Huskers Open Homestand with WIU

After playing 16 of its first 17 games on the road, the Nebraska baseball team begins a seven-game homestand at Hawks Field on Tuesday afternoon, as the Huskers welcome Western Illinois to town. First pitch for both Tuesday and Wednesday’s games between the Huskers and Leathernecks is set for 1:35 p.m. Tickets are available for both games by visiting Huskers.com, calling the NU Ticket Office (800-8-BIGRED) or at the Hawks Field Ticket Office beginning 90 minutes before first pitch.

Both contests will be carried live on Huskers.com with Randy Lee and Lane Grindle calling all of the action. In addition, both games of the NU-WIU series will be shown on HuskersNside (subscription required) and live stats will be available on Huskers.com.

The Huskers, 10-7 on the season, will look to rebound after a disappointing weekend at Texas Tech, as they dropped a pair of one-run contests to the Red Raiders, including a walk-off homer in the series finale on Saturday. In both games, the Huskers rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning, only to lose in dramatic fashion.

Despite the series loss to the Red Raiders, the Huskers received strong weekends from junior college Craig Corriston, who hit .500 (7-for-14) on the weekend, including three straight multi-hit games. Corriston, who started the last two games at shortstop, responded with his first three-hit game on Friday and followed up with a 2-for-4 performance with two runs scored in Saturday’s loss. Catcher Mitch Abeita also provided an offensive spark, driving in team-high five runs in the series. He is hitting .400 (6-for-15) over his last five contests.

Western Illinois is 11-10 on the season after taking a two-game series against St. Ambrose over the weekend. The Leathernecks, who finished second in the Mid-Continent Conference last season, have seen most of the Big 12 during the first six weeks of the season. WIU has played Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, as the Nebraska series is the last of 12 games that the Leathernecks have scheduled against Big 12 teams.

Nebraska will hope the friendly confines of Hawks Field are more to its liking, as the Huskers will play there seven times over the next nine days beginning Tuesday. Following the two-game series with the Leathernecks, Missouri comes to town this weekend before the homestand wraps up with a two-game series against Northern Colorado next Tuesday and Wednesday.