No. 3 Huskers Host SDSU

2006 Record (13-2, 0-0 Big 12)
National Rankings: 3 (CB) ? 12 (BA) ? 6 (Sports Weekly) ? t5 (NCBWA)

Day

Date

Rank

Opponent

Radio

Live Video

Time

Fri.

March 17

-/-/-

South Dakota St. (DH)

Pinnacle Sports Network

HuskersNside

12:05 p.m.

Sat.

March 18

-/-/-

South Dakota St.

Pinnacle Sports Network

HuskersNside

12:05 p.m.

Sun.

March 19

-/-/-

South Dakota St.

Pinnacle Sports Network

HuskersNside

1:05 p.m.

Polls are in the following order: Collegiate Baseball/Baseball America/Sports Weekly

 

 

Pitching Probables
Fri.-1       Tony Watson, So., LHP (2-0, 2.13 ERA, 25.1 IP)   
Fri.-2       Charlie Shirek, R-Fr., RHP (0-0, 1.80 ERA, 15.0 IP) 
Sat.         Johnny Dorn, So., RHP (3-1, 3.33 ERA, 24.1 IP)     
Sun.        TBA                                                                

Media Information
Tickets:        Club (sold out); Reserved (sold out); General Admission ($7, $5, UNL Students free with ID)
Live Stats:   Huskers.com
Radio:             Selected Pinnacle Sports Networks
Live Video: HuskersNside (subscription package)
Internet Radio: Huskers.com

Nebraska continues its 16-game homestand this weekend, as the third-ranked Huskers (13-2) host South Dakota State (2-8) for a four-game series. The two teams will open with a doubleheader Friday at 12:05 p.m. with single-games set for Saturday (12:05 p.m.) and Sunday (1:05 p.m.). The forecast of inclement weather caused the shift of the doubleheader to Friday, as the first game will be a nine-inning game, followed by a seven-inning contest.  Tickets for this weekend’s games are available at the Hawks Field at Haymarket Park ticket office beginning 90 minutes prior to first pitch.  All four games will be carried on selected Pinnacle Sports Network affiliates (check local Pinnacle affiliate for availability) and on the Internet at Huskers.com as a school-record 49 regular-season games will be carried on the radio network during the 2006 season. In addition, live video streaming for all four games is available on HuskersNside.

The Huskers, who are ranked as high as third in this week’s national polls, bring a nine-game winning streak into this weekend’s action following a two-game sweep of Illinois State (10-7, 12-6). Against the Redbirds, Nebraska hit .365 as a team and hit six homers, including two by first baseman Brandon Buckman in Tuesday’s 10-7 victory.  NU is 5-0 at Hawks Field this spring.
South Dakota State comes to Lincoln with a 2-8 record, but has been playing better in recent weeks. The Jackrabbits, which are in their second year at the Division I level, started the 2006 season with six straight losses, including a pair of close games at nationally ranked Kansas State, before splitting their last four games. Nebraska leads the all-time series, 11-2, and won all four meetings during the 2005 season. Prior to last season, the two teams had met only once since 1971 - a 3-0 Husker win in 1997.

Nebraska baseball coach Mike Anderson announced Thursday that Joba Chamberlain will miss his scheduled turn in the rotation on Friday against South Dakota State. Chamberlain, who was cleared to return to the mound following Tuesday’s bullpen session, will be held out as a precaution, as the weekend forecast shows a strong probability of inclement weather and cool temperatures.

“We are just trying to be smart about what we are doing,” Anderson said on Thursday. “After his workouts this week, we feel as though Joba is ready to pitch, and our team is ready to play (this weekend), but both conditions (his health and the weather) need to be conducive for Joba to get on the mound. We will wait until both conditions are right.”

Who’s Hot
?-Brandon Buckman is hitting .455 (10-for-22) with four homers and nine RBIs over his last six contests. Buckman has two multi-homer games in that stretch and matched his career high with four RBIs on Tuesday.
?-Since allowing three runs in the ninth inning of his 2006 debut, senior closer Brett Jensen has been nothing short of spectacular, going 3-0 with three saves and a 0.00 ERA in his last seven appearances, spanning 14 innings of work.
?-Reserve catcher Jeff Lanning has made the most of his limited time behind the plate, going 3-for-5 in three appearances since March 15. He went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a hit-by-pitch in his first career start against Illinois State on Wednesday.
?-Second baseman Jake Opitz snapped a 1-for-14 dryspell, hitting .500 (3-for-6) against Illinois State. His two-hit game on Wednesday was his first since March 4.

Leading Off
? Nebraska is off to one of its best starts in school history, as its 13-2 record ties for the third-best start in school history. Only the 1983 team (which opened the year with 26 straight wins) and the 1979 teams had a better 15-game stretch to open the year.
? Nebraska is 5-0 at home this season and has a 17-game home winning streak dating back to a 7-5 win over Missouri on May 7, 2005 (The streak was incorrectly noted in the previous set of game notes).  The streak  equals the longest home winning streak in the Hawks Field era (2002-present), also matching a 17-game home win streak set to start the 2005 campaign. The streak is well shy of the school record, which was a 39-game stretch between 1979 and 1980, but in that streak, only 13 wins were against Division I teams.
* Nebraska has had four home win streaks of at least 10 games since moving into Hawks Field at the start of the 2002 season.
?-Nebraska has one player from South Dakota, redshirt freshman Casey Klapperich, who hails from Rapid City. Klapperich,  a reserve infielder, is hitting .500 in two plate appearances.
?-Nebraska ranks fifth in the latest Boyd’s World psuedo-RPI rankings (updated Thursday morning) after the series against Illinois State.

Boyds World Puesdo RPI (March 16)
No. Team RPI Record
1. Clemson .699 11-3
2. Mississippi State .674 13-0
3. Georgia Tech .670 17-1
4. Alabama  .669 14-6
5. Nebraska .651 13-2

?-Probably no player is looking forward to Friday’s twinbill more than sophomore outfielder Andy Gerch. Last season, Nebraska played twice in one day five times (four scheduled doubleheaders and twice against Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament). In those games, Gerch hit .633 (19-for-30) with two homers and 19 RBIs, highlighted by a career-high six RBIs against Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament.
?-Nebraska has already sold out all the reserved and club seats at Hawks Field for the 2006 season. NU ranked sixth nationally in average attendance, averaging a school-record 4,984 fans per game in 2005. NU’s number is based on actual game attendance, not tickets sold.
?-Nebraska has held 12 of its first 15 opponents to four runs or less this season.
?-Nebraska’s bullpen has made great strides from the season’s opening weekend. After giving up eight runs in 14.1 innings, NU has posted a 1.43 ERA over its last 11 games. Brett Jensen and Jared Cranston have not allowed an earned run since the opening weekend.

Bullpen Improvement
Week ERA W-L SV IP H R ER B K
1st 4 games 5.02 1-0 1 14.1 14 8 8 3 7
Since Then 1.43 5-0 3 37.2 39 12 6 18 26

?-Nebraska is one of only three teams in the country that returns two pitchers who won at least 10 games in 2005 (Oregon State and Miami of Ohio are the others).
?-Nebraska is one of only seven teams in all of Division I baseball to post team ERAs below 4.00 over the last four seasons, joining Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Oral Roberts, Rice, Texas and Wichita State.  The Huskers were second nationally with a 2.69 team ERA in 2005.
?-Nebraska is one of only six programs nationally to reach the College World Series in three of the past five seasons, joining Cal State Fullerton, Miami, South Carolina, Stanford and Texas. The Big 12 is the only league with more than one team in that group.
? - Nebraska has scored at least one run in each of its last 146 games dating back to the start of the 2005 campaign. The streak is the longest in the Big 12, while NU has scored in 477 of the last 478 games dating back to the 1998 season.

Scouting South Dakota State
Under the direction of Reggie Christiansen (13-37 in two seasons), the Jackrabbits come to Lincoln with a 2-8 record after dropping 2-of-3 at Southeast Missouri State last weekend. SDSU went 12-36 in its first year of Division I competition, highlighted by a win over Notre Dame, and had lost its first six games before a win over Southern Illinois on March 8

Offensively, shortstop Jake Rogers has been the Jackrabbits’ top performer at the plate, batting .310 with two homers and seven RBIs. He is the only regular above the .300 mark, as the team is just hitting at a .229 clip. Rogers is tied with first baseman Tyler Fisher for the team lead in RBIs.

On the hill, right-hander Christian Larson leads the SDSU starters with a 4.97 ERA in a pair of starts, as opponents are hitting just .261 against him.

Week in Review
Tuesday (NU 10, Illinois State 7): Behind two homers from Brandon Buckman, Nebraska increased its win streak to eight games with a 10-7 victory. Buckman picked up his second multi-homer game of the season, leading the Huskers from a 6-4 deficit, as the Husker first baseman went 3-for-4 and matched his career high with four RBIs. Ryan Wehrle also had two hits, including a game-tying homer in the sixth, and scored twice, while Andy Gerch went 2-for-4 with two doubles and scored three times in helping the Huskers pound out 12 hits and win their 15th straight at home dating back to last season. Luke Wertz earned the win in relief, allowing one run on three hits over 2.2 innings of work.

Wednesday (NU 12, Illinois State 6): Luke Gorsett and Jake Mort both drove in two runs in a five-run fifth  as No. 3 Nebraska posted its ninth straight win with a 12-6 victory. The Huskers used homers from Gorsett, Andrew Brown and Nick Jaros in an 11-hit attack while NU scored eight unanswered runs to break the game open. Gorsett went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Mort, Jake Opitz and Ryan Wehrle all had two hits apiece in the win. The run support was more than enough for the Huskers pitchers, who struggled early but got better as the game progressed. Jon Klausing picked up his first win since May of 2004, as he fanned two on 2.1 innings of relief for the win.