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| Watch highlights of Brian Duensing and Joba Chamberlain from the 2005 Husker baseball season. |
It is a battle of former Huskers in one of the American League Playoff Series as Brian Duensing’s Minnesota Twins take on Joba Chamberlain’s New York Yankees in a best-of-five series beginning tonight in Yankee Stadium. First pitch for tonight’s series opener on TBS is slated for 5:07 p.m.
Duensing will make his first postseason appearance when he takes the mound as the Twins starter on Wednesday night. Duensing, who was 5-2 with a 3.64 ERA since being called up by the Twins for good in July, has excelled since moving to the starting rotation. He is 5-1 with a 2.73 ERA in nine starts, as Minnesota roared back from seven games out of first place on Sept. 6 to win the American League Central title on Tuesday with a 12-inning win over Detroit.
"It's going to be real exciting," Duensing told MLB.com following Tuesday’s game. "I'm sure I'll be nervous, but I'll try to keep those emotions in check, obviously. It's a really good team. It's going to be a battle."
Chamberlain has been in the Yankees’ rotation the entire season, going 9-6 with a 4.75 ERA in 31 starts. He is expected to be used out of the bullpen in the ALDS, a role he flourished in as a rookie when he was 2-0 with a 0.38 ERA in 19 games. This will be his second playoff appearance, as he pitched for the Yankees in 2007.
The pair were teammates on Nebraska’s 2005 College World Series team, helping the Huskers to a school-record 57 wins and a sweep of the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles. Duensing went 8-0 with a 3.00 ERA that season after recovering from Tommy John surgery, highlighted by 7.2 shutout innings against Baylor in the Big 12 title game. In his three-year career at Nebraska, Duensing compiled a 17-2 record, including a perfect 11-0 in his first two seasons of action before being selected by the Twins in the third round of the 2005 MLB Draft.
Chamberlain was the ace of the Husker staff, going 10-2 with a 2.81 ERA, fanning 130 hitters over 118.2 innings and earning the win in NU’s CWS opener against Arizona State. A second-team All-American in 2005, Chamberlain went 16-7 in his two seasons as a Husker before being taken in the first round by the Yankees in 2006.