Huskers Return Home to Face Wildcats

Lincoln - Following a five-game road trip to the state of California last week, the Nebraska baseball team (12-10, 0-0 Big Ten) returns home for a non-conference game against the Kansas State Wildcats at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday night at Hawks Field.

Tuesday will be Nebraska’s final tune-up before it opens Big Ten play on Friday at Indiana.

The Huskers are coming off a 3-2 week in California, where they lost at Bakersfield before going 3-1 at Cal Poly, including a doubleheader sweep of the Mustangs on Saturday at Baggett Stadium.

The Wildcats opened Big 12 play last weekend at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas, where they were swept by the Texas Longhorns. The Wildcats were shutout in the first two games, 2-0 and 5-0, before dropping a narrow 6-5 decision on Sunday.

Nebraska is 6-2 at Hawks Field this year, while the Wildcats are 6-5 away from Tointon Family Stadium, including a 1-3 record in true road games.

Nebraska-Kansas State History
Tuesday will be the first of two meetings this season between former Big 12 foes Nebraska and Kansas State.

The teams first met in 1898, with the Huskers posting a 33-3 victory.

Tuesday night’s showdown will be the 281st all-time meeting between the teams, with the Huskers holding a 166-114 advantage.

Last season the teams split a pair of games, with the road teams winning each contest. The Wildcats won in Lincoln, 4-2, while the Huskers won in Manhattan, 5-1 in 11 innings.

Nebraska’s last home win came in 2015, when the Huskers won, 10-4, on April 21.

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.

Tuesday’s game against Kansas State will be carried on 1400 AM in Lincoln and 590 AM in Omaha. Fans can also listen on TuneIn.com or the TuneIn App on the Husker IMG Sports Network channel.

Tuesday’s game will be video streamed live on HuskersNSide (subscription required).

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 21 games, including 19 starts.

The Omaha Skutt Catholic product enters Tuesday with a team-high 20-game on-base streak, while ranking second on the team in both hits (26) and batting average (.338). NU’s leadoff hitter in 16 of the last 17 games, Hagge has also show the ability to drive in runs, as he ranks third on the team with nine RBIs.

The 5-7 left-handed hitting outfielder also carries a .435 on-base percentage with a team-best 13 walks.

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 .358 average, ranks second on the team in RBIs with 16 and is tied with Scott Schreiber and Luis Alvarado for the team lead in doubles with seven.

Altavilla has started 20 of NU’s 22 games, and has shown versatility in the field with 11 starts at shortstop, seven at third base and two at second base.

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 23 straight games when leading after eight innings.

Led by pitching coach Ted Silva, the Huskers are 149-17 since the start of the 2012 season when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 155-10 when leading after seven innings and are nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 165-5 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 Tuesday with 185 hits, putting him 15 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.

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 nine times in 22 games entering Tuesday. Nebraska is 7-2 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.

Draft History
Six members of the 2017 Husker baseball team have previously been drafted:

Luis Alvarado - 2014 (Boston Red Sox, 33rd Round)

Derek Burkamper - 2013 (Boston Red Sox, 20th Round)

Sean Chandler - 2015 (Milwaukee Brewers, 32nd Round)

Chad Luensmann - 2015 (New York Mets, 39th Round)

Ben Miller - 2016 (Pittsburgh Pirates, 32nd Round)

Jesse Wilkening - 2015 (Arizona Diamondbacks, 28th Round)

Lean on the Lefty
Junior Jake Meyers picked up his fourth straight win on Saturday and is now 4-1 on the year with a 2.01 ERA. Meyers entered his start at Cal Poly on Saturday with 21.2 straight shutout innings and extended the mark to 25.2 innings after he sat the Mustangs down in order in the fourth. The streak came to an end in the fifth when Scott Ogrin hit two-run home run after Bradlee Beesley started the frame with a double.

Meyers has gone 5.0 or more innings in each of his last four starts, including 8.0 innings or more twice.

In the first game of NU’s doubleheader sweep at Cal Poly on Saturday Meyers went 8.0 innings and matched a career high with five strikeouts. 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.

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 Tuesday 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.

Schedule The best
The Huskers have played a tough schedule so far in 2017.

With a 12-10 record though 22 games, only four of NU’s losses have come to a team with a losing record.

The Husker are scheduled to play 13 games against teams that participated in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, including a pair of games against teams that were in last season’s College World Series. Nebraska has already played 2016 NCAA runner-up Arizona and CWS qualifier Oklahoma State at the Frisco College Baseball Classic in Frisco, Texas. Nebraska lost 1-0 to the Cowboys and shut out Arizona, 1-0.

So far this season the Huskers are 3-4 against teams that qualified for the 2016 NCAA Tournament.