W
5 6th Oklahoma State May 10 W

Scouting Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa comes to Lincoln with a 20-25 record after splitting a four-game series with Bradley last weekend. The Panthers dropped the opener of the series on Friday, 5-4, before sweeping Saturday’s twinbill (9-2, 8-4). Bradley evened the series with a 9-2 win on Sunday afternoon. Under fifth-year coach Rick Heller (135-139-1), UNI is eighth in the MVC with an 8-16 league mark.

UNI is expected to throw a pair of left-handers in junior Brandon Rinnan (0-4, 5.23 ERA) on Tuesday and senior Bill Zenk (4-2, 6.21 ERA) on Wednesday. Closer Drew Wold is 1-1 with four saves and a 0.00 ERA in 18 appearances, spanning 16.2 innings.

Offensively, second baseman Pat Moran leads the Panthers with a .342 average and is one of four starters hitting over .300 on the season. Third baseman Dan Grant is UNI’s biggest long ball threat with six homers and a team-high 29 RBIs, as the Panthers have just 20 homers as a team. Armando Lara is hitting .319 with a team-high 17 stolen bases, as UNI has 66 stolen bases on the year.

Nebraska is 20-2 all-time against UNI, but the teams have not met since the 2001 NCAA Regional at Buck Beltzer Stadium. The only person who has faced UNI on the current Husker roster is fourth-year junior Dustin Timm, who allowed one earned run in an inning of relief against the Panthers in May of 2001. The Huskers, who have not played a team from Iowa since the 2001 season, have won the last four meetings between the schools. UNI’s last victory in the series came in a 19-6 win in 1997.

Last Time Out
Nebraska concluded a stretch of playing nine ranked opponents in 11 games with a 9-1 victory over Oklahoma State in the series finale in Stillwater Monday afternoon.

Saturday (Oklahoma State 4, Nebraska 2): Ty Wright went 3-for-5 with two homers, powering Oklahoma State to a 7-4 victory in the series opener. Wright, who scored three times, drove in four runs on a pair of two-run homers off starter Zach Kroenke, handing the Husker ace his second loss of the year. It marked the first time that Kroenke had allowed more than one homer in an outing. Thomas Cowley earned the win for OSU, holding Nebraska to two runs on four hits while striking out 10 in seven innings. Alex Gordon paced the Husker offense, going 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Daniel Bruce had a pair of hits and an RBI, combining for five of the Nebraska’s seven hits. Colin Shockey also drove in a pair of runs with a two-run double.

Sunday (Oklahoma State 6, Nebraska 3): Jason Jaramillo’s RBI single broke a 3-all tie, as Oklahoma State scored four times in the seventh inning to rally for a 6-3 victory on Sunday. Jaramillo’s RBI single off reliever Mike Sillman highlighted Oklahoma State’s outburst after Nebraska took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh. Spencer Grogan earned the win for OSU, striking out four and scattering eight in a complete-game victory, while Brett Jensen took the loss in relief, allowing three runs in 0.2 innings. John Grose and Alex Gordon had two hits apiece in the loss, as Gordon went 2-for-3 with an RBI triple, while Grose was 2-for-4 with a solo homer.

Monday (Nebraska 9, Oklahoma State 1): Daniel Bruce’s grand slam highlighted a five-run sixth inning, as Nebraska took the series finale, 9-1. Bruce’s seventh homer of the season helped NU break open a 1-1 tie off OSU starter Daniel Rew. Bruce’s four RBIs matched a career high with his second grand slam. Justin Pekarek earned his sixth win, tossing 4.1 shutout innings of four-hit ball. Jesse Boyer went 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored to pace the Huskers’ 11-hit attack, while Curtis Ledbetter, Jake Mullinax, who hit his seventh round tripper of the year, and Braden Keith had two hits apiece to help NU snap a four-game losing streak.

Gordon Invited to USA National Team Trials
Nebraska third baseman Alex Gordon was one of 19 players invited by USA Baseball to participate in the USA National Team Trials June 20-26 in Durham, N.C. Gordon was one of three Big 12 players invited, joining the Texas duo of J. Brent Cox and Taylor Teagarden. An additional 17 players will be invited later in the spring for the 20-man final roster. Gordon is bidding to become Nebraska’s first Team USA player since Paul Meyers was selected in 1985.

Gordon Stacks Up at Third
One of the main reasons for the Huskers’ offensive firepower has been the play of third baseman Alex Gordon. The sophomore 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 last month, also paces NU in multi-hit games (21) and multi-RBI efforts (16) and has been walked a team-high 36 times. The following is a comparison of Gordon against the preseason All-American third basemen picked by national publications.

Ledbetter on a Tear
Junior first baseman Curtis Ledbetter has been nearly unstoppable since returning to the lineup on March 31. The 6-3, 220-pound junior first baseman is hitting .368 with all seven of his homers and 30 RBIs over the last 25 games, raising his season totals to .313-7-47. He was named the Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Week on April 19, batting .563 with two homers, three doubles and five RBIs in four games. Ledbetter also leads the Huskers in game-winning RBIs with 10.