Huskers, Bluejays Battle Tuesday Night

Creighton (13-8) at Nebraska (15-13)
Tuesday, April 6, 6:35 p.m. 

Media Info
Live Radio:       Husker Sports Network and for free on the Internet at Huskers.com (affiliate list on page five of game notes)
Live Video:
Free Video on Huskers.com Tuesday night
Live Stats: 
Huskers.com
TV:
NET-1 (Ch. 12) and NET-HD (Ch. 112); CBS College Sports Network - DirecTV (Ch. 613) and Dish Network (Ch. 152).

Probable Starting Pitchers
NU-Chase Adams, Jr., RHP (2-0, 4.87 ERA)
CU-Mike Nihsen, Sr., RHP (0-1, 8.03 ERA)

This Week: The Nebraska baseball team hosts intrastate rival Creighton in the first of three matchups this season Tuesday night at Hawks Field. First pitch between the Huskers (15-13) and Bluejays (13-8) is slated for 6:35 p.m. and the contest will be televised statewide on NET Television and simulcast nationally on CBS College Sports Network. Both teams look to bounce back after disappointing weekend series, as the Huskers dropped the rubber game against Oklahoma State on Sunday, while Creighton lost 2-of-3 at home against Indiana State.

Tickets: Single-game tickets for this weekend are available by visiting the Hawks Field Ticket Office 90 minutes before first pitch. Tickets are $10 (reserved and Home Run Terrace) and $7 (GA) with youth and senior citizens GA seats at $5. All UNL students receive free admission with a valid N-card.

Radio: Tuesday's game will be on the entire Husker Sports Network, including flagship stations KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington, and on Huskers.com.

Video: Free live video will be available on Huskers.com

Tuesday's Promotion: All fans in attendance will have a chance to win tickets to a Kansas City Royals game at Kauffman Stadium or tickets to see a Minnesota Twins game at Target Field to celebrate the opening week of Major League Baseball season. Fans will be able to register at the main entrance of the ballpark.

Tuesday Preview: Nebraska looks to bounce back after an 11-9 loss at Oklahoma State on Easter Sunday. Nebraska racked up 16 hits, including three each from DJ Belfonte and Adam Bailey, but were hurt by a pair of big innings which accounted for all 11 runs for Oklahoma State. 

Nebraska has been solid offensively, ranking fifth in the Big 12 with a .313 batting average while ranking second in the conference with 34 homers. The Huskers feature one of the Big 12's top sluggers in senior right fielder Adam Bailey, who leads the Big 12 in all three triple crown categories, hitting .433 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs. Bailey ranks first or second in the league in batting average, homers, RBIs, hits (52, first), runs (33, second), total bases (92, first) and slugging percentage (.767, second). He is one of three Huskers in the top-15 in the league in batting average, joining center fielder DJ Belfonte (.389, ninth) and designated hitter Kale Kiser (.378, 15th).

3 Things to Watch
5: Number of homers by freshman Chad Christensen, which is the most by a freshman since Alex Gordon hit seven in 2003. Christensen is third in the Big 12 among freshmen in homers, a fact made more impressive considering he has had just 41 at-bats.
200: Career hit total for DJ Belfonte following his three-hit day against Oklahoma State on Sunday. He is just the 19th player in school history to reach 200 career hits.
.539: On-base percentage for sophomore Kale Kiser. He is one of only five players in the Big 12 with on-base percentages of .500 or better.

Scouting Creighton
Like the Huskers, the Bluejays have spent much of the early season on the road, as Creighton comes into tonight's game with a 13-8 record. The Bluejays come off a home series loss to Indiana State over the weekend, losing the first two games before battling back with a 7-6 win in the finale on Sunday. Under seventh-year coach Ed Servais, Creighton welcomed back six everyday starters from a team that won 31 games last year and finished fourth in the MVC.

Offensively, junior college transfer Trever Adams has provided some pop in the Bluejay attack, hitting a team-best .367 with three homers and 21 RBIs. He is one of four starters hitting over .300, joining TJ Roemmich (.335-4-24), Robbie Knight (.307-1-11 with 19 runs scored) and Alex Staehely (.304-1-5). Seven Bluejays have at least two homers this season.

On the mound, Brandon Koenigstein (3-0, 2.77 ERA) and Jonas Dufek (4-1, 5.31 ERA) have more than half of the Bluejays' victories, while closer Jack VanLeur has been effective, posting a team-high four saves and a 2.59 ERA in 14 appearances. Senior right-hander Mike Nihsen will start Tuesday. He is 0-1 with an 8.03 ERA in six appearances, including five starts. Nihsen has pitched just 12.1 innings in his six outings.

Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series, 70-37-2, and has won 16-of-22 meetings since Mike Anderson took over as Nebraska's head coach in 2003. The Huskers have swept the season series four times since 2000 (2000, 2003, 2006 and 2008). The two teams split the 2009 meetings, with Creighton winning the opener in Lincoln before Nebraska responded with a 4-3 win in 12 innings in Omaha two weeks later. The final game was rained out.

Weekend Recap
Friday (Oklahoma State 8, Nebraska 2): Oklahoma State's Thomas Keeling allowed four hits over 7.1 shutout innings, as the Cowboys took the opener by an 8-2 score. Keeling hit three and walked four, but the left-hander worked out of danger all night in a 144-pitch performance. He recorded 11 strikeouts while the Huskers went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Luis Uribe homered and drove in two runs for Oklahoma State, while Kevin David and Dane Phillips both had two hits and an RBI, as the Cowboys broke the game open with three runs in the fourth against Nebraska starter Michael Mariot to take a 4-0 lead.  Adam Bailey belted his Big 12-leading 10th homer for the Huskers, a two-run shot in the ninth off of OSU reliever Ian McCarthy.

Saturday (Nebraska 9, Oklahoma State 2):  Khris Tate allowed one run over a career-high 5.1 innings, while Cody Asche matched his career high with five RBIs, as Nebraska evened the weekend series with a 9-2 victory Saturday afternoon. Tate (2-0) picked up his second win of the week, holding Oklahoma State to just one run in his first career Big 12 start. Tate, whose longest previous appearance this season was a three-inning start against North Dakota, allowed a run in the first and eventually worked out of base-loaded jam before settling down and pitching into the sixth.  While Tate's pitching performance was the story of the day, Nebraska's offense also got untracked against Oklahoma State pitching. The Huskers pounded out 15 hits, including three each from DJ Belfonte and Tyler Farst. Asche came through with the game's biggest hit, a seventh-inning grand slam, to give Nebraska a 9-1 cushion.

Sunday (Oklahoma State 11, Nebraska 9):  Nebraska jumped to a four-run lead, only to see Oklahoma State respond with a pair of big innings, taking the rubber game of the series, 11-9. The Huskers, bidding for just their second series win in Stillwater in 40 years, staked themselves a 4-0 lead, but could not hold off an Oklahoma State offense that put up six runs in the second and five more two innings later. Dane Phillips and Kevin David had three hits and two RBIs apiece, while Nico Rosthenhausler homered and drove in three runs for Oklahoma State. The Huskers trailed 11-4 only to fight back, closing to 11-9 with three runs in the sixth and two more in the ninth. Nebraska eventually got the tying run to the plate with no outs, but could not pull closer as Bryan Peters lined out to left before DJ Belfonte hit a liner to shortstop which was turned into a game-ending double play, as OSU reliever Ian McCarthy went the final 3.1 innings for his second save. Belfonte, Adam Bailey and Chad Christensen had three hits apiece for the Huskers, while Cody Asche had two hits, including his sixth homer of the year, and drove in three runs in a losing effort.

Leading Off
•-Nebraska has improved its offensive numbers this season, as it enters Tuesday's against Creighton with a .313 batting average.  It is NU's highest batting average after 28 games since the 2006 campaign and a fact made more impressive considering the Huskers have played six games against the top two teams in the country in ERA (UCLA and Texas).

*-One year after Kansas' Tony Thompson became the Big 12's first triple crown winner, Adam Bailey is making a strong bid to repeat the feat in 2010. Bailey enters the week hitting .433 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs, leading the league in all three categories, as well as total bases and hits. Bailey was hitting .333 with nine homers and 33 RBIs through NU's first 28 games a year ago.

*After not hitting 50 homers in each of the past two seasons, Nebraska has regained its power surge in 2010. The Huskers are second in the Big 12 with 34 homers (Oklahoma leads with 37) and feature three of the Big 12's top 10 home run hitters in Adam Bailey (10, first), Cody Asche (6, fifth) and Chad Christensen (5, ninth). Nebraska is on pace to hit 66 homers in the regular season (54 games), which would be its highest total since belting 70 in 2006. Christensen is third among all Big 12 freshmen in homers with five, trailing only the Baylor duo of Max Muncy (seven) and Logan Vick (six), and his five round trippers are the most by a Husker rookie since Alex Gordon in 2005.

*-Nebraska has gotten off to fast starts, scoring first in 20 of its 28 games this season. NU has scored in the first inning in more than half of its games this season (15 of 29), including four runs in Sunday's series finale at Oklahoma State. NU has outscored its opposition, 29-7 in the first innings of games this year and has won nearly 75 percent of games over the last eight seasons when scoring first.

*The Huskers have been proficient in two-out situations this season, recording 81 two-out RBIs. In fact, 87 of Nebraska's 205 runs (42.4 percent) have been scored with two outs through the first 28 contests, and NU has scored at least one two-out run in 23 of 28 contests. Bailey has a team-best 16 RBIs, while Cody Asche (14) and Tyler Farst (10) also have at least 10 two-out RBIs this season.