Huskers Hit the Road to Face No. 11 Oklahoma

Date    Date    Opponent              Radio                 Video       TV                Time/Result
Friday  April 22   at Oklahoma (27-11, 7-7)      Husker Sports Network Huskers.com                6:30 p.m.

Saturday  April 23   at Oklahoma       Husker Sports Network  Huskers.com                2 p.m.

Sunday  April 24   at Oklahoma       Husker Sports Network  Huskers.com    Fox College Sports Central 1 p.m.

Media Info
Live Radio: Select Husker Sports Network affiliates and for free on Huskers.com (affiliate list on page five of today's notes)

Live Stats: Huskers.com

Live Video: Free NET stream on Huskers.com

Television: Sunday on Fox College Sports Central (320 on Lincoln Time Warner Cable; 617 on DirecTV)

Probable Starting Pitchers
Day        Nebraska                             Oklahoma
Friday    Matt Freeman, Sr., RHP (5-3, 3.99)  Michael Rocha, Sr., RHP (7-1, 1.09)
Saturday Jon Keller, Fr., RHP (2-3, 2.55)  Burch Smith, Jr., RHP (6-2, 4.11)
Sunday  Tyler Niederklein, So., RHP (5-1, 4.09)  TBA

This Week: Nebraska has won four of its past five games and will take that momentum into another pivotal Big 12 series this weekend at No. 11 Oklahoma. The Sooners, a 2010 College World Series qualifier, will host the Huskers in a three-game set beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m., while continuing the series Saturday at 2 p.m., and Easter Sunday at 1 p.m. Nebraska will have only one road Big 12 road trip remaining (May 13-15 at Texas A&M) following this weekend, as it hosts Baylor, Texas and Missouri three of the last four league series.

Tickets: Single-game tickets for each of the three games at Oklahoma's L. Dale Mitchell Park can be purchased online at soonersports.com or on game day at the stadium box office. Tickets are $8 for general admission and $12 for reserved.

Television: Sunday's series finale will be televised nationally on Fox College Sports Central (320 on Lincoln TWC; 617 on DirecTV). Steve Physioc will be the play-by-play annoucer while Joel Klatt will serve as the analyst.

On the Radio: Fans across Nebraska and around the world can listen to Greg Sharpe and Jeff Culhane call all of the action on the Husker Sports Network - including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, KFAM 1110 AM in Omaha - and on the Internet at Huskers.com. A complete list of Husker Sports Network affiliates can be found on page 5.

Preview: Nebraska has won seven of its past 10 games and will face one of its toughest battles this weekend it travels to Oklahoma. The Sooners were the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 title as they are coming off a CWS berth in a 50-18 season a year ago. This year's OU squad started 16-0, but is 11-11 over its past 22 games entering this weekend. Oklahoma defeated No. 7 TCU on April 12 before dropping 2-of-3 in the Bedlam series to Oklahoma State last weekend.

For the Huskers to upset the Sooners on their home field, NU will need continues strong pitching from a unit that has held opponents to three or less runs in four of the past seven games. Senior reliever Casey Hauptman (6-2, 1.50) ranks fifth in Big 12 ERA and sixth in saves (5). He also leads the team in appearances (18), innings (48.0) and strikeouts (44).

Offensively, the Nebraska-Oklahoma meeting will match up two of the league's top hitters in fellow third basemen Cody Asche and Garrett Buechele. Asche leads the conference in home runs (10) and doubles (18) and ranks second in RBIs (44) behind Buechele (45). The Sooner is second in batting average (.390), while Asche is 13th (.329).

3 Things to Watch This Week
1. Nebraska has played in five straight 1-run games and is 4-1 in those contests. The Huskers have had 14 (8-6) 1-run games this season.

2. The Huskers have had only one error in the past five games and currently post the league's second-best fielding percentage at .977.

3. The Huskers drew 22 HBP in the first 10 league games but have not been plunked in the last two. NU ranks fifth nationally with 69 HBP this season.

Scouting Oklahoma
Oklahoma enters the weekend 27-11 with an even 7-7 mark in Big 12 play. The Sooners are ranked in every major poll, including 11th in the NCBWA. OU began the season 16-0 before hitting a skid that has saw it drop three of its first five Big 12 series.

Led by seventh-year head coach Sunny Galloway, the Sooners are coming off a College World Series appearance in 2010. They returned seven position starters from that team, including All-American third baseman Garrett Buechele. He has paced the OU offense by hitting .386, the second-best batting average in the league, with a team-best seven homers and 46 RBIs. Three other Sooners are in the top 10 in the conference in Tyle Ogle (.357), Evan Mistich (.354) and Cameron Seitzer (.350). Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Nebraska are the only teams to have at least three players in the top 15 in individual batting average. As a team, OU holds the league's best batting average at .331, more than 20 points ahead of the rest of the conference.

The Huskers will see one of the nation's best hurlers Friday night when they face right hander Michael Rocha. The senior ranks first in the Big 12 with a 1.09 ERA and 7-1 record. Freshman left hander Dillon Overton has proven himself as one of the top youngsters in the league and he has posted a 5-3 record with a 1.90 ERA.

Series History: The Sooners hold a 141-98-2 lead in the all-time series. Nebraska won three of four series from 2005 to 2008 while Oklahoma has taken the past two. The Huskers have won two of the last three series in Norman, taking two in 2005 and 2007 before dropping the series at L. Dale Mitchell Park in 2009.  Mike Anderson is 14-10-1 all-time against Oklahoma.

Leading Off

    -Nebraska will play at Oklahoma for the final time in conference history this weekend. The Huskers are 29-16-1 against the Soooners during the Big 12 era, including 13-7 in Norman. The two programs first met in 1919, the year NU's program resumed play following World War I. A total of 241 games have been played between the Huskers and Sooners over the past 91 years.

    -The Huskers have played in five straight one-run games. The last time that happened was 1979.

    -Nebraska is coming off one of its most significant wins in recent history, as the Huskers defeated in-state rival Creighton in the first game ever played at the new TD Ameritrade Park. Located in downtown Omaha, the stadium will be the new home of the College World Series.

    Freshman Logan Ehlers came out of the bullpen to earn the win in only his second career appearance. The Nebraska City, Neb., native held CU scoreless on two hits in 5.1 innings while striking out five Bluejays.

    The attendance at Tuesday night's game was 22,197, the largest crowd to see a college baseball game this season.

    -Three of Nebraska's last seven wins have come when the Huskers were outhit by the opponent, including Big 12 wins over Oklahoma State (April 3) and Kansas State (April 17).

    -Nebraska has won two games this season when scoring only two runs (2-1 vs. UCLA on March 5; 2-1 vs. Creighton April 19). The last time the Huskers won two games in a season when scoring just two runs was 2008.       

    -Kale Kiser has been the most successful Husker in the NU-OU series, as he carries a .500 career batting average (6-of-12) in six meetings with the Sooners. Bryan Peters is also hitting .500 versus OU after facing the Sooners as a freshman last year.         

    -The Huskers pitching staff did not offer any walks in Nebraska's 5-4 win Monday against K-State. It marked the third this season the Husker hurlers had not given any free passes.

    -Nick Miller made his first career start in Monday's game and came up with an RBI single in the second inning of the 5-4 Husker win.

    -With Kash Kalkowski's ninth-inning game-winning single Monday, the Huskers have now had four walk-off victories this season, including two against UCLA.

    -Nebraska's 25-14 start is its best since 2008 when it hosted an NCAA Regional. The 39-game start is also two games ahead of pace of the 2007 team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.  

    -Three Huskers - all sophomores - have started all 39 games this season in first baseman Kurt Farmer, shortstop Chad Christensen and second baseman Bryan Peters.

    -Five Huskers have at least 10 multiple hit games this season, led by Cody Asche with 17. Kash Kalkowski had his 13th multiple hit game of the year with his walk-off single in Monday's win over KSU.

    -In its last two games against Missouri Valley Conference opponents, Nebraska had four sacrifice hits (Creighton on April 5, Wichita State on April 12). Before that, the Huskers had not had four sac hits in a game since Feb. 20, 2009 against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Huskers rank 32nd nationally in sacrifice bunts (42) and 48th in sacrifice flies (18).

    -Nebraska scored two runs in the first inning of the last two Tuesday wins over Creighton and Wichita State. Those marked the third and fourth times this season the Huskers have had more than one run in the first inning. In those games, the Huskers put the leadoff man on base in 10 of 17 innings, scoring in six of those frames.

    -Nebraska ranks second in the Big 12 in team fielding with a .977 percentage. The Huskers suffered a four-error game April 2 against Oklahoma State that led to nine unearned runs, but have only one in the past five games. NU has only had multiple errors four times in the past 30 games. The infield, anchored by sophomores Chad Christensen (SS) and Bryan Peters (2B), has led NU in turning 19 groundball double plays.

    Nebraska's current .977 field percentage would be the program's best mark in the last decade.

    -Nebraska has had 12 come-from-behind victories this season, including three in a row in wins over North Dakota and Northern Colorado from March 20-23. The Huskers have 137 come-from-behind wins under Mike Anderson since 2003.                 NU had 10 come-from-behind wins last season, including overcoming a 10-run deficit against North Dakota on March 30 and a four-run deficit against Southeast Missouri State on May 8.

    -Nebraska has thrived in the middle innings this season, scoring 70 percent of its runs from the third to seventh innings.  The Huskers' have had the most success in the third with 46 runs in that frame.

-The Huskers are 90-11 dating back to 2008 when they out-hit an opponent and have won 90 percent of their games since 2003 when out-hitting an opponent. Last season, NU was 25-4 when out-hitting opponents. The Huskers are also 32-10 when reaching double-figures in hits, but just 9-27 when held to nine hits or less.

The Huskers are 17-1 this season when outhitting the opposition, with the only loss coming March 27 at Texas Tech.

-Nebraska's bullpen has done impressive work in preserving leads this season, as the Huskers are 20-0 when leading after six innings.

Huskers Take Free Bases
Nebraska has been hit by 69 pitches this season and ranks fifth nationally in that category. Kash Kalkowski has been plunked a team-leading 15 times, which ranks him eighth individually in the NCAA. Kalkowski is just one short of reaching NU's single-season top 10.

Kale Kiser ranks second on the team with 12. Peters has now been hit 29 times during his two-year career, placing him seventh on the school's career hit-by-pitch chart.

Huskers Hitting the Long Ball
As Nebraska enters its fifth week in league play this weekend, the Huskers rank second in the Big 12 with 27 home runs, four behind Oklahoma. Individually, Cody Asche's 10 homers lead the Big 12, two ahead of Texas Tech's Barrett Barnes. Kash Kalkowski ranks in a tie for sixth with five.

Sacrifice Hits Help NU Manufacture Runs
Batting second in the lineup all season, Bryan Peters has been a key piece to helping NU move runners around the diamond. Peters ranks second nationally in sacrifice bunts as he has 15 on the season.

Kurt Farmer, primarily hitting in the five hole, has a team-best five sacrifice flies this season, tying him for 25th in the NCAA. Farmer is within two sac flies of reaching NU's single-season top 10 chart.

Asche Ranks Among Big 12, National Leaders
Cody Asche ranks fourth nationally with 18 doubles.  Asche, who held the national doubles lead for several weeks, is well within reach of moving his way up NU's single-season top 10 doubles list.

Asche is the team leader with 44 RBIs and 17 multiple-hit games. He has hit all 10 homers since March 13. From March 16-27, he hit .487 with 14 RBIs in a 10-game stretch while also going on a 12-game hit streak. Asche hit .444 (4-for-9) with a pair of homers in Nebraska's series at Kansas. He was 1-for-3 with a home run in the Friday and Sunday games, while also going 2-for-3 with a 2-RBI double in Saturday's win.

Asche leads the Big 12 in home runs (10) and doubles (18), while he is also second in RBIs (44).

Asche's longest hit streak of 2010 was 12 games, making him the first Husker since Alex Gordon (2004 and 2005) to put together at least a 12-game hit streak in consecutive seasons.

A native of Fallon, Mo., Asche was a 2010 honorable-mention All-Big 12 selction as he hit .311 with 10 homers.

Hauptman Anchors Husker Bullpen
Nebraska's pitching staff is holding opponents to a .253 batting average and holds a 3.63 ERA.

Casey Hauptman has established himself as one of the best arms in the Big 12 Conference, going 6-2 with a 1.50 ERA this season. Hauptman's ERA ranks fifth in the league, while he is also sixth in saves with five. On April 3 against Oklahoma State, he went 6.1 innings to pick up the win in the longest relief outing by a Husker since 2007. His most impressive statistic is walks allowed, where he ranks first nationally by allowing just 0.20 walks per nine innings. Hauptman's only walk of the season was an intentional pass vs. UCLA.

Due in large part to the strong relief pitching, the Huskers are 20-0 when leading after six innings.

Kalkowski Makes Smooth Transition to Hitting
One of Nebraska's best bats has been a surprise to opponents this season, as Kash Kalkowski ranks 11th in the Big 12 with a .344 batting average. The sophomore had a 12-game hit streak snapped March 16 at Kansas State, but he has regained form, including a stellar 8-for-13 series at Texas Tech from March 25-27. He ranks second on the team with 30 RBIs and five homers. His first home run was a grand slam on opening weekend, while he added a game-tying solo shot March 5 against UCLA and a two-run homer at Wichita State on April 12.

Kalkowski has been at his best in clutch situations, as he leads NU in 2-out situations with a .321 average. He also came up with the walk-off single in the April 18 win over Kansas State.

A native of Grand Island, Neb., Kalkowski sat out last season following shoulder surgery. A two-way prep standout, Kalkowski was orginally expected to have a primary pitching role for the Huskers until two shoulder surgeries in 2009 and 2010.

Farmer Finds His Groove in Sophomore Season
First baseman Kurt Farmer played in only 15 games last year, but has quickly developed into one of Nebraska's best bats. The Columbus, Neb., native holds the team's highest batting average at .353 and he is one of three Huskers to have started all 38 games. He is hitting .435 with runners on base and .395 with runners in scoring position.

The week of March 14-20, Farmer helped lead Nebraska to a 4-1 mark by hitting .435 (10-for-23) with a team-best 12 RBIs. Farmer's week was highlighted by a seventh inning grand slam March 19 that boosted the Huskers to a 10-4 come-from-behind win. The sophomore homered again in the series finale as part of a 3-for-5 day with three RBIs in NU's 8-6 victory. Farmer posted an efficient .500 (7-of-14) batting average with runners on base while also extending his hit streak to seven games before it ended at nine.

Freshmen King, Pierce Quietly Strong in Bullpen
A pair of freshmen hurlers have given the Huskers quality depth in the bullpen with the additions of left hander Tyler King and right thander Brandon Pierce.

King has posted a 1.50 ERA and is second in team appearances with 15. The Republic, Mo., native has only given up an earned run in two of his 15 appearances while throwing 18.0 innings.

Pierce, who is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA, was used as a starter through the majority of March, but has shown his best performances as a reliever. The Gunter, Texas native has two saves and has struck out 24 hitters in 20.0 innings this season.

Walking Off
The Huskers have had four walk-off wins this season, including in back-to-back games against then-No. 5 UCLA on March 5 and 6. Bryan Peters came up with both game-winning hits to give Nebraska its first back-to-back walk-off victories since 2003 when Matt Hopper and Brandon Fusilier did so against Missouri. Peters' walk-off homer in the sereis finale was the first by a Husker since Craig Corriston gave NU a 4-2 victory over Oklahoma on March 21, 2008.

Josh Scheffert followed suit two weeks later when he provided a walk-off infield single against Northern Colorado to complete a 5-4 comeback victory. On April 19, Kash Kalkowski hit a bases-loaded single through the left side of the Kansas State infield to give NU its first Big 12 series win of the season.