Huskers Journey to San Diego for Tony Gwynn Legacy

Tony Gwynn Legacy
Feb. 21-23, 2020
San Diego, Calif.

Friday, Feb. 21 • 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT)
Nebraska (1-2) at San Diego (3-1)
Fowler Park
Online Stream: WCC Network
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Gareth Stroh (1-0) vs. Jack Hyde (0-0)

Saturday, Feb. 22 • 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT)
Nebraska (1-2) at San Diego State (3-1)
Tony Gwynn Stadium
Online Stream: Mountain West Network
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Colby Gomes (0-0) vs. Troy Melton (1-0)

Sunday, Feb. 23 • Noon (CT)/10 a.m. (PT)
Arizona (3-1) vs. Nebraska (1-2)
Tony Gwynn Stadium
Online Stream: None
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Cade Povich (0-1) vs. TBD

The Nebraska baseball team (1-2) travels to San Diego, Calif., this weekend for the Tony Gwynn Legacy. 

The Huskers open the event against San Diego (3-1) on Friday at 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT) at Fowler Park. The match-up will be streamed live online via the WCC Network. 

On Saturday, NU battles San Diego State (3-1) at Tony Gwynn Stadium, starting at 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT). Online streaming for the contest will be provided by the Mountain West Network. 

Nebraska wraps up its trip to San Diego on Sunday against Arizona (3-1) at Tony Gwynn Stadium, starting at noon (CT)/10 a.m. (PT).

The eight-team event also features Iowa, Southern Illinois, Seattle and USC.

Fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action this weekend on the Learfield IMG College 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 three games of the Tony Gwynn Legacy will be carried on TuneIn.com and the TuneIn App on the Husker Sports Network channel. Fans in Lincoln can listen on 1400 AM and fans in Omaha can listen on 590 AM.

Last Time Out
The Huskers won 1-of-3 games during their opening series of the season at Baylor. In Friday's season opener, NU scored 11 runs in the first inning en route to a 19-9 win over the Bears. On Saturday, Baylor delivered a walk-off single in the 10th inning to take Game 2 by an 8-7 margin. On Sunday, the Bears won the rubber match by a 7-2 tally.

Next Up
The Huskers conclude their season-opening road stretch next weekend with a three-game series at Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. The Huskers and Sun Devils square off Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. (CT), Saturday, Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m. (CT) and Sunday, March 1 at 1:30 p.m. (CT).

Tony Gwynn Legacy Schedule
• Friday, Feb. 21
    » Tony Gwynn Stadium: 3 p.m. (CT)/1 p.m. (PT): Seattle vs. USC
    » Fowler Park: 3 p.m. (CT)/1 p.m. (PT): Southern Illinois vs. Arizona
    » Tony Gwynn Stadium: 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT): Iowa at San Diego State
    » Fowler Park: 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT): Nebraska at San Diego

• Saturday, Feb. 22
    » Tony Gwynn Stadium: 3 p.m. (CT)/1 p.m. (PT): USC vs. Southern Illinois
    » Fowler Park: 3 p.m. (CT)/1 p.m. (PT): Arizona vs. Iowa
    » Tony Gwynn Stadium: 8 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (PT): Nebraska at San Diego State
    » Fowler Park: 8 p.m. (CT)/ 1 p.m. (PT): Seattle at San Diego

• Sunday, Feb. 23
    » Tony Gwynn Stadium: Noon (CT)/10 a.m. (PT): Arizona vs. Nebraska
    » Fowler Park: Noon (CT)/10 a.m. (PT): Southern Illinois vs. Seattle
    » Tony Gwynn Stadium: 4 p.m. (CT)/2 p.m. (PT): USC at San Diego State
    » Fowler Park: 4 p.m. (CT)/2 p.m. (PT): Iowa at San Diego

Scouting the San Diego Toreros
• San Diego is 3-1 this season after defeating UC Irvine on Tuesday night, 9-1. At the season-opening Angels College Classic in Tempe, Ariz., the Toreros fell to Pepperdine in the opener before responding with wins over Oregon and Minnesota.

• Last season, San Diego went 32-21 overall and tied for sixth in the West Coast Conference with a 14-13 record.

• Head Coach Rich Hill is 705-499-4 in his 22nd season at San Diego. He holds a career record of 1,037-723-4 in his 33rd year overall. Hill is assisted by Brock Ungricht, Matt Florer and Ray McIntire.

• Nebraska leads the all-time series against San Diego, 2-1, dating back to the first meeting between the schools in 1980. The Toreros won the most recent meeting, 17-5, on Feb. 26, 2016 at the Tony Gwynn Classic.

• Players to Watch
    » #6 Paul Knust (Senior UTL): Batting .455 with four runs scored, two RBIs and two stolen bases
    » #1 Cody Jefferis (Sophomore UTL): Batting .267 with one run and one RBI
    » #21 Shane McGuire (Junior C): Hitting .429 with two doubles, six runs scored and a team-high seven RBIs

Scouting the San Diego State Aztecs
• San Diego State is 3-1 this season after defeating Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday night, 8-4. The Aztecs opened the season at the Coastal Carolina Tournament, defeating Virginia Tech and Coastal Carolina in the first two games before dropping their third game to UNC-Greensboro. The Aztecs open the Tony Gwynn Legacy against Iowa on Friday night.

• Last season, San Diego State went 32-25 overall and finished second in the Mountain West with a 16-13 mark in conference play.

• Head Coach Mark Martinez is 178-129 in his sixth season overall at San Diego State. He is assisted by Sam Peraza, Joe Oliveira and Danny Sheehan.

• San Diego State leads the all-time series against Nebraska, 7-4, dating back to the first meeting between the schools in 1982. NU won the most recent match-up by a 6-2 margin on March 14, 2004 at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego.

• Players to Watch
    » #10 Anthony Walters (Junior INF): Hitting .375 with one double, one home run, four RBIs and two runs scored
    » #9 Matt Rudick (Junior OF): Batting .412 with one home run, six runs scored, five RBIs and one double
    » #2 Ryan Orr (Senior C): Team-high .471 batting average with one double, two RBIs and four runs scored

Scouting the Arizona Wildcats
• Arizona is 3-1 this season after falling to Minnesota by a 5-2 margin on Monday. The Wildcats opened the year with a three-game sweep of Albany, outscoring the Great Danes by a combined score of 38-10. The Wildcats face Southern Illinois on Friday and Iowa on Saturday at the Tony Gwynn Legacy before their match-up with the Huskers.

• Last season, Arizona went 32-24 overall and finished sixth in the Pac-12 with a 15-14 record in conference play.

• Head Coach Jay Johnson is 156-92 in his fifth season at Arizona. He holds a career record of 265-148 in his eighth year overall. Johnson is assisted by Nate Yeskie, Dave Lawn and Marc Wanaka.

• Arizona leads the all-time series against Nebraska, 4-2, dating back to the first meeting in 1939. The Huskers won the most recent game by a 1-0 margin on March 5, 2017 at the Frisco Classic in Frisco, Texas.

• Players to Watch
    » #42 Ryan Holgate (Sophomore OF): Team-high .667 average with 10 hits, three doubles, one home run, six RBIs and five runs scored
    » #16 Austin Wells (Sophomore C): Batting .538 with four doubles, one home run and a team-best eight RBIs
    » #10 Jacob Blas (Sophomore INF): Hitting .389 with two doubles and three RBIs

Offense Shows Firepower on Opening Weekend
• Nebraska's offense showed no signs of rust in the season opener, scoring 11 runs in the top of the first on its way to a 19-9 win. During the opening frame, NU's first 11 batters reached base and scored, as each of NU's first five batters singled, before Baylor recorded its first out.

• The Huskers totaled 28 runs and 33 hits over three games during the weekend, hitting .292 as a team.

• Nine different Huskers produced multi-hit weekends, including six players who had four-or-more hits. Ty Roseberry and Cam Chick led the offense with five hits apiece.

Newcomers Make Husker Debuts
• Nebraska's offense saw two newcomers - Leighton Banjoff and Luke Boynton - earn starts during the first weekend of the 2020 campaign. Banjoff, who made two starts, tallied two RBIs and two runs scored. Boynton, who made one start, went 1-for-4 during the Baylor series.

• The pitching staff saw five new faces make appearances against Baylor. Transfers Gareth Stroh, Cade Povich and Trey Kissack each made their Husker debuts over the weekend. Caleb Feekin tossed 1.0 inning after redshirting last season. True freshman Braxton Bragg also made his debut out of the bullpen.

Numbers to Watch
• Aaron Palensky enters the weekend with the longest current hitting streak on the team (6), which dates back to last season.

• Palensky also holds the longest current reaching base streak on the team (24), which dates back to April 23, 2019. Spencer Schwellenbach has the second-longest active on-base streak (15).

• 3 - Mojo Hagge (8) is three triples away from joining Nebraska's top-10 career triples list. Alex Gordon is 10th in program history with 11 career triples.

• 4 - Luke Roskam (96) is four RBIs away from reaching 100 career RBIs.

• 10 - Gareth Stroh (90) is 10 strikeouts away from reaching 100 career strikeouts on the NCAA Division I level. He spent two seasons at Purdue (2017, 2018) before transferring to Nebraska and sat out the 2019 campaign.

• 16 - Jaxon Hallmark (84) is 16 hits away from his 100th career hit.

NU to Face Seven NCAA Tournament Qualifiers from 2019
• Two of Nebraska's 2020 opponents are ranked in this week's D1Baseball Top 25, as the Huskers battle No. 9 Michigan (April 24-26) and No. 13 Arizona State (Feb. 28-March 1) later this season. At the 2019 NCAA Tournament, the Sun Devils went 1-2 at the Baton Rouge Regional, while the Wolverines took runner-up honors at the College World Series.

• Nebraska's two intrastate rivals, Creighton and Omaha, each qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament.

• NU's home Big Ten series are against Northwestern, Rutgers, Ohio State and Penn State. Last season, the Buckeyes made it to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big Ten Tournament.

• The Huskers' road Big Ten series are against Maryland, Purdue, CWS runner-up Michigan and Indiana. The Hoosiers qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2019.

• The Big Ten teams not included in Nebraska's 2020 regular-season schedule are Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan State.