Huskers Head Back to Kansas State

Nebraska (11-15, 5-1 Big Ten) at Kansas State (18-10, 3-3 Big 12)
Tuesday, April 2 – 6:30 p.m. (CT)
LHP Tyler King (1-0) vs. RHP Blake McFadden (1-1)

TV: Fox Sports Midwest
Stream: K-StateHD.TV
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Up Next for the Huskers
The Nebraska baseball team (11-15, 5-1 Big Ten) makes a trip to Manhattan, Kan., for the second-straight Tuesday to play the Kansas State Wildcats.

The former Big 12 Conference foes are scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium.

Tuesday’s meeting will be the second in a three-game season series between the two teams this season, as the Wildcats also make a trip to Hawks Field on Tuesday, April 23.

Tuesday’s game is scheduled to be shown live on Fox Sports Midwest and streamed live at K-StateHD.TV.

On the Radio this Weekend
Fans across Nebraska and around the world can listen Greg Sharpe and Jeff Culhane call all of the action on the Husker Sports Network - including KLIN 1400 AM and 94.5 FM in Lincoln - and on the Internet at Huskers.com or the Official Husker App. A complete list of HSN affiliates can be found on page 11.

TV Coverage this Week
Tuesday’s game at Kansas State will be shown regionally on Fox Sports Midwest.

Time Warner (SD-37, HD-309)

DIRECTV (SD/HD-671)

DISH Network (SD/HD-418)

None of Nebraska’s games this weekend in Iowa will be shown on TV.

Web Streams this Week
Tuesday’s game at Kansas State will be shown on K-StateHD.TV (subscription required).

None of Nebraska’s games this weekend in Iowa will be streamed.

Kansas State Wildcats
The Kansas State Wildcats welcome the Huskers to Tointon Family Stadium on Tuesday night after KSU lost 2-of-3 at Baylor last weekend.

The Wildcats are 18-10 overall on the year and have played 19 of their 28 games at home, including 19 straight home games after playing their first six games of the season on the road.

The Wildcats are 14-5 on the year at home with sweeps of Oakland (3 games), Niagara (2 games) and Bethune Cookman (3 games).

Kansas State is just 1-4 on the year away from Tointon Family Stadium.

Kansas State is hitting .322 as a team, while holding opposing batters to a .264 average.

Eight Wildcats are hitting .300 or better on the season, including a team-high .398 average from Ross Kivett, who also accounts for nine of KSU’s 51 doubles on the year.

Along with their 51 doubles, the Wildcats have also slugged 15 triples and 11 home runs, with a team-high four off the bats of Jon Davis and Shane Conlon.

The Wildcats are not just a power team, as they also put pressure on pitchers and catchers with their running game. KSU has stolen 52 base on the year in 80 attempts, but was 0-for-3 last Tuesday against Nebraska catcher Tanner Lubach.

KSU is scheduled to start freshman right-handed pitcher Blake McFadden on Tuesday night, who will be making his seventh appearance of the year and his fourth start.

McFadden holds a 1-1 record on the season and a 4.50 ERA. He has given up 11 runs (10 earned) on 23 hits over 20.0 innings. He has 15 strikeouts to four walks.

McFadden worked 0.2 innings against Nebraska last Tuesday, giving up three runs (all earned) on two hits and one walk.

It was a Sweet 16
Husker fans and a national-TV audience on the Big Ten Network were treated to a 16-inning series opener between Nebraska and the Northwestern Wildcats in Nebraska’s Big Ten home opener on Friday, March 29.

In a game that last five hours and 16 minutes, the two teams combined to throw 522 pitches.

After the Huskers tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out single from Tanner Lubach, neither team was able to score over the next six innings.

Chad Christensen put an end to the game just before midnight with a single to right field that scored Bryan Peters from third base.

It was the longest game in Hawks Field history since 2008 when the Huskers dropped a 16-inning game to Texas A&M, 6-3.

We’ve Hit 2,000
The Nebraska baseball team recently topped 2,000 all-time wins with its 8-5 victory over Northwestern on Saturday, March 30..

Dating back to the team’s first season in 1889 when the team went 1-2, the Huskers entered the season ranked 45th all-time in the NCAA record books in wins.

Entering 2013, only 44 programs in NCAA history had won more than 2,000 games, while only two programs had posted 3,000 or more wins. Fordham entered the season ranked first all-time with 4,320 wins and Texas was second with 3,276 wins.

Home Sweet Hawks
The Nebraska baseball program is celebrating its 12th year at Hawks Field in 2013. The Huskers are 256-88-1 (.743) since opening the park on March 5, 2002 with a 23-1 win over Nebraska-Kearney.

After playing 31 homes games in 2012, the Huskers are set to host 20 games at Hawks Field in 2013, while playing 31 true roads games and three neutral site games at the TD Ameritrade Classic in late April.

Join the Club
Senior Chad Christensen recently became the 14th player in Nebraska history to join the 200-hit club with his walk-off single in the bottom of the 16th inning against Northwestern on Friday, March 29.

On the year, Christensen leads the Huskers with a .365 average (38-for-104) and is second on the team with 15 RBIs.

He enters Tuesday’s game at Kansas State on a career-long 15-game hitting streak.

Prior to Christensen, Jake Opitz was the last Husker to join the club, as he ended his four-year career in 2008 with 227 career hits.

Matt Hooper holds the school record with 338 career hits and is one of just two players in school history to have topped 300 hits. Jeff Leise sits second on the career charts with 305 career hits.

Get Out the Broom
Nebraska improved to 5-1 in Big Ten play last weekend with a three-game sweep of the Northwestern Wildcats at Hawks Field.

The Huskers have swept their past two Big Ten home series, as Nebraska swept Minnesota at the end of the 2012 season.

The last time Nebraska swept its first conference home series of the year was during the 2005 season, when the Huskers swept Oklahoma State to open Big 12 play.

So Close
The Huskers are 11-15 on the season, but nine of their 15 losses have come by two runs or less, including six losses by one run.

Four of the losses have been walk-off loses, including games at USC and Texas where Nebraska had the lead entering the bottom of the ninth.

Darby Dialed In
Over the Huskers’ past 15 games, sophomore right fielder Austin Darby has been on fire with a .333 average (22-for-66), including one home run, one triple and two doubles.

Darby has six multi-hit games during the run, including three, three-hit games in his past five games.

Pat Punches Back
After going 0-9 in Nebraska’s 16-inning Big Ten home opener against Northwestern, Pat Kelly responded in games two and three of the series to lead Nebraska to a sweep of the Wildcats.

Kelly posted back-to-back four-hit games on Saturday and Sunday, while also driving in a season-high four runs in the series finale.

His two-RBI single in the top of the eighth inning drove in the eventual game-winning run.

Ruthless Roeder
Sophomore Josh Roeder has been tough on opposing hitters this season with a 0.69 ERA. Over 13.0 innings of work, the transfer from Louisberg College his given up just four hits, while striking out 14.

Roeder recently earned his first career save at Nebraska when he entered the game at No. 25 UC Irvine on March 16 with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with no outs.

Roeder got pinch-hitter Jonathan Munoz to pop out for the first out of the inning and with the top of the Irvine order up, Roeder blew away Dominique Taylor with a fastball and closed out the win when he got pinch-hitter Ryan Cooper to fly out to center field for the game’s final out.

Series Openers
Last season the Huskers were 4-4 in Big Ten series openers, but only got back to .500 by winning their last three series openers.

This season, Nebraska got off to on the right foot with a 9-5 win on Friday, March 22 at Illinois to open conference play. The teams then split a doubleheader on Saturday, earning the Huskers a series win, 2-1.

The Huskers improve to 2-0 in series openers with a 9-8 16-inning win over Northwestern on Friday, March 29 at Hawks Field. Nebraska went on to sweep the three-game series to improve to 5-1 on the year in Big Ten play.

Nebraska lost on Friday night in four of its first five Big Ten series openers last season, including a loss to Illinois to open Big Ten play in Lincoln.

At home last season, Nebraska was 1-4 in Big Ten series openers, with the first win coming in its finale against Minnesota, as the Huskers swept the Gophers.

On the road last year, NU was 3-1 in conference series openers, with the only loss coming at Ohio State. Nebraska went on to win the series with the Buckeyes.