No. 9 Huskers Host Red Raiders

On Tap: Following Tuesday’s postponement against Creighton, No. 9 Nebraska baseball returns to action this weekend, hosting Texas Tech in a Big 12 series at Hawks Field. Friday’s first pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. with afternoon contests set for both Saturday (2:05 p.m.) and Sunday (1:05 p.m.).

Ticket Info: General admission seats are available for all three games with prices at $7 (adults) and $5 (youth and seniors), while UNL students are admitted free with a valid ID. On Friday, the first 500 UNL Students will receive a 2008 Berm Zone t-shirt.

On the Radio and Internet: Fans across Nebraska can listen to Greg Sharpe, Lane Grindle and Adrian Fiala call the action on the Husker Sports Network, including KLIN 1400 in Lincoln, KRVN 880 AM in Lexington and KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha and on the Internet at Huskers.com.

Media Info

Live Radio: Husker Sports Network and for free on the Internet at Huskers.com
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Television: Saturday’s game will be shown live on NET-1 (Ch. 12) and NET-HD (Ch. 112)
Live Video: HuskersNside (Friday and Sunday); Huskers.com (Saturday)

Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday
NU-Johnny Dorn, Sr., RHP (3-0, 2.29 ERA)
TT-Nate Karns, So. , RHP (1-4, 9.85 ERA)

Saturday
NU- Thad Weber, Sr., RHP (5-1, 3.20 ERA)
TT-AJ Ramos, Jr., RHP (1-2, 5.29 ERA)

Sunday
NU-Aaron Pribanic, Jr., RHP (2-1, 2.41 ERA)
TT-Chad Bettis, Fr., RHP (3-1, 4.75 ERA)

Last Time Out: The Huskers continued their strong early-season showing, going into Austin and taking 2-of-3 against No. 13 Texas to remain in first place in the conference race.  In the opener, the Huskers established season bests in both runs and hits in a 14-4 victory. The 14 runs against the Longhorn staff were the most Texas has allowed in conference play in seven years. Dan Johnston and Ben Kline had three hits apiece to pace the Husker offense, as Kline went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs, while Johnson had three hits, two RBIs and scored twice. Johnny Dorn earned the win, allowing four runs on seven hits over five-plus innings before Dan Jennings slammed the door with four perfect innings to collect his first save. On Saturday, the pitching of Thad Weber was the story, as he spun a complete-game two-hit shutout in a 2-0 win. Weber struck out five and didn’t allow a hit over the final seven innings, retiring 14 of the final 15 hitters he faced. NU got all the offense it needed in the sixth on an RBI single from Abeita, who went 2-for-4 on the night, and Craig Corriston’s run-scoring double. In the finale, defensive miscues helped the Longhorns jump to a 6-1 lead before pulling away late. Corriston had two hits and an RBI, while Cody Neer delivered his first homer of the year, a two-run shot to pull NU within 6-3.

Huskers Climb into Top 10 in Polls
The Huskers moved into the top 10 in two of the major polls this week. Nebraska is ranked as high as ninth by Collegiate Baseball and is 10th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. It is the first time the Huskers have cracked the top 10 of any national poll since Feb. 26, 2007, when they were ranked seventh by Collegiate Baseball.

Leading Off
?-The Huskers’ 21-4-1 start is NU’s second-best start this decade, as only the 2005 team’s record through 26 games is better than the current start. In fact, the only other team in school history to get off to a better start at this point in the season was the 1983 squad which won its first 26 games.
?-Since the series loss at Stanford on the opening weekend, the Huskers are 20-2-1, winning all four weekend series in that stretch.
?-Following the weekend series win over Texas, the Huskers climbed into the top 10 in the pseudo-RPI ratings on March 31.
?-Nebraska’s 7-1-1 start after the first three weekends of conference action is its second-best start  since the inception of the Big 12. The only team that got off to a faster start was the 1999 Huskers, who won eight of their first nine games en route to a 16-9 mark.
?-Four former Huskers began the 2008 season on Major League Rosters. The group includes Darin Erstad (Houston Astros), Dan Johnson (Oakland Athletics), Alex Gordon (Kansas City Royals) and Joba Chamberlain (New York Yankees). 26 Huskers have reached the Major League, including Gordon and Chamberlain in 2007.
?-If it seemed like the Huskers won a lot in March, it’s because they did. NU’s .886 winning percentage represented the second-best month in school history, trailing only a perfect 22-0 month in March of 1983. Nebraska’s 19 wins in March tied for the ninth-most victories by a Husker team in an month in school history.
?-Husker pitching coach Eric Newman faces his old program this weekend. Newman pitched for the Red Raiders in 1994 before being selected in the fifth round of the MLB Draft. He graduated from the school in 1997
?-Husker starting pitchers are 14-2 on the season and had won 14 straight decisions before Aaron Pribanic lost in Sunday’s series finale at Texas.
?-Husker pitchers have pitched at least five innings in 22 of the past 25 starts. Of those three non-5.0 inning performances, two were pre-determined three-inning starts, while the other was Dan Jennings’ outing that was spread over two days because of rain.
?-The 14-game win streak Nebraska put together earlier this season tied for the fourth-longest win streak in school history and the longest since a 15-game win streak in 2000.The streak fell two games shy of the Big 12 record of 16 set by Kansas State (2006) and Texas Tech (2002).
?-Despite losing six pitchers selected in the 2007 MLB Draft and returning only five pitchers from last year’s staff, the Huskers lead the Big 12 and rank seventh nationally with a 2.96 ERA. Nebraska has only had four years in school history with a team ERA under 3.00 and only once since the aluminum bat was introduced in 1974.
?-Craig Corriston’s walk-off homer against Oklahoma on March 21 was the first by a Husker since 2005. The Huskers have had five walk-off homers since 2000.
?-Jake Mort’s error in the series finale against Oklahoma on March 23 was his first error at third base since May 8, 2006, a span of 51 games. Mort’s career .967 fielding percentage is the best ever by a Husker third baseman.
?-Since allowing 17 runs to Stanford in the season opener, Nebraska pitchers have combined for a 2.42 ERA, as the Huskers have allowed more than five runs just four times this season.
?-With the series win over Texas last weekend, the Huskers have won eight of their last nine Big 12 series dating back to last season.
?-With the series win over the weekend, the Huskers have won the regular-season series in four of their last five visits to Austin. In that stretch, UT has lost only two other three-game home series in league play
?-Nebraska had won 99 straight games when taking a lead into the ninth inning dating back to the 2005 campaign before tying Oklahoma on March 23.  NU is 198-3-1 (.983) when leading after eight innings under Mike Anderson.
?-The Huskers went an amazing 77 innings without trailing in a game before the streak was snapped at Kansas State in the series finale on March 16. NU did not trail during the first series against Northern Colorado last month.
?-The Huskers have not been afraid to put pressure on opponents, as they are fourth in the Big 12 with 44 stolen bases. NU’s stolen base total is more than halfway to last year’s entire season total of 63. Last year, NU had just 28 stolen base attempts in its first 26 contests.
?-The Huskers have shown the knack for comebacks in 2008, overcoming deficits eight times this spring, including a four-run deficit at No. 13 Texas on March 28. Under Mike Anderson, the Huskers have authored 86 come-from-behind wins.
?-The Huskers have not been afraid to play young players this year, as 10 freshmen have seen playing time this season and six (Ben Kline, Dan Johnston, Tyler Rank, David Stewart, Andy Cotton and Casey Hauptman) have made at least one start.
?-Aaron Pribanic is the first Husker pitcher in at least the last decade to throw complete games in his first two starts and the first to throw consecutive complete games since Aaron Marsden in 2003. With his complete-game against UC Riverside on March 2, Pribanic became the first Husker to toss a complete game in his first start since Marsden in 2002.
?-DJ Belfonte ended  a homer drought on March 10, belting his first career homer in 332 at-bats. Jake Mort now has the longest streak without a round tripper, as he has not homered in 387 career plate appearances this weekend’s series with Texas Tech.
?-Mitch Abeita’s pinch-hit homer against UC Riverside on March 1 snapped several homer droughts. It was the first homer by a Husker pinch hitter in 97 at-bats dating back to May 13, 2005, and the first-ever pinch-hit homer by a Husker in Hawks Field. In fact, Nebraska has had only three pinch-hit homers this decade, spanning 440 at-bats entering the Texas Tech series.

Scouting Texas Tech
Head Coach Larry Hays (805-461-3 in 22 years at Texas Tech) brings the Red Raiders to Lincoln with a 16-12 record and on a four-game win streak following a mid-week sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. With Wednesday’s win over the Islanders, Hays became only the fourth coach in NCAA history to reach 1,500 wins in a career, as he won 795 games at Lubbock Christian before coming to Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders have played a challenging early Big 12 schedule, dropping series to both Texas A&M and Texas before besting second-ranked Missouri last week. Tech is 4-5 in the league with three of those losses coming by one run. Against Missouri, Texas Tech forged ninth-inning comebacks to win the final two games, including a six-run effort on Sunday, capped by a walk-off grand slam from Doug Thennis.

The Red Raiders feature one of the league’s best players in outfielder Roger Kieschnick, who spent last summer playing for Team USA. Kieschnick is hitting .313 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs. He paces the league in homers, total bases and slugging percentage while tying for second in RBIs. Willie Rueda is hitting a team-best .317 and paces the Big 12 with 18 stolen bases in 25 contests. Five starters are hitting over .300 on the season for the Red Raiders.

On the mound, Texas Tech has relied on its depth, with 11 pitchers combining for 16 wins. Chad Bettis and Russ Fornea lead the staff with three wins apiece, while closer Zach Stewart is 2-0 with three saves and a 2.66 ERA in 12 games.

Nebraska leads the all-time series, 22-19 dating back to a pair of games in 1990. The Red Raiders won the series last year with a walk-off homer by Doug Thennis in the series finale. Five of the last 10 games between the two teams have been decided by one run, including two of the three contests in Lubbock last season.

Huskers’ and ?Jays Reschedule Game
Nebraska and Creighton have rescheduled the opener of their three-game series for Wednesday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m. The game will be carried by WOWT’s 6.20 (Cox Channel 120) and MyTV (Ch. 110 on Time Warner Cable and Ch. 17 on DirecTV). Fans who had originally purchased tickets for the April 1 contest should hold on to those tickets, as they will be good for the rescheduled date.

A Marked Improvement
When looking at the Huskers’ difference in record between 2007 (16-10) and 2008 (21-4-1), one can look to improved production in all three phases of the game. Offensively, NU is averaging nearly a run more per game and hitting 16 points better than at this point in  2007. On the mound, NU has shaved nearly a run off of its team ERA and is holding opponents to 20 points below its 2007 total.

Doing the Little Things on Offense
While the Huskers don’t overwhelm teams with their power, the Huskers make up for it in other areas. NU ranks in the top 40 nationally in stolen bases (44, 33rd), hit batters (41, 20th) and sacrifice flies (18, eighth) in the April 2 NCAA stats. Nebraska has also done a good job of putting the ball in play, striking  out a league-low 132 times (5.07 per game) through 26 games, a pace which would be the Huskers’ lowest sisince 1972.

Catch a Rising Star
Senior Mitch Abeita has gotten off to a hot start behind the plate for the Huskers. The senior from Dallas, Texas, is hitting .355 with six homers and 23 RBIs, ranking among the Big 12 leaders in on-base percentage (.515, second), homers (fourth), walks (20, seventh) and batting average (12th) entering the weekend. Last season, Abeita had only one homer and 20 RBIs while appearing in 46 games before breaking his fibula in the Big 12 Championship.

Swinging Sullivan
One of the biggest surprises of 2008 has been the emergence of Nick Sullivan in the middle of the lineup. Sullivan was limited by a broken thumb and hit .192 in 30 games last year. This season, he leads the Huskers with a .366 average while chipping in 15 RBIs.

He has been on a tear of late, hitting .448 (13-for-29) with a homer and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games dating back to March 16. Sullivan was the Big 12 Player of the Week on March 24, hitting .444 with nine RBIs to help the Huskers go 3-0-1 on the week.

Sullivan Earns Big 12 Honor
Sullivan was honored by the Big 12 on March 24, as he was named the league’s player of the week. Sullivan hit .444 (8-for-18) with a homer and nine RBIs in helping the Huskers go 3-1-1 on the week. Sullivan had four multi-RBI games and three multi-hit games on the week, helping the Huskers split a series with Arkansas and go 2-0-1 in a Big 12 series with Oklahoma.

Corriston Collects Big 12 Award
Craig Corriston became the second player to be honored by the Big 12 in 2008, as he was chosen as the Big 12 Player of the Week on March 17. He guided the Huskers to a 5-0 week, hitting .579 (11-for-19) with six runs scored, four doubles and four RBIs.  Corriston also stole a pair of bases and recorded three multi-hit contests, including his first career four-hit game on March 15.

Nimmo Named to Senior Watch List
Nebraska center fielder Bryce Nimmo was selected as one of 30 candidates for the 2008 Lowe’s Senior Class Award on March 10.  Presented annually to NCAA Division I student-athletes in eight sports, the award focuses on the “Four C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition.

A three-year starter at center field, Nimmo is hitting .345 with a homer, 14 RBIs and 23 runs scored in 25 contests. In addition to his success on the diamond, he is a two-time academic All-Big 12 selection who carries a 3.51 GPA in finance. He has been named to the Big 12’s Commissioner’s Honor Roll in all seven semesters at Nebraska.

From the list of 30 nominees, a national media committee will select 10 finalists in mid-April. The winner will be announced at the 2008 College World Series.

Dorn Picks Up Big 12 Honor
Johnny Dorn earned another Big 12 honor on March 10, as he was chosen as the Big 12’s Co-Pitcher of the Week. It is the third time the senior has received the conference’s weekly award.
Dorn allowed just one earned run over seven innings, as the Huskers defeated Northern Colorado, 12-2 on March 8. He fanned a career-high 13 Bears, including the first seven hitters he faced. His 13 strikeouts were the most by a Husker pitcher since Joba Chamberlain in 2005, and the second-highest total by a Husker pitcher since Hawks Field opened in 2002.

Dorn Named to Clemens Award List
Senior right-hander Johnny Dorn received another honor on March 6, as he was named to the Roger Clemens Award Watch List. Dorn is among the 78 players on the initial watch list, which will be paired down to 10 semifinalists in May. In all, nine Big 12 players were on the initial watch list.

Dorn Climbs Husker Win List
With his three wins in 2008, Johnny Dorn moved closer to matching Shane Komine’s school record for wins.  The right-hander from Grand Island has moved into the the top three spots on nearly every major Husker career chart during the 2008 season. On the year, Dorn is 3-0 and has held five of his six opponents to two runs or less. Dorn has beaten every Big 12 team during his Husker career, joining two-time All-American Shane Komine as the only two
Husker pitchers to accomplish the feat.

Dorn leads all active Division I pitchers in career wins with 34 following his victory over No. 13 Texas on March 28. Dorn, who is one of only two pitchers in school history to record a pair of double-figure win seasons, is just seven wins shy of two-time All-American Shane Komine’s school and Big 12 record of 41 wins.

Making the Grade by Baseball America
As part of Baseball America’s preview, the publication graded the schools in the top eight conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac-10, Big Ten, Big East, Big West and C-USA) in four areas - national impact, competitiveness, fans and facilities and academics - during the 64-team NCAA era.

Nebraska was one of 16 programs to receive an A from the publication and joined Texas as the only two Big 12 programs to receive an A. As a conference, the Big 12 tied the ACC for second place in that era.

Six Draftees on 2008 Roster
Nebraska’s 2008 roster boasts a total of six Huskers who have been previously selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Four of the players were picked in last year’s draft, including Thad Weber, who was chosen in the 35th round, but elected to return for his senior year.

Two Starters to Miss Remainder of  2008
The Huskers have battled the injury bug in 2008. Two starters from NU’s opening day lineup (Jeff Tezak and Clay Cuno) have suffered season-ending injuries.

Tezak underwent left knee surgery on March 6 for an injury suffered earlier in the year. He appeared in seven contests at designated hitter, belting a homer against UC Riverside. Last year, he earned second-team All-Big 12 honors at designated hitter, hitting .335 with three homers and 37 RBIs in 56 contests.

Cuno, who opened the season as Nebraska’s left fielder, underwent shoulder surgery last week and will be lost for the remainder of the year. He appeared in three games, going hitless in five at-bats. Last season, Cuno hit .381 with 12 homers, 13 doubles and 51 RBIs at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College en route to being named the Jayhawk Conference Freshman of the Year.

Huskers Feature Players from 12 States
The 34 members of the 2008 roster hail from 12 states from coast to coast. There are a total of 12 players from Nebraska on the roster, including six from the Omaha metro area and two from Lincoln.

Huskers Tabbed for Sixth in Big 12
The Nebraska baseball team was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 by a vote of the league coaches released on Feb. 20. The Huskers, coming off a season where they went 32-27 and reached the finals of the NCAA Tempe Regional, totaled 36 points in voting.

Texas was the choice of the league’s coaches, garnering 80 points in the preseason voting and eight of the 10 first-pace votes. Missouri (71) and Baylor (65) received the other two votes, as coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. The rest of the order was Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Tech.

The Coaching Staff
Nebraska shuffled its coaching staff in the offseason, adding pitching coach Eric Newman, while shifting Dave Bingham over to handle the Huskers’ defensive efforts. The three full-time coaches on the Nebraska staff have combined for over 1,100 wins.
Dave Bingham - Serves as the Huskers’ defensive coordinator, overseeing team defense and working with the Husker infielders.
Eric Newman - Begins his first season as Nebraska’s pitching coach after serving as the head coach at Dallas Baptist the past three seasons. Newman, who compiled a 95-72 record at DBU, is a California native who pitched collegiately at both Fresno State and Texas Tech.
Nate Thompson - Begins his first season as Nebraska’s volunteer coach and works primarily with the infielders and assists with the hitters. Thompson comes to NU after serving as an assistant coach at Fort Hays State in 2007. He played for Coach Newman at Dallas Baptist and was a student assistant at the school in 2006.

Husker Baseball: Giving Back
The Husker baseball program has been active in the community during the 2007-08 academic year. Starting with the Paint-a-Thon in August, the Nebraska baseball team has done over 425 hours in community service projects this year.
?-During the Christmas break, players and coaches combined for over 250 hours of community service projects, working with various groups in their hometowns. Some of the projects included working with local law enforcement in translating languages,  cleaning community centers and raising money for Food Banks.
?-On Jan. 25, 2008, the Nebraska baseball program hosted Baseball 101, a day of activities to help fans learn more about the sport. The one-day clinic had over 100 participants and raised over $10,000 for a literacy center in Lincoln.
?-Earlier this month, several Husker players spoke at elementary schools as part of Dr. Seuss week, spending part of two days reading to elementary students.

Husker Baseball on Television
The Husker baseball program will make at least nine appearances on television during the 2008 season. The broadcast schedule featured five games produced by Nebraska Educational Television (NET and NET-HD) as well as nationally televised games as part of the Big 12’s television package. Nebraska’s first TV appearance of the year will be on Saturday, March 29, as the Huskers head to Austin, Texas, for a contest against the Longhorns.

Single-Game Tickets Now on Sale
Single-game general admission tickets for Husker baseball home games are now on sale. General admission tickets for all regular-season home games this season are $7 for adults and $5 for youth in high school or younger or for senior citizens ages 60 or older. General admission tickets are free for children ages six and younger along with UNL students (with a valid student ID).

The 2008 schedule includes Big 12 home series against Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Kansas and Texas A&M, as well as non-conference series against Louisiana-Lafayette, UC Riverside and Northern Colorado. Other single-games on the schedule include matchups with NCAA qualifiers Creighton and Wichita State, as well as contests against Nebraska-Kearney and Western Illinois.

Husker Home Run Club Bus Trips
Make your plans now to join the Husker Home Run Club for a pair of bus trips during the season.

The first bus trip takes place on April 12-13, for a trek to Oklahoma State, with the second one on May 17-18 for the Huskers’ regular-season finale at Missouri. Both packages include roundtrip transportation, selected meals, a hotel room and tickets to both of Nebraska’s games that weekend.

For more information and prices, contact Ed Bolejack at (402) 476-4990 or Erich Helge at (402) 643-5403 or visit Huskerhomerunclub.com.

Husker-Creighton Tickets on Sale
Tickets for both of the Nebraska-Creighton games at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium are now on sale. Reserve seating prices the games on April 23 and May 13 are $14, $12 and $10 and tickets can be purchased over the phone at Ticketmaster in Lincoln at 475-1212, in Omaha at (402) 422-1212 or on the Internet at ticketmaster.com. Tickets will not be available for purchase at the Nebraska Ticket Office.

All Tied Up
Nebraska’s series finale against Oklahoma ended in an 8-8 tie after 10 innings because of the Sooners’ travel arrangements. It marked the fourth tie in a conference game since the Big 12 began in 1997, and the first tie by a Husker team since a 6-6 tie with Creighton in 1996.

16 Huskers Named to Big 12 Honor Roll
A total of 16 current or former Husker baseball players were named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. The group is led by Bryce Nimmo and Nick Sullivan, both of whom made their seventh consecutive appearances on the honor roll.
As a team, the Huskers recorded a 2.95 team GPA during the fall semester, their best performance in Mike Anderson’s six years as head coach at NU.