Huskers Travel to Rosenblatt to Take on Creighton

2006 Record (20-5, 4-2 Big 12)
National Rankings: 6 (CB) ? 8 (BA) ? 8 (Sports Weekly) ? 7 (NCBWA)

Day Date Rank Opponent Radio Live Video Time
Tues. April 4 23/21/RV Creighton (18-6) Pinnacle Sports Network  7 p.m.

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

Pitching Probables
NU - Charlie Shirek, R-Fr., RHP (1-1, 2.63 ERA, 27.1 IP)
CU - Tony Bilek, Sr., RHP (2-0, 4.29 ERA, 21.0 IP)

Media Information
Live Stats:  Huskers.com
Radio:  Pinnacle Sports Network
Internet Radio:  Huskers.com
Television: Nebraska Educational Television (Ch. 12 in Lincoln; Ch. 112 in HD) and CSTV (Ch. 305 on Time Warner Cable in Lincoln; Ch. 610 on DirecTV and Ch. 152)

Huskers Travel to Rosenblatt to Take on Creighton
After a series win over Kansas State, the Nebraska baseball team continues its eight-game road trip with a stop at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium to take on the Creighton Bluejays on Tuesday, April 4. Although Tuesday’s contest is technically a road game, a large contingent of Husker fans is expected for the first of two trips to Omaha during the regular season. Tickets are still available for Tuesday’s contest at Ticketmaster locations across the state and on Ticketmaster.com, while a large walk-up crowd is expected.

First pitch for the first of three games between the Huskers and Bluejays is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be heard across the state on the Pinnacle Sports Network, including KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha, 1400 AM in Lincoln and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington, along with Huskers.com.

Tuesday’s game is also the first of two NU baseball games scheduled for Nebraska Educational Television (NET Ch. 12 and NET-HD, Ch. 112 in Lincoln) this season and will also be simulcast nationally on College Sports Television.

Nebraska comes into the contest with a 20-5 record, but took a slight dip in the national polls on Monday after going 3-2 last week. NU went from third to sixth in the Collegiate Baseball poll, but stayed eighth in Baseball America poll.

After losing Friday’s series opener at Kansas State, Nebraska rebounded to take the series, run-ruling the Wildcats, 12-2, in the finale after posting a 5-4 win on Saturday, a win which snapped KSU’s 21-game home winning streak.

NU has now won both of its conference series and is tied with Missouri for second in the Big 12 race, heading into this weekend’s series with the Tigers in Columbia. Both teams will look to gain ground on Texas, which is 7-2 in the league before its trip to KSU this weekend.

The Huskers have showed balance offensively during the first half of the season, ranking fourth in the Big 12 in hitting (.321, fourth), homers (31, third) and stolen bases (50, second) as four players rank among the top 20 hitters in the league. NU has also shined on the mound, posting a league-best 2.84 ERA and is second in the league with a .976 fielding percentage.

Creighton climbs into the Baseball America poll for the first time since the 2000 season at No. 21 following a series win over then No. 17 Wichita State in Omaha over the weekend. The Bluejays are 18-6 on the season and 3-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Nebraska leads the all-time series between the state’s Division I programs, 59-41-2 after NU won 3-of-5 meetings in 2005. Creighton won 2-of-3 meetings to claim the regular-season series for the first time since 1993, but NU exacted revenge with a pair of wins over CU in the NCAA Regional en route to a College World Series.

Leading Off
?-Nebraska has gotten off to fast starts, outscoring its opponents 29-7 in the first inning of games. In fact, NU has scored at least one run in the first inning of 10 of its last 12 contests dating back to March 14.

?-After the series win at Kansas State, NU is now as high as seventh in the latest RPI (warrennolan.com and 8th in Boydsworld.com). NU is now in the midst of a stretch of 22 straight games against teams in the top-100 in the RPI.

?-With both teams in the national rankings this week, Tuesday’s game also shows off the talent among Nebraska high schools. In all, 35 players on both teams are from the state of Nebraska. In addition, both teams have several former sets of high school or junior college teammates on their respective rosters.

?-NU is off to one of its best starts in school history, as its 20-5 record is the fourth-best start after 25 games in school history.

?-Rosenblatt Stadium is the fourth professional ballpark the Huskers have played in this spring, joinnig Riley Park (Charleston, S.C.), the Metrodome (Minneapolis) and Hawks Field at Haymarket Park (Lincoln). The Big 12 baseball tournament in Oklahoma City is also at a minor league facility (AT&T Bricktown Ballpark).

?-When the first set of NCAA stats are released this week, junior Luke Gorsett should be near the top of the nation’s home run charts. Boyd’s World (boydsworld.com) does an unofficial listing for many individual categories and Gorsett ranks in the top-five nationally in both homers and slugging percentage.

?-One of NU’s keys to success is the ability to run and shutdown other team’s running games. NU is second in the Big 12 with 50 stolen bases, including 36-of-40 on the basepaths since March 14. On the other hand, opponents have just attempted one steal in NU’s last 10 games, and NU leads the Big 12 by allowing just 12 stolen bases.

?-Shortstop Ryan Wehrle is hitting .529 (18-for-34) over Nebraska’s last eight contests, including a 7-for-14 effort against Kansas State over the weekend. Wehrle is now third in the Big 12 with a .426 average.

?-Senior first baseman Brandon Buckman has continued his early-season tear, as the senior is hitting .439 (25-for-57) with five homers and 17 RBIs in his last 15 games, raising his average 148 points since March 6. Buckman has eight multi-hit games and five multi-RBI contests in that stretch and was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on March 28.

?-Jeff Christy has been effective offensively and behind the plate in recent weeks. He is hitting .389 in his last five games, raising his average to a season-best .232. Defensively, no opponent has tried to steal a base in the last seven games, while Christy has thrown out 44 percent of runners this season.

?-Nebraska has held 19 of its first 25 opponents to four runs or less this season and its 3.2 runs allowed per game ranks third nationally.

?-Husker reliever Erik Bird looks to enjoy the same success his older brother Brandon had for Creighton in the 2005 series. Brandon did not allow a run in three appearances against the Huskers, holding NU to .105 average in six innings. Erik has been impressive in his own right for the Huskers, posting a 0.00 ERA in eight appearances and is holding foes to a .192 average.

?-Since allowing three runs in the ninth inning of his 2006 debut against NC State on Feb. 17, senior closer Brett Jensen has been nothing short of spectacular, going 3-0 with five saves and a 0.55 ERA in his last 11 appearances. The run he allowed on Saturday at Kansas State was the first he surrendered since his 2006 debut.

?-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’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 2.42 ERA over its last 21 games.

?-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 years, 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 156 games dating back to the start of the 2005 campaign. The streak is the longest in the Big 12, while NU has scored in 487 of the last 488 games dating back to the 1998 season.

?-NU already has six come-from-behind wins this season, including four straight during NU’s 13-game win streak. Earlier this season, NU rallied from a two-run ninth-inning deficit to defeat Richmond, 5-4, in 12 innings. Despite recording 20 come-from-behind wins in 2005, the Huskers were 0-9 in games when they trailed entering the ninth frame a season ago.

Scouting Creighton
Under third-year coach Ed Servais (101-47 at CU), the Bluejays are 18-6 on the season and ranked as high as 21st in this week’s national polls.

Creighton, which won 48 games in 2005, rebounded from an 0-3 start to post 15 consecutive wins before dropping 2-of-3 against Bradley to open MVC play. The Bluejays, who also have a win over nationally ranked Vanderbilt, enjoyed their best week of the season, taking 2-of-3 from Wichita State in Omaha.

Offensively, Creighton is led by senior Zach Daeges, who is hitting .381 with six homers and 21 RBIs. He is one of three CU players to drive in at least 20 runs, joining Chris Gradoville (.323-8-29) amd Darin Ruf (.303-2-24) while Chase Odenreider (.337-1-19) gives CU five everyday starters above .300. On the mound, Creighton will throw right-hander Tony Bilek, who is 2-0 with a 4.29 ERA in nine appearances. The Bluejays also have one of the best relievers in the country in preseason All-American Scott Reese, who has four saves and a 3.66 ERA in 11 relief outings.

Nebraska leads the all-time series, 59-41-2, and has won 10-of-14 meetings since Mike Anderson took over in 2003. The Huskers won 3-of-5 meetings a year ago and is looking for its first win at Rosenblatt against CU since 2004.