Huskers Return Home for No. 13 Oklahoma

No. 8 Nebraska
(38-12, 16-8 Big 12)
vs.
No. 13 Oklahoma
(37-16, 15-9 Big 12)

Friday, May 19, 6:35 p.m.
Hawks Field
Lincoln, Neb.

Friday's Starters
Joba Chamberlain, Jr., RHP (5-4, 3.75 ERA, 69.2 IP) 
Daniel McCutchen, Sr., RHP (6-7, 3.67 ERA, 110.1 IP)

Saturday
Parents Day
Cox TV, Huskers.com 
2:05 p.m. 

Probable Starters
NU - Tony Watson, So., LHP (7-1, 3.20 ERA, 81.2 IP) 
OU - Steve Guerra, Sr., RHP (9-2, 3.66 ERA, 86.0 IP)

Sunday 
Senior Day
HuskersNside
1:05 p.m.
Cook's Ham Trading Cards (1st 500 Kids, 12-and-under)

Probable Starters
NU - Johnny Dorn, So., RHP (9-3, 3.65 ERA, 74.0 IP) 
OU - P.J. Sandoval, Sr., RHP (6-3, 4.70 ERA, 74.2 IP)

Media Information
Tickets: GA Tickets are $7 (adults) and $5 (youth and seniors); UNL students are FREE with valid student ID
Television: Saturday on Cox (Ch. 2 in Omaha; Ch. 77 in Lincoln, Charter Media in Western Nebraska)
Live Stats:  Huskers.com Radio:
Pinnacle Sports Network
Internet Radio:  Huskers.com Video Streaming:
HuskersNside (Huskers.com on Saturday)
Satellite Radio:  SIRIUS (Ch. 147 on Saturday and Sunday)

Huskers Return Home for No. 13 Oklahoma
Fresh off a win over Creighton, the No. 8 Nebraska baseball team returns to Hawks Field, as its hosts No. 13 Oklahoma this weekend. The three-game series between the Huskers and Sooners commences Friday  at 6:35 p.m. with afternoon tilts set for Saturday (2:05) and Sunday (1:05).

The entire series will be carried across the state on the Pinnacle Sports Network, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KFAB (1110 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington, and on the Internet at Huskers.com. Saturday and Sunday’s games will also be carried on SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Ch. 147).

Saturday’s game will be televised and produced by Cox Communications and available on Cox Cable in Omaha (Ch. 2), Time Warner Cable in Lincoln and surrounding areas (Ch. 77) and on Charter Media across the western portion of the state with Greg Sharpe, Kyle Peterson and Paul Meyers calling all of the action. The game will also be shown in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas.

The Huskers used a combination of strong pitching and timely hitting to complete a season sweep of Creighton with a 4-1 win on Tuesday in front of a crowd of 21,158 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium. Four pitchers combined to hold the Bluejays to one run, while NU broke a 1-all deadlock with a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth.

With Tuesday’s win, NU is 38-12 on the season and is on pace for its seventh 40-win season in the last eight years. The Huskers, who have not played a Big 12 home game since April 30, will face a stern test from an Oklahoma club that is 37-16 and ranked in the top-15 nationally this week.

While Texas wrapped up the Big 12 regular-season title last week, both the Huskers and Sooners have a lot to play for this weekend. Nebraska (16-8) is a game ahead of both Oklahoma (15-9) and Oklahoma State (15-9) in the race for second place in the Big 12. A series win over Oklahoma would guarantee NU a top-two finish in the Big 12 for the sixth time in seven seasons and would mean the second or third seed in next week’s Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City.

A busy weekend at Hawks Field is planned with Parents Day set for Saturday, while Husker seniors Brandon Buckman, Jeff Christy and Brett Jensen will be honored prior to Sunday’s regular-season finale. The trio all have played instrumental roles in helping NU post a 95-29 (.766) record over the past two years as Huskers.

Leading Off
?-Nebraska has played well in front of the cameras this season, going 7-0 in televised games following Tuesday’s win over Creighton.
?-The Huskers’ .239 team average last weekend at Baylor marked only the second time this season that NU failed to hit .300 or better in a Big 12 series. The Huskers’ previous low was a .291 average at Texas. NU leads the Big 12 in team batting average in conference games with a .315 team average.
?-Andrew Brown’s two-homer game on May 12 at Baylor marked the Huskers’ sixth multi-homer game of the season.

?-Tuesday’s total attendance of 21,158 at Rosenblatt Stadium not only ranked as college baseball’s largest single-game total of the 2006 season, but also outdrew six Major League games that evening.

2006’s Largest College Baseball Crowds
Attend. Game (Location)  Date
27,134* Houston College Classic (Minute Maid Park) Feb. 10
21,158 Nebraska vs. Creighton  (Rosenblatt Stadium) May 16
19,119 Georgia at Georgia Tech (Turner Field) May 11
13,617 Georgia at Mississippi State (Dudy Noble Field) April 8
12,276 Nebraska vs. Creighton (Rosenblatt Stadium) April 4
11,512 Houston College Classic (Minute Maid Park) Feb. 12
10,193 Houston College Classic (Minute Maid Park) Feb. 10
10,011 LSU at Tulane (Zephyr Field)  April 18
*-multiple games counted as one session

?-Nebraska’s 38-12 record entering this weekend’s series is only one game behind last season’s record at the 50-game mark and is equal to or better than NU’s other CWS squads (2001-02).

?-Nebraska is two wins away from achieving its 16th 40-win season in school history, including seventh in the past eight seasons. In fact, the Huskers are tied with Texas Tech for the most 40-win seasons in Big 12 history with six apiece.
?-Nebraska has gotten off to fast starts, outscoring its opponents 52-19 in the first inning of games this season. In fact, NU has scored at least one run in the first inning in 21 of its last 33 contests.
?-Nebraska has held 34 of its first 50 opponents to four runs or less this season and its 3.8 runs allowed per game ranks fifth nationally.
?-Entering this weekend, NU is now sixth in the latest simulated RPI (warrennolan.com and in Boydsworld.com). NU is 27-10 against teams rated in the top 100 of the RPI. As a league, the Big 12 is third in the RPI, with four teams in the top-15 (NU, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State).
?-Nebraska is well represented in the latest NCAA stats released May 17. The Huskers rank in the top-20 in five team categories, including ERA (3.40, 16th), slugging percentage (.495, 17th), fielding percentage (.975, 12th), homers per game (1.27, 13th) and winning percentage (.755, 8th). Individually, Luke Gorsett ranks among the national leaders in homers per game (28th) and slugging percentage  (36th). Other Huskers ranked in the top 50 nationally include Brandon Buckman, who is 37th in homers per game, Johnny Dorn, who is 16th nationally in wins, Joba Chamberlain, who is 23rd in strikeouts per nine innings and Ryan Wehrle, who is 47th in doubles per game.

?-Nebraska is 53-21 at home against ranked teams over the last seven seasons, including a 34-12 mark since Hawks Field opened in 2002.

?-NU already has 13 come-from-behind wins this season, including a trio of four-run deficits, most recently against Texas Tech on April 29.
?- Nebraska has scored at least one run in each of its last 181 games dating back to the start of the 2004 campaign. The streak is the longest in the Big 12, while NU has scored in 512 of the last 513 games dating back to the 1998 season.
?-Nebraska has committed one error or less in 36 of its first 50 contests, including 16 games without an error.
?-One of NU’s keys to success is the ability to run  while shutting down other team’s running games. NU is third in the Big 12 with 78 stolen bases, including 32-of-45 in Big 12 play, and has allowed a league-low 31 stolen bases.
?-While NU’s pitching has been as good as advertised for most of the 2006 campaign, NU’s offensive numbers have been among the Big 12 leaders in most categories. The Huskers’ .317 team average is on pace for NU’s best team average since the 2001 CWS team hit .334.
?-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.
?- The Huskers are 12-5 in games decided by two runs or less this season.
?-Nebraska’s consecutive shutouts of Texas and Wichita State last month marked the first time ever that any school had posted consecutive shutouts against college baseball’s two winningest coaches (Texas’ Augie Garrido and Wichita State’s Gene Stephenson).
?-Nebraska has 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. The Huskers are averaging 4,307 fans per game this spring, including four of the 20 largest crowds in school history.
?-Nebraska is one of only three teams in the country that returned two pitchers who won at least 10 games in 2005 (Oregon State and Miami of Ohio are the others).
?-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.

Last Time Out
Tuesday (Nebraska 4, Creighton 1): Charlie Shirek pitched six strong innings, and Andrew Brown paced a 12-hit NU attack, leading the Huskers to a 4-1 win over Creighton in front of 21,158 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium. Shirek (4-2) picked up the victory allowing one run on five hits through six innings, while striking out three, while relievers Erik Bird, Zach Herr and Brett Jensen combined for three innings of shutout relief. Brown enjoyed his third multi-hit game in the last four contest with three hits, including a homer, while Jake Mort and Jeff Christy also added a trio of hits. Christy used his first multi-hit day since April 29, including a double and his first career triple, to break an 0-for-14 slump, while Mort’s three hits was also career high.

Scouting Oklahoma
Under first-year Coach Sunny Gollway, the Sooners have enjoyed a resurgence in 2006, coming to Lincoln with a 37-16 record and are ranked as high as 13th in the national polls this week. OU is a veteran club with eight returning starters from a year ago and a weekend rotation and closer which is entirely made up of seniors.

Offensively, eight of OU’s nine starters are above .300, including Chuckie Caufield, who is hitting .363 with seven homers, 39 RBIs and a team-best 18 stolen bases. Ryan Rohlinger is also above the .350 mark while leading the squad in homers (nine) and RBIs (49). While the Sooners’ offense is among the Big 12’s best, their defense has been even better, as their .984 fielding percentage is the nation’s best.

On the mound, right-hander Daniel McCutchen has six wins and a 3.67 ERA, striking out 103 in 110.1 innings. Steven Guerra is tied for second in wins and leads the starters with a 3.66 ERA in 86 innings.

Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 132-92-1, but Nebraska has enjoyed the better of the rivalry in recent years. The Huskers won 3-of-4 meetings last season, including a series win in Norman, and has dropped only one series to OU since the 1998 season. The Huskers are 22-6 against the Sooners in that span.

Busy Weekend Planned for OU Series
Several events are planned for this weekend’s series with Oklahoma.

• Saturday (Parents Day): The parents of the 2006 Huskers will be honored prior to Saturday’s game.
• Saturday (Jr. Home Run Club Picnic): Members of the Husker Junior Home Run Club will have a team picnic following Saturday’s game.
• Sunday (Senior Day) - Seniors Brandon Buckman, Jeff Christy and Brett Jensen will be honored in pregame ceremonies.
• Sunday (Cook’s Ham Trading Card Day) - The first 500 kids ages 12 and under will receive a set of 2006 Husker trading cards, courtesy of the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and Cook’s Hams.
• Sunday (Jr. HRC Baseball Clinic) - The Husker baseball team will host a free youth clinic for junior Home Run Club members.

For more information on any of the Junior Home Run Club events or to sign up, contact the Husker baseball  office at (402) 472-2269.

Field Nearly Set for OKC
Seven of the eight teams for next week’s Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City have been determined heading into this weekend’s action.  Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas and Texas Tech have all clinched berths, while the final spot will go to either Missouri or Texas A&M. The Tigers need one win against Texas or one loss by Texas A&M to lock up the final berth.

Nebraska will depart from Oklahoma City on Monday morning at approximately 10 a.m. and will practice Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. The Division schedules for next week are as follows, but teams will not be assigned into Divisions until after this weekend’s action.

Division I
Day Session Times
Wednesday  10 a.m. or 1 p.m.
Thursday  4:30 or 7:30 p.m.
Friday Off Day
Saturday 10 a.m. or 1 p.m.
Sunday (Championship) 1 p.m.

Division 2
Day Session Times
Wednesday  5 or 8 p.m.
Thursday Off Day
Friday 4:30 or 7:30 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. or 1 p.m.
Sunday (Championship) 1 p.m.

Husker Record Watch
?-Sophomore Johnny Dorn needs only one more win to become the second Husker pitcher to reach 10 wins in consecutive seasons. He would join two-time All-American Shane Komine, who reached double figures in wins in each of his final three seasons (2001-03).
??With his save on Tuesday, Brett Jensen became the first Husker to reach double-figure save totals more than once. He now holds two of the top-four single-season totals in school history with a school-record 16 in 2005 and 10 in 2006. With 74 career appearances, he also ranks third in school charts in that category.