Huskers Host No. 9 Texas This Weekend

On Tap: The Nebraska baseball team returns to Big 12 action on Thursday night, as the Huskers begin a three-game series with the No. 9 Texas Longhorns at Hawks Field. The series runs Thursday (6:05 p.m.), Friday (6:05 p.m.) and Saturday (1:05 p.m.) due to the Easter weekend. 

The Huskers (16-15-1, 4-8 Big 12) look to snap a six-game losing streak - their longest since 1997 - following a loss to Creighton on Tuesday night. The Huskers will play their third ranked team in four weekends, as the Longhorns come to town with a 21-8 record after shutting out TCU on Tuesday. Both teams look to make a move in the jumbled Big 12 race. Entering the weekend, only three games separate second and 10th place in the conference race after four weekends of play.  The Huskers are 4-4 in eight games against ranked opponents this season, including a series win against then-No. 11 Oklahoma State last month. Nebraska has been tough on ranked foes in Hawks Field, going 43-22 since the ballpark opened in 2002.

Nebraska (16-15-1, 4-8 Big 12
vs. No. 9 Texas (21-8. 6-6 Big 12)

Thursday, April 8 - 6:05 p.m.
Friday, April 9 - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday, April 10 - 1:05 p.m.

Media Info
Television: Thursday’s game Live on NET, NET-HD and CBS College Sports (Ch. 613 on DirecTV; Ch. 152 on DISH Network)
Radio: IMG Husker Sports Network and for free on the Internet at Huskers.com
Video: Free Live Video on Huskers.com
Live Stats:  Huskers.com 

Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday 
NU-Sean Yost, R-Fr., RHP (1-2. 7.83 ERA) 
UT-Chance Ruffin, So., RHP (5-2, 2.48 ERA)
Friday 
NU-Jordan Roualdes, Jr., LHP (4-2, 5.83 ERA) 
UT-Brandon Workman, So., RHP (3-3, 2.55 ERA) 
Saturday 
NU-Casey Hauptman, So., RHP (2-2, 5.30 ERA)
UT-Cole Green, So., RHP (2-0, 2.75 ERA)

TV: Thursday’s game will be shown statewide on NET and NET-HD and simulcast nationally on CBS College Sports with Larry Punteney and Adrian Fiala calling all of the action. It is the second of six games set for telecast on NET this spring.

Tickets: General admission tickets are $7 (adults) and $5 (youth and seniors) and can be purchased at Hawks Field beginning 90 minutes before first pitch. UNL students get in free with a valid N-Card.

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

Internet Video: All three games this weekend will be carried on the the new Huskers.com video player. Fans who watch the feed will be able to have live stats, polls and much more on their browser. For more info on the new player, visit Huskers.com.

3 Things to Watch
1.  Senior Jeff Tezak leads the Huskers with 21 walks to rank ninth in the Big 12  and has struck out just seven times in 101 at-bats. In Big 12 action, he is even better with 11 walks and no strikeouts

2. Freshman Cody Asche (.407 in 27 at-bats) and Cory Burleson (.412 in 17 at-bats) lead the Huskers with runners in scoring position

3. First baseman Tyler Farst has hit safely in 23 of his last 26 contests, including a pair of 11-game hit streaks in that span. Farst also tops NU with 14 multi- hit games this season.

Last Time Out
Nebraska was held to four hits, as the Huskers suffered a 15-0 setback to Creighton Tuesday night at Hawks Field. The Huskers were shut out for the first time this season and only the third time since Hawks Field opened in 2002, as Creighton broke open a 4-0 game over the final three frames.  Vincente Cafaro paced a 14-hit attack for CU, going 5-for-5 and scoring five times, while T.J. Roemmich went 2-for-2 with four RBIs, as Creighton won for only the sixth time against the Huskers dating back to 2003. NU starter Kash Kalkowski took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits over a career-long 3.1 innings of work. Ben Kline and Jeff Tezak had doubles for the Huskers, who suffered their sixth straight setback.

Texas Preview
Under legendary coach Augie Garrido, the Longhorns join the Huskers as one of the Big 12’s most consistent programs this decade. Texas enters the weekend with a 21-8 mark, including a 6-6 Big 12 record, after shutting out TCU on Tuesday night. UT comes off a series win over Oklahoma State last weekend in Stillwater.

Texas’ forte has been its pitching staff, as UT leads the nation with a 2.18 ERA in its first 29 contests, nearly two runs better than any other league foe. UT has six pitchers in the top eight in the league in ERA, including the entire weekend rotation of Chance Ruffin (5-2, 2.48 ERA), Brandon Workman (3-3, 2.55 ERA) and Cole Green (2-0, 2.75 ERA). Austin Woods has made 17 appearances out of the bullpen, going 4-0 record and six saves.

Offensively, Texas is a disciplined offense , striking out a league-low 156 times while hitting .269. Travis Tucker leads the Longhorns with a .321 average, as he is one of three starters hitting over .300. Brandon Belt leads UT in both doubles (nine) and walks (20), while Kevin Keyes tops the Longhorns in both homers (four) and RBIs (18).

Nebraska leads the all-time series with Texas, 26-21 and is the only Big 12 school that has an all-time winning mark against the Longhorns. NU is 10-7 against Texas in Lincoln and 4-4 in eight games at Hawks Field.  Last year, the Huskers took 2-of-3 in Austin, clinching the series on Thad Weber’s two-hit shutout.

Leading Off
?-Four former Huskers are on Major League Baseball opening-day rosters, as the 2009 season begins this week. The newest Husker Major Leaguer is pitcher Brian Duensing, who is pitching for the Minnesota Twins. When he makes his debut, Duensing will become the 27th former Husker to reach the Major Leagues and the first Husker from Omaha to reach the Majors since Bill McGuire in the late 1980s.  Houston Astro Darin Erstad begins his 14th season in the Major Leagues and trails only Stan Bahnsen (1966-82) among Huskers in terms of time in the Major Leagues, while Alex Gordon and Joba Chamberlain are each in their third season in the Majors.

?-Tuesday’s shutout marked the first time the Huskers had been shut out at home in the regular season since May 15, 1994, against Iowa State. The only two times NU had been blanked at home since then came in NCAA Tournament games in 2003 (Missouri State) and 2008 (Oral Roberts).

?-The Huskers have been tough on ranked teams at home in recent years, posting a 62-31 (.667) record since 1998, including an impressive 22-8 (.733) mark against top-10 teams. NU is 43-22 (.662) against ranked foes since Hawks Field at Haymarket Park opened in 2002.

?-First baseman Tyler Farst has put together a pair of 11-game hit streaks on the season and has reached safely (via hit, walk or HBP) in 31 consecutive games dating back to last season. Farst is hitting a  team-high .367 overall, but even better in Big 12 action with a .422 mark to rank eighth in the league. Farst extended the streak with a first inning walk, but went hitless for only the third time since Feb. 28.

?-Catcher Cody Neer leads the Big 12 with six doubles in league play. Neer has nine hits in conference action, but seven of those have been for extra bases (six doubles and a homer). Neer hit a team-best .364 (4-for-11) with a pair of doubles in the series loss to Kansas State last weekend.

?-One area that senior Jeff Tezak has excelled in this season is plate discipline. Tezak not only leads the Huskers in walks, but has struck out seven times to lead all Big 12 players in fewest strikeouts per at-bat. Tezak also paces all league players in walk-to-strikeout ratio entering this weekend’s action.

?-Nebraska has shown the ability to score runs in bunches. The Huskers have already plated five runs in an inning 10 times, easily eclipsing the team’s entire 2008 total of seven in 59 contests. Here is a look at the Huskers’ biggest innings this spring.

?-Nebraska already has 10 come-from-behind wins among its 16 victories, including six wins where the Huskers had to overcome at least a three-run deficit. The seven-run comeback against Northern Colorado on March 24 equaled the Huskers’ largest comeback since the 2000 season, when NU overcame a 10-0 defict against Iowa State. NU has 109 come-from-behind wins under Mike Anderson since 2003.

?-Nebraska hitters have taken a beating this season, as the Huskers have been hit by 49 pitches to rank second in the Big 12. One look at the Husker career chart also shows the Huskers’ propensity to get hit by pitches. DJ Belfonte has been hit 38 times in his career, including nine times in 2008, to move into sole possession of second place on Nebraska’s career list. He is joined by Nick Sullivan (34, fourth) and Jake Mort (32, sixth) on NU’s career list.

?-Jed Hanson has made the most of his limited action, belting three homers in three straight games and is slugging  at a 1.444 clip in nine at-bats. The last Husker to homer in three straight games was Luke Gorsett in 2006, while the only other Husker to accomplish the feat under Mike Anderson was Daniel Bruce in 2004. In fact, the last Husker to homer in four consecutive games was Jed Morris, who had a streak of five straight games with a homer in 2002.

?-With his homer against Northern Colorado on March 25, Jed Hanson became the first Husker to homer in his first career at-bat in over a decade.  Hanson had not appeared in NU’s first 23 games before homering on the first pitch he saw as a Husker.

?-Junior college transfer Kyle Bubak has made the most of his opportunities at the top of the Husker lineup. Since moving into the leadoff spot on March 4, Bubak is hitting .330 with a homer, 11 RBIs and 26 runs scored. The Husker offense has also made significant improvement in that span, averaging nearly eight runs per game over the last 23 contests.  Prior to Bubak’s move to the top of the lineup, NU’s leadoff hitters were hitting a combined .154.

?-Jeff Tezak’s two-homer day at Oklahoma on March 29 marked the first by a Husker this season and the first since Jake Opitz had two homers against Eastern Illinois in the 2008 NCAA Lincoln Regional.

?-Nebraska’s five homers in the series opener at No. 11 Oklahoma on March 30 marked NU’s highest single-game total since belting five against Nebraska-Kearney on April 19, 2006, and the most by the Huskers in a Big 12 game since hitting five homers against Texas A&M on April 22, 2000.

?-When Cody Asche and Jed Hanson belted back-to-back homers in the nightcap against No. 11 Oklahoma on March 30, it marked the first time it had happened for the Huskers since Andy Gerch and Jake Opitz accomplished the feat on May 12, 2007.

?-Nebraska has shown a flare for the dramatic in 2009, winning five games in its last at-bat, including four runs in the bottom of the eighth in a 14-13 win over Northern Colorado on March 24. NU also scored six times in the bottom of the eighth in a 14-12 win over Missouri State on Feb. 27 and five times in the bottom of the eighth in a 10-6 win over North Dakota on Feb. 25.

?-The Huskers have reached double figures in runs 10 times this season after accomplishing the feat 12 times in 2008.

?-The Huskers are 92-1 under Mike Anderson when reaching double figures in runs, including 64-0 since the start of the 2005 season.

?-NU is 16-4-1 when getting at least 10 hits this season, but winless in 11 games without reaching double figures in hits.

?-NU has enjoyed a youth movement in 2009, as 16 players have seen their first action as Huskers this season.  The group includes nine freshmen, five junior college transfers and a pair of sophomores who did not play because of injuries the past two years.  

?-Nebraska is 1-1-1 this year in extra frames and 15-9-2 (.615) in extra-inning contests since 2003.

?-Nebraska set a school and Big 12 record in the opener against UL-Lafayette, as five Husker pitchers combined for 22 strikeouts, breaking the school and conference mark of 21 set at Iowa State on April 18, 1999. Three of the top five strikeout performances have been under pitching coach Eric Newman over the past two seasons.

?-Nebraska is the only Big 12 program to win at least 40 games in eight of the past 10 years, including three 50-win seasons.

?-Since the NCAA went to the 64-team format in 1999, Nebraska has made nine NCAA Tournament appearances, which ties for seventh nationally in that time period. The only teams to earn more bids than Nebraska in that span are Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Miami, Oral Roberts, Rice and Texas.

?-Nebraska has won 131 of its last 132 games when taking a lead into the ninth inning and is 131-0-1 in that stretch dating back to the 2005 season. NU is 226-3-1 (.985) when leading after eight innings under Mike Anderson.

?-The Huskers are 47-2 dating back to last season when they out-hit an opponent, as Saturday’s loss to Kansas State marked only the second time in the last two years that NU has out-hit an opponent, but lost the game. The Huskers have won over 90 percent of their games since 2003 when out-hitting an opponent.