Nebraska Takes on Florida

Preview: Less than 48 hours after its first CWS win in program history, second-ranked Nebraska baseball team takes on sixth-ranked Florida Sunday night at Rosenblatt Stadium (6:08 p.m. start on ESPN2). The Huskers are 57-13 on the season after defeating Arizona State, 5-3, on Friday evening, while the Gators (46-20) advanced with a 6-4 victory over SEC rival Tennessee. Tonight’s winner will not play until Wednesday (1p.m. on ESPN) while the loser will the winner of Sunday’s first game between Arizona State and Tennessee on Tuesday at 1 p.m. (ESPN).

Series History: Nebraska and Florida have never met on the baseball diamond, but Nebraska has faced a Pat McMahan-coached team twice, with both losses coming to Mississippi State in the 1999 NCAA Regional in Columbus, Ohio (L, 14-18; L, 7-13). Nebraska has not played an SEC team since dropping a 10-8 decision to South Carolina during the 2002 College World Series.

Tonight’s Starter: Freshman Johnny Dorn looks for his 13th straight victory, as he makes the 20th appearance of the season on Sunday. The Grand Island, Neb., native is 12-1 on the season with a 1.98 ERA, topping the Big 12 in wins and ranking second in ERA. Dorn suffered his only loss of the season against Texas State on March 5 before winning his last 12 decisions. He has been NU’s hottest pitcher over the last two months, going 8-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his last 10 appearances dating back to April 17. In the postseason (Big 12 and NCAA Tournament), he is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in three starts, holding opponents to a .200 average.

National Freshmen Leaders (NCAA Rankings, 6/13/05)|
Name, Team App IP R ER ERA W L
Mickey Storey, Fla. Atlantic 23 95.3 25 18 1.70 10 1
Johnny Dorn, Nebraska 19 100.0 29 22 1.98 12 1
Robert Brant, Pittsburgh 15 61.0 18 14 2.07 7 2
Travis Banwart, Wichita St. 17 82.0 27 19 2.09 8 1
Joe Savery, Rice 19 118.7 43 32 2.43 8 5

Dorn Tidbits
? - Nebraska is a perfect 12-0 in Dorn’s 12 starts this season
?- Dorn was selected to try out for Team USA on Friday (June 17), as he will be one of 39 players vying for a spot on the 20-man roster later this month (June 27-30) in Raleigh, N.C. Dorn will look to become just the third Husker to earn a spot on Team USA (Paul Meyers, 1985; Alex Gordon, 2004)
?- Dorn appeared in Sports Illustrated?s Faces in the Crowd section (8/8/04) for his hitting, as he hit three grand slams in an American Legion doubleheader last summer.

Quick Hitters
? - Nebraska now has 288 wins since the start of the 2000 season, a total ranks fifth among all Division I schools in that span. Nebraska also has three 50-win seasons in the last six years.
? - Alex Gordon became Nebraska’s first National Player of the Year in baseball, as he was chosen as the Xanthus Dick Howser Trophy winner and as Baseball America’s National Player of the Year. Gordon is a career .388 hitter (92-for-237) with runners in scoring position. He has also exceled in two outs, hitting .419 (36-of-86) in two-out situations this season and has driven in 26 runs, over 40 percent of his 2005 season total.
? - The Huskers have 20 come-from-behind wins this season, including Friday’s rally against Arizona State
? - Nebraska’s 11-game winning streak is currently tied for the longest in the national (also SMS, which ended its season prior to the Missouri Valley Tournament)
? - Nebraska has won its last 12 televised games dating back to April 29
? - Joe Simokaitis is batting .407 (22-for-54) during his current 13-game hit streak
? - Brett Jensen’s 16 saves this season would be one shy of Nebraska’s career record prior to this season.

National Saves Leaders
No. Player, School Saves
1 Steven Kleen, Pepperdine 17
J. Brent Cox, Texas 17
3. Brett Jensen, Nebraska 16

Success in the Classroom
? - Nebraska placed 16 baseball student athletes on the most recent Big 12 Commissioner’s Spring Honor Roll released Thursday (June 16), including nine who are with the team in Omaha for the College World Series. Academic All-American Daniel Bruce headlined the list, as he earned a 4.0 GPA during the spring semester, upping his GPA to 3.878 at the conclusion of the spring semester.

Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll
Player Yr. Hometown Major
Jeremy Becker Sr. Scottsbluff, Neb. Agricultural Engineering
Daniel Bruce (4.0 GPA) Sr. Omaha, Neb. English
Brandon Buckman Jr. Monument, Colo. Civil Engineering
Brian Duensing Jr. Omaha, Neb. Secondary Education/English
Matt Foust RFr. Overland Park, Kan. Undeclared
Brett Jensen Jr. Eagle Grove, Iowa Communication Studies
Bryce Nimmo Fr. Cheyenne, Wyo. Management
Phil Shirek Sr, Minot, N.D. Biological Sciences
Luke Wertz Fr. Parker, Colo. Undeclared