Huskers Back Home, Host Mavericks

Wednesday, May 11 (6:35 p.m.)
Probable Starters: LHP Max Knutson (1-1) vs. RHP Eric Moreno (0-1)
TV: NET
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN2Go
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Lincoln - After playing its last seven games on the road and posting a 5-2 record, including series wins at Rutgers and Michigan State, the Nebraska baseball team (30-17, 11-7 Big Ten) returns to Hawks Field on Wednesday night for a 6:35 p.m. contest against the Omaha Mavericks (24-22, 14-10). The game will be carried live across the state on NET and will be streamed live on BTN2Go.

Wednesday night’s meeting will be the second and final meeting between the Huskers and Mavericks this season. The Huskers took the first game between the two teams on April 6 by a score of 11-6 at Werner Park.

After playing its last two Big Ten series on the road, Nebraska will play its final two league series at home. The Huskers host Penn State this weekend at Hawks Field and then end the regular season next week with a three-game series against Indiana next week.

How to Listen/Watch the Huskers
Fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call all the action on Wednesday on the Husker Sports Network, including on Huskers.com and the Official Husker App.

The game can be heard in Lincoln on 1400 AM and in Omaha on 590 AM. The game is also scheduled to be carried on TuneIn Radio.

Wednesday’s game will be carried statewide on NET and it will also be streamed live on BTN2Go.

Still a Close Race
The Huskers enter the week tied with Michigan State for fourth place in the Big Ten Conference, but NU holds the head-to-head tie breaker over the Spartans after winning the series at East Lansing last weekend.

Indiana enters the week at the top of the standing, but the Huskers are just 2.0 games back of the first-place Hoosiers. The regular season title is still very much up for grabs with two weeks to play, as seeds 1-through-8 enter the week separated by just 3.0 games.

If the Big Ten Tournament started today, both defending champion Illinois and Iowa, a NCAA Regional team last season, would be out of the Big Ten Tournament as they sit ninth and 10th, respectively, in the standings. But the Fighting Illini are just 1.0 game back of being in a four-way tie for sixth and the Hawkeyes are just 2.0 games back of a tie for sixth place.

Count on Chesnut
Senior Jeff Chesnut rewrote the Nebraska record book on Monday, May 9, when he made his school record 88th career appearance. Chesnut broke Steve Hale’s record with his team-high 26th appearance this season. Chesnut made a career-high 31 last year, which tied him for sixth on Nebraska’s single-season chart.

Career Appearances
1. 88 Jeff Chesnut 2013-present
2. 87 Steve Hale 1999-03
3. 82 Casey Hauptman 2008-11
4. 80 Brett Jensen 2004-06
5. 79 Dylan Vogt 2010-13
6. 78 Erik Bird 2006-09
78 Jeff Anderson 1981-84
8. 74 Zach Herr 2006-08
9. 73 Jonas Armenta 1994-97
10. 70 Jarod Bearinger 1996-99
70 John Lepley 1985-88

Home Sweet Hawks
The Nebraska baseball team is celebrating its 15th season at Hawks Field in 2016. Since playing their first game at the park in 2002, the Huskers have posted a 316-115-1 (.733) record at the facility entering, including a 15-5 record this season.

The Huskers notched a .778 winning percentage at home last year, the highest home winning percentage since 2008 when Nebraska posted a .843 winning percentage with a 29-5-1 record. Nebraska has won 60% or more of its home games 12 times over the past 14 seasons, including each of the past six seasons. NU’s worst home season at Hawks Field came in 2009 when the Huskers posted a 16-14 record (.533).

Longball
Nebraska’s home run totals are up in a big way this year, as they have hit 36 in 47 games after totaling 22 in 57 games last season. NU last topped 30 home runs in a season in 2012, when they hit 47.

Nine different players have hit a home run this season, including a team-high 10 from Scott Schreiber, six from Jake Placzek and five each from Ben Miller and Ryan Boldt. Miller and Tanner Lubach tied for the team lead last season with four each.

Nebraska already has 12 multi-homer games this season after notching two all of last year.

Nebraska is 18-5 on the year when they hit a home run.

First Year Wins
True freshman Matt Waldron enters the week with a 5-2 record on the season, the most wins by a Husker true freshman since 2012 when Kyle Kubat went 5-1 on the year. With another win this season, Waldron would be the first true freshman to win six games in a season since 2005 when Johnny Dorn led the team with a 12-2 record.

Nebraska True Freshman Who Have Won At Least Six Game Since 2000
1. Johnny Dorn 12-2 (2005)
2. Jamie Rodrigue 9-4 (2000)
3. Brian Duensing 6-2 (2002)
Zack Kroenke 6-2 (2003)

Get a Lead for the Bullpen
During Darin Erstad’s tenure at Nebraska, the Husker bullpen has done its job when it has a lead. Prior to ninth-inning walk-off loss at Rutgers on Friday, April 29, this season the Huskers had won 73 straight games when leading after the eighth inning.

Led by pitching coach Ted Silva, the Huskers are 130-17 since the start of the 2012 season when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 136-9 when leading after seven innings and are nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 148-5 record.

Year Lead after 6 After 7 After 8
2012 31-5 29-3 31-2
2013 20-3 25-2 28-1
2014 28-3 27-1 31-1
2015 26-3 28-2 28-0
2016 25-3 27-1 28-1
Total 130-17 136-9 148-5

Score Early
In 47 games this year the Huskers have scored a run in the first inning 16 times. The Huskers are 13-3 on the year when they score a run in the first inning.

The Huskers are 25-7 this year when they score first in the game.

Filthy Freshman
After career saves holder Josh Roeder graduated last year, the Huskers needed to find a new closer. It wasn’t a problem early on, as the Huskers didn’t have a save opportunity during their first 13 games.

That changed on Saturday, March 12, when the Huskers entered the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead and NU went to true freshman Chad Luensmann. The 6-4 right hander has since saved 11 games in 12 chances, including a pair of saves last weekend at Michigan State.

Luensmann already holds the freshman record at Nebraska for saves and is climbing Nebraska’s single-season top-10 list. His next save would tie him with Josh Roeder (2014) for fourth on NU’s single season list.

Seven of Luensmann’s 11 saves have come during Big Ten play, which leads the league.

Single Season Saves at Nebraska
1. 16 Brett Jensen (Jr.) 2005
2. 15 Josh Roeder (Sr.) 2015
3. 13 Brett Jensen (Sr.) 2006
4. 12 Josh Roeder (Jr.) 2014
5. 11 Thom Ott (Jr.) 2001
11 Chad Luensmann (Fr.) 2016
7. 10 Mike Bellows (Sr.) 1994
8. 9 Steve Boyd (Jr.) 1992
9. 8 Dylan Vogt (Sr.) 2013
8 Casey Hauptman (Sr.) 2011

Double Digits
Nebraska has amassed double digit hits 23 times in 47 games entering Wednesday and is 18-5 when reaching the mark.

Last season the Huskers totaled 10 or more hits 23 times in 57 games and were 21-2 in those games.

Prior to recording 15 hits in the series finale at Rutgers on April 30, the Huskers had gone five straight games without double-digit hits, the longest drought of the season.

Stolen Bases
Nebraska has been more active on the base paths this season, stealing 53 bases in 47 games, an average of 1.13 per game.

After stealing three bases against Northwestern on April 10, the Huskers have been in a slump with just eight stolen base over the last 16 games entering Wednesday.

Ryan Boldt leads the team with 16 steals, the most by a Husker since 2006 when Bryce Nimmo stole 16 bases all season.

Last year the Huskers totaled 40 stolen bases in 57 games, an average of 0.7 stolen bases per game. Nebraska last topped 60 stolen bases in a season in 2011 when they were 62-for-81.

Walk this Way
As of Tuesday morning, senior Jake Placzek was tied for ninth in Division I with 46 walks. Ohio State’s Troy Montgomery ranked second in the Big Ten and was tied for 19th nationally with 41 walks. Mercer’s Kyle Lewis held the national lead with 54 walks.

Adding in his seven hit-by-pitches, Placzek leads the Huskers with an on-base percentage of .452. Placzek would need to record a on-base percentage of .518 or better to crack NU’s single-season top-10 list. Alex Gordon’s .518 on-base percentage in 2005 ranks 10th.

Placzek has accounted for just under 27% of NU’s 174 walks this year. Seven other Huskers have drawn double digit walks in 2016, but Jake Schleppenbach sits a distance second with 18 walks.

Placzek has drawn multiple walks in 13 games entering Wednesday, including three walks in a game four times this year.

Placzek needs 16 more walks this year to tie Todd Sears (62 - 1997) for 10th place on NU’s single season walks list. Placzek has 102 career walks and needs 15 more walks in 2016 to enter NU’s career walks list. Rich King and Steve Stanicek are tied for 10th with 115 career walks.

He Can Do it All
Jake Meyers has started on the mound for the Huskers in the finale of NU’s last three weekend series. The sophomore is 3-0 in those games, including a home win over Nicholls State and road victories at Rutgers and Michigan State. In those game Meyers has also hit third in NU’s lineup and has helped his own cause. NU’s everyday right-field is hitting .357 with two doubles, one home run, five runs scored and four RBIs in his last three starts on the mound.

In the victory over Nicholls State, Meyers not only tossed 7.0 shutout innings and got the win on the mound, but he also drove in the eventual game-winning run with a three-run homer.

Meyers is the first Husker to homer and record a pitching win since April 21, 2009, when Adam Bailey hit a solo home run and tossed 2.2 innings of relief in his only pitching win as a Husker.

Boldting Up the List
Recently named one of 60 players on the 2016 Gold Spike Award Midseason Watch list, Ryan Boldt became the 24th member of Nebraska’s 200-hit club on Sunday, April 10, with a single in the ninth inning against Northwestern. Boldt enters Wednesday tied for 22nd all time at Nebraska with 212 career hits. He is tied with his cousin, Pat Kelly.

Boldt is just the 15th player in school history to reach the mark in three seasons or less, and the first since his cousin, Kelly, notched 212 hits from 2012-14.

Other Huskers who have reached 200 or more hits in three seasons include: Darin Erstad (261), Paul Meyers (250), Matt Hooper (249), Mark Kister (242), Alex Gordon (240), Todd Sears (234), Ken Ramos (229), Curtis Ledbetter (223), John Cole (222), Jeff Leise (217), Pat Kelly (212), Will Bolt (205), Ken Harvey (203), Francis Collins (201).

NU 200-Career Hit Club
1. 338 Matt Hopper 2000-03
2. 305 Jeff Leise 2000-03
3. 281 Will Bolt 1999-02
4. 261 Darin Erstad 1993-95
5. 251 Michael Pritchard 2011-14
6. 250 Paul Meyers 1984-86
7. 249 Joe Simokaitis 2002-05
8. 248 Jed Dalton 1992-95
9. 247 Chad Christensen 2010-13
10. 246 Darin Petersen 1992-95
11. 242 Mark Kister 1985-87
12. 240 Alex Gordon 2003-05
13. 238 DJ Belfonte 2007-10
14. 234 Todd Sears 1995-97
15. 231 Daniel Bruce 2002-05
16. 229 Ken Ramos 1987-89
17. 227 Jake Opitz 2005-08
18. 226 Austin Darby 2012-15
19. 223 Curtis Ledbetter 2003-05
20. 222 John Cole 1999-01
21. 212 Pat Kelly 2012-14
212 Ryan Boldt 2014-Present
23. 203 Ken Harvey 1997-99
24. 201 Francis Collins 1995-97