Huskers Face Bluejays at Rosenblatt

On Tap: The Nebraska baseball team looks to snap a three-game losing streak, as the Huskers travel to Omaha to take on Creighton Tuesday night. First pitch at historic Rosenblatt Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m., as the Huskers look to even the season series with the Bluejays. Tuesday’s matchup is the first of two tilts at Rosenblatt Stadium over the next month, as the two teams will meet again in Omaha on Tuesday, May 13. Tickets for both matchups with the Bluejays in Omaha are available at Ticketmaster outlets across the state, at Ticketmaster.com and at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Nebraska (17-21-1) at Creighton (21-17)
Tuesday, April 21 - 6:30 p.m
Rosenblatt Stadium

Media Info
Radio: IMG Husker Sports Network and for free on the Internet at Huskers.com
Video: Free Live Video on Huskers.com (Tues.); HuskersNside (Fri.-Sun.)
Live Stats:  Huskers.com 

Probable Starting Pitchers
Nebraska - Erik Bird, Sr., RHP (1-1, 7.41 ERA) 
Creighton - Jeremy Hauer, Sr., LHP (0-5, 4.66)

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, KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington and on the Internet at Huskers.com.

Tuesday Preview: The Huskers look to rebound following a three-game sweep at No. 23 Texas A&M over the weekend. Nebraska got good starting pitching in the opening two games of the series, but Texas A&M pulled away in the later innings of each game. In the finale, Nebraska had just four hits off Aggie starter Kyle Thebeau, as Adam Bailey’s fourth-inning RBI single accounted for the Huskers’ lone run.  Nebraska has been challenged by a difficult schedule, as 17 of its last 22 games entering Tuesday’s matchup with Creighton have been against teams ranked at game time or currently in the national polls. In addition, the Huskers have seen three of the league’s top four pitching staffs over the past three conference weekends, including a Texas staff that leads the nation with a 2.17 ERA.

Creighton (21-17) brings a four-game win streak into Tuesday’s contest, as the Bluejays swept Illinois-Chicago in a pair of non-conference games over the weekend. The Bluejays are in third place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 9-3 record heading into a series with Bradley this weekend.

Scouting Creighton
The Bluejays have overcome a slow start to enter the week with a 21-17 record following a sweep of UIC over the weekend. The Bluejays have won four straight, as they took a pair from Air Force last Wednesday. Creighton is 9-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference and sits in third place in the league.  Under the direction of Ed Servais (217-116 at CU), the Bluejays return 17 lettermen, including four starters from a team that went 37-21 a year ago. Offensively, the Bluejays are led by outfielder Robbie Knight, who is hitting .347 with a team-high 32 runs scored.  All-Missouri Valley Conference first baseman Darin Ruf has been the Bluejays’ top run producer, leading Creighton in both homers (7) and RBIs (39) while hitting .324 on the year while Elliott Soto (.333-0-17) and Vincente Cafaro (.331-3-21) have been consistent producers in the Bluejays lineup.

On the mound, the Bluejays’ strength has been balance, as seven pitchers have two wins apiece while no pitcher has thrown more than 49.2 innings on the season. Left-hander Jeremy Hauer (0-5, 4.55 ERA) will make his 10th start of the year against the Huskers. He has fanned 36 over 48.1 innings, while opponents are hitting .285 against the senior southpaw.  Hauer is 0-1 in his career against Nebraska, allowing four runs in just a third of an inning of relief in Nebraska’s 4-3 win over the Bluejays on April 22, 2008.

Last Matchup: Nebraska was held to four hits, as the Huskers suffered a 15-0 setback to Creighton on April 7. 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. 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.

Series History: Nebraska leads the all-time series, 69-37-2, and has won 15-of-21 meetings since Mike Anderson took over as Nebraska’s head coach in 2003. The Huskers have swept the season series four times this decade (2000, 2003, 2006 and 2008).

Last Time Out
Sunday (Texas A&M 10, Nebraska 1): A pair of big innings sealed the Huskers’ fate, as Texas A&M used a pair of five-run innings and got a strong performance from starter Kyle Thebeau in a 10-1 victory Sunday afternoon.  The Aggies did all of their scoring in the second and fourth innings, putting up five runs in both frames to take a 10-1 lead en route to improving to 8-0 in conference home tilts. Brooks Raley, Luke Anders, Joe Patterson and David Alleman all drove in two runs apiece for the Aggies. Thebeau picked up the victory, scattering four hits over seven innings of work in his first start of the year. The right-hander fanned four and retired the final 12 Huskers he faced. Adam Bailey accounted for the Huskers with a fourth-inning RBI single. Cody Asche, and Cory Burleson both had doubles on the day, while Tyler Farst’s base hit accounted for the Huskers’ offensive total.

Leading Off
?-The Huskers will look to break out of an offensive slump, as Nebraska hit just .160 in three games at Texas A&M over the weekend. Tyler Farst was the only regular to hit over .300 on the weekend, going 4-for-11 with a pair of doubles. Farst is now fifth in the Big 12 with a team-high 13 doubles and is one off the league leaders in that category.
?-The Huskers have seen some of the Big 12’s best pitching in recent weeks. Of the top six starting pitchers in the league in ERA, the Huskers have seen five of them (A.J. Morris, Cole Green, Brooks Raley, Chance Ruffin and Brandon Workman) over the last three weekends of Big 12 action. In fact, nine of the top 13 ERAs in the league entering Tuesday’s action have been pitchers NU has seen over the last three weekends.
?-Reaching double figures in hits is a key for the Huskers in 2009. When they have at least 10 hits in a game, the Huskers are 17-5-1, while NU has gone winless in 16 games when not reaching that plateau.
?-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 just eight times to lead all Big 12 players in fewest strikeouts per at-bat.  Tezak is also second among all Big 12 hitters in walk-to-strikeout ratio entering this week’s action.  The senior is also attempting to become the first Husker position player since 2003 to strike out less than 20 times with a minimum of 150 at-bats.
?-Tezak has helped the Husker hitters rank third in the league in fewest strikeouts, as NU batters have fanned only 257 times in the first 39 contests.
?-One constant with Nebraska’s offense has been junior first baseman Tyler Farst.  as he has reached safely in 36 of his 37 appearances this season. Farst had a streak of 33 consecutive games reaching safely snapped in the series finale at Texas on April 11.
?-Third baseman Cody Asche has emerged as one of the Huskers’ top freshmen. He is hitting .352 on the season and ranks fourth on the team with 19 RBIs. He is second on the squad with 12 two-out RBIs, as his percentage is a team best.
?-Nebraska has shown the ability to score runs in bunches. The Huskers have already plated five runs in an inning 11 times, nearly twice the Huskers’ total from 2008. Here is a look at the Huskers’ biggest innings in 2009
?-Nebraska already has 10 come-from-behind wins among its 17 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 deficit against Iowa State. NU has 109 come-from-behind wins under Mike Anderson since 2003.
?-NU hitters have taken a beating this season, as the Huskers have been hit by 57 pitches to rank third in the Big 12.   Junior DJ Belfonte has been hit 40 times in his career, including a team-high 10 times in 2009. Belfonte, who now ranks second on NU’s career list, is one of nine players in the league to be hit by at least 10 pitches this spring.
?-Nebraska has won five games in its last at-bat this spring, including four runs in the bottom of the eighth in a 14-13 win over Northern Colorado on March 24.
?-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.
?-Nebraska has won 132 of its last 133 games when taking a lead into the ninth inning and is 132-0-1 in that stretch dating back to the 2005 season. NU is 227-3-1 (.985) when leading after eight innings under Mike Anderson.
?-The Huskers are 48-2 dating back to last season when they out-hit an opponent and have won over 90 percent of their games since 2003 when out-hitting an opponent.