Huskers Open Road Trip at Northwestern

The Nebraska softball team begins a seven-game road trip this weekend when the Huskers travel to Evanston, Ill., for a three-game series with the Northwestern Wildcats.

Fans can listen to all three games this weekend for free on Huskers.com, with Nate Rohr calling all of the action for the IMG College Husker Sports Network.

Following the weekend series at Northwestern, Nebraska travels to Minneapolis next weekend for three games at No. 21 Minnesota. By the time the road trip wraps up on Wednesday, April 27, at Creighton, the Huskers will have played 36 of their first 46 games away from home (78 percent).

With the back-to-back road trips, Nebraska will be on the road for four of the first five weeks of Big Ten play, as the conference scheduled the Huskers to play 12 of their first 17 games in opposing stadiums. The only five home games in that stretch were played in a span of five days last week.

Nebraska went 3-2 in those five games, sweeping a mid-week doubleheader from Iowa before losing a hard-fought series with No. 1 Michigan over the weekend. On Friday, the Huskers shut out the Wolverines, 1-0, to notch the third win over a No. 1 opponent in school history. Michigan then scored twice in the seventh inning to break a 6-6 tie and win the series. Seven of the Huskers’ 14 losses this season have come to ranked opponents.

Nebraska enters play this weekend with a 25-14 record. The Huskers are 6-5 in conference play and sit in seventh place in the Big Ten standings.

This Week's Top 10

1. Nebraska shut out No. 1 Michigan, 1-0, last Friday for the program’s third victory over a top-ranked opponent.
2. The Huskers have finished with a .500 record or better in eight of the first nine weeks of the season.
3. Nebraska has won 11 of its last 12 three-game Big Ten Conference road series, and the Huskers are 28-10 on the road in conference play since the start of the 2013 season.
4. The Huskers have scored 40 runs in their last two Big Ten Conference road games (at Maryland).
5. Nebraska has defeated three of the top six teams in this week’s NCAA RPI ranking (No. 2 Michigan, No. 5 James Madison and No. 6 Oregon).
6. Northwestern is 49th in this week’s NCAA RPI ranking, the second-highest ranking of any team with a losing record (Texas Tech is 48th).
7. The Huskers are in a season-ending stretch of their schedule where they play 15 of their final 16 games against teams in the top 75 of this week’s NCAA RPI ranking.
8. MJ Knighten is tied for second nationally with 17 home runs this season.
9. Cassie McClure was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season on Monday.
10. Cassie McClure ranks fourth nationally in saves (5) and 37th in victories (14).

Leading Off...

• Nebraska is 24-3 this season when holding the opponent to five runs or less.
• NU owns five walk-off wins this season, including game one of last Wednesday’s doubleheader with Iowa.
• The Huskers have played six of the top seven teams in this week’s NCAA RPI ranking, posting a 3-6 record in nine games against the group.
• Nebraska’s remaining 12 Big Ten games all come against teams ranked in the top 75 of the RPI. Based on this week’s rankings, the Huskers will play 38 of their 52 games this season against top-100 teams (73 percent).
• Nebraska has played 13 of its 39 games against teams that have appeared in the top 25 at some point this season. The Huskers are 5-8 in those 13 games, including a 3-7 record when playing an opponent ranked at first pitch (3-5 vs. top-10 teams).
• The Huskers rank 16th nationally in home runs per game, 35th in slugging percentage and 42nd in scoring.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten in RBIs (218), third in homers (47) and fourth in doubles (57).
• Nebraska leads the Big Ten with six saves and ranks third with 25 wins.

Husker Quick Hits

• Mattie Fowler has produced at least one RBI in nine of her last 13 games to tie her career high with 27 RBIs.
• Kaylan Jablonski ranks third in the Big Ten with a 2.92 ERA in conference play, and she ranks fifth in wins (3) and opponent batting average (.230).
• MJ Knighten ranks second nationally in home runs (17) and is ninth in runs (45) 10th in RBIs (46) and 14th in slugging percentage (.875).
• Knighten is hitting .400 and has had a season batting average at or above .400 at the end of 72 consecutive games dating back to March 21, 2015.
• Knighten is one of only 13 players nationally who are averaging more than one hit, run and RBI per game.
• Knighten is tied for the Big Ten lead in home runs (17) and ranks second in RBIs (46), third in slugging percentage (.875) and runs (45) and fifth in hits (48).
• Cassie McClure leads the Big Ten in saves (5) and appearances (31) and is tied for third in wins (14).
• McClure is one of only 10 pitchers to rank in the top 50 nationally in victories and saves.
• Senior Kiki Stokes is one of only 10 active players nationally who has totaled 150 career hits, 150 runs and 50 stolen bases.
• Stokes ranks fourth in the Big Ten in hits (49) and runs (42), is fifth in on-base percentage (.527) and sixth in batting average (.412).
• In Big Ten play, Stokes leads the league in doubles (6) and ranks second in runs (17), fourth in on-base percentage (.614) and fifth in hits (16).

McClure Two-Time Pitcher of the Week
Junior Cassie McClure earned her second Big Ten Pitcher-of-the-Week accolade of the season on Monday.

• McClure was honored after going 1-0 with one save and a 2.21 ERA in four appearances last week.
• She allowed only two earned runs in 11.0 innings over two starts against No. 1 Michigan, including a four-hit shutout of the Wolverines.
• McClure also recorded her Big Ten-leading fifth save of the season in mid-week action against Iowa.
• McClure was first honored following the season’s opening weekend, after she went 2-0 with two saves in 12.0 scoreless innings at the UNI-Dome Classic.
• McClure finished with 16 strikeouts and only one walk, while limiting opposing hitters to a .122 average.
• In her lone start against Green Bay, McClure tossed a one-hit shutout, the first shutout of her career. She also added a career-high 10 strikeouts.

McClure a Versatile Pitcher
Junior Cassie McClure is one of the nation’s most versatile pitchers. She has factored into 19 of Nebraska’s 25 victories, registering 14 wins and five saves. McClure, who ranks in the top 40 nationally in both victories and saves, is one of only three Division I pitchers with at least 10 wins and five saves in 2016.

Scouting Northwestern (14-20, 5-4 Big Ten)
Northwestern enters a Wednesday doubleheader at Illinois with a 14-20 overall record. The Wildcats are just in front of Nebraska in the Big Ten Conference standings in fifth place with a 5-4 league record.

Northwestern has played the nation’s 14th-toughest schedule, and the Wildcats are ranked 49th in the NCAA RPI, the second-highest ranking of any team with a losing record, just behind No. 48 Texas Tech (19-21).

Nebraska and Northwestern share four common opponents this season in Arizona State, Iowa, Michigan and Oregon. The Huskers went 4-3 against that group, while the Wildcats were 4-4.

Wildcat Offense
Northwestern is batting .283 as a team and averaging 5.5 runs per game. The Wildcats’ offense has improved in Big Ten play. Northwestern is hitting .297 in conference play while averaging 6.8 runs per game.

Andrea Filler is one of four Wildcat starters hitting above .300. She leads the team with a .347 average, 12 doubles, two triples, 10 homers and 37 RBIs. Amy Letourneau has also slugged 10 homers and driven in 37 to complement a .333 average. Four of Letourneau’s 10 home runs and 15 of her 37 RBIs have come in Northwestern’s nine Big Ten Conference games. Speedster Sabrina Rabin is batting .325 with team highs of 34 runs and 23 stolen bases, while Krista Williams owns a .303 average with 11 steals.

Wildcat Defense
Opponents are hitting .275 against Northwestern, including .329 in Big Ten play. The Wildcats own a 4.60 ERA overall, but have a mark of 9.22 in Big Ten play, as six of their nine games have been against ranked opponents. Northwestern has also committed 47 errors this season, leading to more than one unearned run per game.

Letourneau leads the Wildcat pitching staff with 14 appearances and 15 starts. She is 6-7 on the year with a 3.69 ERA and is 2-0 with a 5.92 ERA in Big Ten play. Kaley Winegarner is 2-1 with a 3.69 ERA in 30.1 innings and her 5.73 ERA in conference play is the lowest on the team. Kenzie Ellis is 5-5 with a 7.88 ERA this spring, and she has thrown more than half of Northwestern’s innings in conference play, compiling a 3-3 record with a 10.50 ERA.

Nicole Bond is 0-2 on the season with a 10.00 ERA, and she has allowed 12 runs in 2.2 innings during conference play. Kristen Wood has missed the past few weeks with an injury and has yet to see action in Big Ten play. Wood was 1-5 with a 1.94 ERA in non-conference action.

Wildcat Coaching Staff
Kate Drohan is in her 15th season at Northwestern, where she owns a 494-289-1 record. She is assisted by her twin sister Caryl Drohan and first-year assistant Michelle Gascoigne.

Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Northwestern, 13-9, dating back to the first meeting in 1979. The Huskers won each of the first three meetings and four of the first five, before Northwestern won six straight in the series from 1993 to 2009, in the final six meetings as non-conference foes.

Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference, the Huskers are 9-2 against the Wildcats. Nebraska is 2-1 against Northwestern in the Chicago area. The Huskers and Wildcats have met just once at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, with Nebraska earning a 10-2 five-inning run-rule victory in 2014. The first two games of that year’s series were played at the Ballpark at Rosemont due to unplayable field conditions.

The matchups have generally been high-scoring affairs as at least one of the teams has scored double-digit runs in five of the last seven meetings.