Huskers Continue Spring Break in San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, Calif. - The Nebraska baseball team (9-9, 0-0 Big Ten) saw its four-game winning streak come to an end with an 8-6 loss at CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday night, and will now head west to San Luis Obispo, Calif., where it will play four games in three days against the Cal Poly Mustangs.

The series opens on Thursday at 8 p.m. (CT) and continues on Friday at 8 p.m. (CT). The teams finish up their series on Saturday with a doubleheader that is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. (CT).

The Huskers enter the Thursday with a perfect 6-0 all-time record against the Mustangs, but Thursday will mark the first meeting between the two teams on the Mustangs’ home field. The series started in 1998 with a 7-3 Husker win in Hawaii, while the next five meetings took place in Lincoln. Most recently, the Huskers took a pair of games from the Mustangs in 2003 at Hawks Field.

How to Listen/Watch the Huskers
Fans can listen to Greg Sharpe, Ben McLaughlin and Nick Handley call all the action this season on the Husker Sports Network. Every game this season can be heard on Huskers.com and the Official Nebraska Huskers App for both iOS and android devices.

All four games against the Mustangs will be carried on 1400 AM in Lincoln and 590 AM in Omaha. Fans can also listen to all four games on TuneIn.com or the TuneIn App on the Husker IMG Sports Network channel.

Nebraska’s four-game series at Cal Poly will be video streamed live for free on the BigWest.TV.

Lean on the Lefty
The past three Sundays junior Jake Meyers has been dominant against opposing hitters, as the lefty has not allowed a run in each of his last three starts. Including a complete-game shutout of Western Carolina on March 12, in Meyers last three starts he has thrown 20.0 shutout innings.

If you go back on the end of his start against Oregon State on Feb. 25, Meyers has gone 21.2 straight innings without allowing a run.

Last weekend Meyers earned the win in NU’s sweep-clinching win over the College of Charleston, as he tossed 6.0 shutout innings. The previous week he tossed a complete-game shutout against Western Carolina, which backed up 5.0 shutout innings against previously unbeaten Arizona at the Frisco College Baseball Classic, where the Huskers handed the Wildcats their first loss of the season with a 1-0 victory.

Meyers is scheduled to start the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday at Cal Poly.

Offensive Mojo
Freshman Mojo Hagge made his Husker debut in the second game of the season against UC Riverside and went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Hagge has played in each of Nebraska’s last 17 games, including 16 starts.

The Omaha Skutt Catholic product enters Thursday with a team-high 17-game on-base streak, while ranking second on the team in hits (22) and third on the team in average (.344). NU’s leadoff hitter in each of the last 13 games, Hagge has also show the ability to drive in runs, as he ranks third on the team with eight RBIs.

The 5-7 left-handed hitting outfielder also carries a .449 on-base percentage with a team-best 12 walks.

Building up Hohensee
Junior Jake Hohensee missed the entire 2016 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and made his Husker return on Feb. 26 against Utah, his first appearance on the mound in 653 days.

The Lincoln native entered the year with three career starts and had never gone more than 4.0 innings in an appearance. This year Hohensee has bettered that mark three times, including a career-high 6.2-inning start last week against the College of Charleston.

Hohensee will make his fifth start of the season on Thursday and has a 2.33 ERA, but is just 1-2 on the year. In his first three starts of the season Hohensee ran into a bit of bad luck, as teams scored at least two earned runs in each start, including three unearned runs twice.

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 last season at Rutgers on Friday, April 29, the Huskers had won 73 straight games when leading after the eighth inning. Since the loss at Rutgers, the Huskers have won 20 straight games when leading after eight innings.

Led by pitching coach Ted Silva, the Huskers are 146-17 since the start of the 2012 season when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 152-10 when leading after seven innings and are nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 162-5 record.

How High Can He Climb
Ben Miller was taken in the 32nd round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but turned down professional baseball to instead return to Nebraska for his senior season. The Clive, Iowa, native now has a chance to cement his name near the top of Nebraska’s all-time hits list.

Miller enters Thursday with 183 hits, putting him 17 hits shy of becoming the 25th member of Nebraska’s 200-hit club. Over the past two seasons Miller has averaged 68.5 hits and with that average he would end his career just outside of NU’s all-time top 10.

If Miller can match his 77 hits from last season, he would tie Michael Pritchard for fifth all-time at Nebraska with 251 hits.

The Huskers have had at least one player join the 200 hit club in each of the past four seasons, including 2016 second-round pick Ryan Boldt last year.

Angelo’s Arrival
After making a pair of starts last season as a true freshman, Angelo Altavilla has become a key contributor in 2017. The sophomore infielder leads the teams with a .365 average, ranks second on the team in RBIs with 14 and is tied with Scott Schreiber for second on the team in doubles with five.

Altavilla has started 16 of NU’s 18 games, and has shown versatility in the field with nine starts at shortstop, five at third base and two at second base.

Home Sweet Hawks
The Nebraska baseball program is celebrating its 16th year at Hawks Field.

Following NU’s sweep of the College of Charleston the Huskers are 328-117-1 (.737) since opening the park on March 5, 2002 with a 23-1 win over Nebraska-Kearney.

Since Head Coach Darin Erstad took over in 2012, the Huskers are 99-39 (.717) at Hawks Field.

The Huskers have posted a winning home record in each of the last 15 seasons. Nebraska has won 60% or more of its home games 13 times over the past 15 seasons, including each of the past seven seasons. NU’s worst home season at Hawks Field came in 2009 when the Huskers posted a 16-14 record (.533).

Since 2002 the Huskers have hosted 25 weekend non-conference series (3 or 4 game series). In those 25 series the Huskers have posted a 18-6-1 record, with the tie coming in 2012 when NU and Cal split a four-game series.

The Huskers have never been swept in a weekend non-conference series at Hawks Field. In the 25 series just three times have the Huskers entered Sunday needing a win to avoid a sweep.

Double Digits
Nebraska has totaled 10 or more hits eight times in 18 games entering Thursday. Nebraska is 6-2 on the year when notching double-digit hits, the only losses came in a 7-5 defeat to Utah on Feb. 24 and a 8-6 loss at CSU Bakersfield on March 21.

Last season the Huskers totaled 10 or more hits 27 times in 59 games and were 21-6 in those games.

Leave it to Luensmann
Chad Luensmann had a tough task last season as a true freshman, he had to replace career saves holder Josh Roeder as NU’s closer. Luensmann went on to save 13 games in 14 chances, a NU freshman record, and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, becoming the first Husker baseball player to win the award.

Luensmann’s 13 saves tied Brett Jensen (2006) for third place in NU’s single-season record book and Luensmann ranked fourth nationally in saves. Among freshmen, Luensmann tied Long Beach State’s Chris Rivera for the most saves in the country.

Luensmann has three saves this season, including his 15th career save on Sunday, March 5, when the Huskers shut out previously unbeaten Arizona, 1-0. Against the Wildcats Luensmann matched a career high with 4.0 innings on the mound and struck out a career-high four batters.

Luensmann enters Thursday ranked fourth all-time at Nebraska in career saves and needs one save to move into a tie with Thom Ott for third place on the career list.