- Nebraska vs Texas A&M turned into one helluva series. A 16-inning game won by the Aggies, then they lose the series. The teams played a double header on Sunday, with Nebraska scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth to take the first game. In the second, the Aggies held a 9-4 lead, then lost it. They committed six errors in the game.
- Texas A&M remains in first place, with a series against rival Texas left.
- Oklahoma State won their series against Texas Tech, no shock there. They remain within striking distance of Nebraska for second, with a big series against rival Oklahoma coming up. The Cowboys can finish no worse than third.
- Missouri wins a series against Kansas, but remain a huge underachiever. They can finish no higher than fourth, but could slip below Texas depending upon their series with Nebraska and Texas' series with Texas A&M.
- Oklahoma wins a series against Kansas State, pushing them up to 10th.
Nebraska Cornhuskers (36-9-1, 15-6-1 Big 12) vs. Texas A&M Aggies (42-8, 19-3 Big 12) Series History: Tied 2-2
Date: May 9th, 10th
Park: Haymarket Park
Game time: Saturday, 5:05 pm; Sunday, 1:05 pm
Television: Saturday’s game will be live on NET (Ch. 12 and Ch. 112) and shown on a tape-delayed basis on CBS College Sports (CSTV) with the first airing Sunday afternoon.
Webcast: Games can be seen online for free at Huskers.com
Radio: Husker Sports Network and on the Internet at Huskers.com
The start of today’s game has been delayed until 5:05 pm due to weather issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t make that either.
Oklahoma State won last night 3-2 over Texas Tech, so the Huskers maintain a half game lead for second place.
Last night’s game was an instant classic, two top teams battling it out in a game that went extra innings. The Aggies lead 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth when the Huskers scored to tie it. Neither team had lost an extra inning game this season.
In the 16th inning, the Aggies’ Dane Carter hit a three RBI double after the Huskers had given up three straight singles, giving the Aggies the win.
It was shades of the 2005 Texas 16-inning game but Nebraska won that game and then went on to lose the series. Perhaps fortune will go our way this time, that this loss will turn into a series win for the Huskers.
In the 15th inning, Mike Anderson filed a protest after the batter struck out swinging then called for batter interference on the throw to second to pick off a runner. The umps conferred, then sent the Aggie back to second. If there was batter interference, the guy should have been ruled out.
Aggie coach Rob Childress had a problem with Mitch Abeita’s bat, at least that’s what I have down. It may have been Jake Optiz’ bat. The bat was confiscated for later examination. Maybe there was a nuclear device hidden in it, who knows.
Last night’s crowd of 8,708 was the largest home crowd in the Big 12 this season and the third-largest crowd in Nebraska’s school history.
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The two top teams of the Big 12 meet this weekend when the #1 Texas A&M Aggies come into Lincoln this weekend to face #2 Nebraska. Given where these two teams are and how they're playing, something has to give:
- Nebraska is 26-2-1 at home, having won their last 14 of 15.
- Texas A&M is 10-2 away from home this year and has won nine straight road games for the first time since 1989. The Aggies have won 24 of their last 26.
- The Aggies have swept five consecutive conference series (Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Missouri) for the first time in school history.
- Texas A&M is leading nearly every offensive stat in the Big 12. Nebraska... isnÕt even close. (see below)
- NebraskaÕs pitching is better than Texas A&MÕs, but not by much (below).
- Both teams have good pitchers, and good depth.
All of this stacks up to be one heckuva series.
Husker fans may have expected this year's team to do better than last, but this much better is like Christmas, your birthday and the Fourth of July all wrapped into one. Big change from last year. Part of that can be attributed to new pitching coach Eric Newman, but most of it is the result of a team that plays together.
Texas A&M is ranked right in front of us at #6, Oklahoma State right behind at #8, Missouri is at #16, and I don't know why the hell they continue to rank Texas, but they're right there at #26.
up from #14 the previous week. Figure that.
Texas A&M is #8, Missouri at #10, Oklahoma State at #10, and Missouri at #15.
- Not a lot of surprises this week with the exception of Kansas sweeping Oklahoma. Oh, and their win over Missouri midweek.
- Texas won a series over Baylor to move to .500 and fifth in the Big 12. No shock there.
- Missouri won a series over Kansas State. No shock there.
- Texas A&M, Nebraska and Oklahoma State both beat non-conference foes. No shock there.
- Texas Tech didn't lose because they didn't play. No shocking result there either.
- The Aggies became the first 40-win team in the nation this past weekend. Maybe that's shocking?
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns Series History: Tied 2-2
Date: May 3rd
Park: Haymarket Park
Game time: 12:00 pm, 6:30 pm
Television: none
Radio: Husker Sports Network and on the Internet at Huskers.com
Last night’s game was cancelled due to inclement weather. It won’t be made up, but the Huskers will be playing a double header today.
The cancellation of the game is an advantage for the Ragin’ Cajuns, as they won’t need to worry about pitching depth near as much as they would given a three-game series.
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Five of seven pitchers return, including all three weekend pitchers. Hunter Moody, Buddy Glass, Brent Solich and Danny Farquhar accounted for 26 of 45 wins last season, giving the Ragin' Cajuns one of the best pitching staffs in the nation.…..
The Ragin' Cajuns come to Lincoln the first weekend in May. By that time, Nebraska should have worked out their starting rotation and the Ragin' Cajuns will provide us with a great out of conference measuring stick.
Talk about a tale of two teams not doing what they’re expected. The Ragin’ Cajuns are currently in seventh place in the Sun Belt Conference with a 12-12 record. Their record stands at 22-23 overall and they have a RPI of 114. What appeared to be a nasty tough match up at the beginning of the season doesn’t appear so now.
I'll admit I haven't paid much attention to the Ragin' Cajuns since I wrote my preview. I checked on them once, and I knew they weren’t doing that well. In writing this preview, I thought I’d check into why.
The Ragin’ Cajuns were ranked coming into preseason, but they started their season at 6-12. Their team batting average is fairly low, only .246. They currently have only one guy batting above .300, and that’s at Scott Hawkins at .309. He has 31 RBI and 33 runs and he leads the team in eight of offensive statistic categories.
Danny Farquhar was one of the pitchers I mentioned in the pre-season, and he is 3-7 on the season. Another, Hunter Moody, will face Johnny Dorn on Friday in a match up of the two winningest active pitchers in college baseball. Dorn has 36 career wins, Moody 29.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are 9-10 at home, 11-12 away. Nebraska is 24-2-1 at home. Doesn’t bode well for them, does it?
Projected Starting Pitchers
Nebraska
La-Lafayette
Friday
RH Johnny Dorn (5-1, 2.60 ERA)
LH Hunter Moody (7-2, 3.21 ERA)
Saturday - G1
RH Thad Weber (8-2, 3.75 ERA)
RH Michael Cook (5-3, 4.66 ERA)
Saturday - G2
RH Aaron Pribanic (3-3, 4.29 ERA)
LH Brent Solich (1-3, 7.05 ERA)
With how many wins will Johnny finish his Husker career?
Barring weather issues, one of the two head coaches will reach a milestone this weekend.
Louisiana head coach Tony Robichaux needs two wins to become the 33rd active NCAA Division I head baseball coach to win 750 career games. Here’s to hoping he gets #750 somewhere else.
Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson enters the weekend series needing two wins to reach 250 career wins. Here’s hoping he gets them.
If any of you folks are coming into Lincoln from Lafayette, you might stop by Buzzard Billy's in the Haymarket Area. The red beans n rice I had there was excellent. Tell Chris the bartender the loud guy from Corn Nation sent you, and have the Lincoln-brewed porter. It's very good as well.
- Texas A&M sweeps Missouri, including a 15-0 rout on Saturday
- Nebraska wins their first series ever in Waco
- Oklahoma State sweeps Kansas
- Texas wins the rubber match today to win their series against KSU
You remember the beginning of the Big 12 season, where I said that the Big 12 was evenly matched and that it would be a tough conference, every game would count, blah blah blah, insert your cliche here.
Well. Here we are and the top three teams in the conference- Texas A&M, Nebraska and Oklahoma State have combined for a 47-15. There's a couple things that happened no one expected... well, except for Nebraska coach Mike Anderson.
Nebraska is really good. Texas is, well, not good. That's a huge difference in the wins and losses in conference. On to the week!
The series of the week with of the top-rated teams in then nation. Perhaps a chance for Missouri to win a series and pull the Aggies out of first place if Nebraska can take care of Baylor. Texas A&M is on a 12-game conference winning streak. That's going to be put to the test tonight as Missouri's Friday dude Aaron Crow is the best pitcher in the nation.
A&M has Jose' Duran and Darby Brown beating the stitches off the balls this season. In Big 12 conference, they're batting .446 and .425 respectively. The two have combined for 35 runs, 68 hits and 49 RBI's. If that isn't enough, Dane Carter is hitting at .373 and has 22 runs and 22 RBI's by hisself.
It's Missouri's pitching against Texas A&M's offense. Other than Aaron Crow, I'm not 100% sold on the invincibility of Tiger pitching.
I would expect that A&M takes this series 2-1.
Nebraska at Baylor
There's no reason that Nebraska should lose this series, but I don't feel good about it and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Baylor's backs are against the wall - if they lose this series they drop further below .500 and are in danger of not making the NCAA tourney. Or maybe it's that Nebraska has never won a series in Waco.
Nebraska has the best ERA overall in the Big 12 and with Johnny Dorn (5-1, 2.60 ERA) on Fridays you know the Huskers should win. He'll be going up against Kendal Volz (3-4, 4.31 ERA). Another battle will be on Saturday when Thad Weber (7-2, 4.23 ERA) goes against Shawn Tolleson (4-2, 4.25 ERA). Sunday, Husker Aaron Pribanic (3-2, 3.86 ERA) will go against Willie Kempf (5-1, 3.75 ERA).
Baylor has struggled on offense this season, getting swept last week by the Aggies. Both teams had explosive mid-week games, with Nebraska crushing Creighton 16-7, while Baylor mashed Texas State 25-13, both on Wednesday.
Television: Saturday’s game will be televised by by Fox College Sports. Live Video: Baylorbears.com is hosted at CSTV, so you can access the game online using CSTV's All Access feature for the Friday and Sunday games.
Note - Friday night's game has been postponed to Saturday due to inclement weather. Instead, they'll play tomorrow at 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm. Nebraska should take this series 2-1, but like I said earlier, we've never a series in Waco.
Kansas at Oklahoma State
Kansas hasn't won at series at Stillwater since 1992 and they won't again this year. Oklahoma State is a tough place to play (17-2 at home this season), their offensive is doing well (.324 as a team in overall play) and they've won six straight.
Don't be surprised if Okie State sweeps this one.
Texas at Kansas State
Texas should take this series, although why do I say that? They've tanked badly this season. Kansas State certainly hasn't had the season the wanted, but they didn't have as far to fall. It's gone without much notice, but Texas currently has the two top pitchers in Big 12 conference play - Chance Ruffin and Cole Green.
It's a toss up. I'll go with Texas pitchers and Kyle Russell heat, 2-1.
Oklahoma at Texas Tech
Oklahoma is at 4-10, Tech at 5-13. This one's truly for the basement. Tech is tough at home. Oklahoma just can't seem to win a game when they need it.
Nebraska statistics below are for Big 12 conference only games because those are the ones that really count. Okay, that's not entirely true, but our goal is winning the Big 12, hosting a regional and potentially a Super Regional. That goal starts with winnning the Big 12. That's my rational and I'm sticking with it.
It's time I provided an update on where the teams are with regards to Big 12 statistics. The following are Conference Only statistics for Big 12 baseball as of April 23, 2008.
Big 12 Conference Only Pitching Statistics
To get the most out of the statistics, select your stats, then click on the 'values' button to sort the data.
For those who prefer their data in a more traditional format:
Nebraska and in-state rival Creighton meet Tuesday and Wednesday night in mid-week two-game series that was set up due to an earlier game being re-scheduled on account of cold weather. Normally the schools would play a three-game series scheduled over the course of a few weeks.
Creighton is currently fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) with a 8-7 conference record, 25-13 overall. The Huskers come in second in the Big 12 with a 13-4-1 record, 28-7-1 overall.
RPI and SOS comparisons are to be expected as Nebraska plays in the Big 12, whereas Creighton plays in a conference where Wichita State is a perennial powerhouse, but most other teams are relative unknowns.
Neither team is an offensive powerhouse and both have solid pitching. While there's a tendency to believe the Huskers are superior.... oh, screw it, the Huskers are a superior team. I know that this is an intense rivalry game because it features kids from Omaha that went to Nebraska and other kids who maybe wanted to go to Nebraska but ended up at Creighton, but Nebraska should win both of these games.
Our mid-week pitching staff is better than Creighton's, more depth, and they've seen better opponents.
Lots of this congratulatin' going on tonight, tomorrow night.
Projected Starting Pitchers
Nebraska
Creighton
Tuesday
Dan Jennings, Jr., LHP (4-0, 1.60 ERA)
Greg Hellhake, R-Fr., LHP (2-0, 4.67 ERA)
Wednesday
TBA
TBA
Right now, Dan Jennings has the lowest ERA on the Husker team. He's made 13 appearances, starting five games and pitched one complete game so far this season. For Creighton, Greg Hellhake has made only six appearances and started two games - not a lot of experience for a guy coming into Lincoln for the first time. Should be interesting. Should be a Husker win.
Listen, Watch!
Tonight's game will be in Lincoln at Haymarket Park. It will be televised live by Nebraska Educational Television (Ch. 12 and Ch. 112) and CBS College Sports (Ch. 610 on DirecTV; Ch. 152 on Dish and Ch. 305 on Time Warner Cable).
Wednesday night's game will be at Rosenblatt. The game will be shown on My TV (Ch. 110 on Time Warner; Ch. 25 on DirecTV) and 620 in Omaha (Cox Ch. 120).
Note that above is what is posted on Huskers.com CBS CS's - (CSTV) online schedule shows tonight's baseball listing as Texas @ Baylor, with Wednesday night's Nebraska-Creighton game being televised.
You may listen to both games live over the Internet at Huskers.com
In case you're not paying attention to the rest of the college baseball world, there was an incident at last weekend's Miami- Florida State game where the two teams cleared their benches and threatened to fight. Alas, they didn't. Or thank goodness they didn't. I'm not sure which.
Of course it's been captured for posterity and posted on youtube, thanks for asking!
It goes without saying that this kind of behavior wouldn't happen between Big 12 teams, as the level of respect and sportsmanship is simply too high to allow it. Miami and Florida State, though, is it all that shocking?
Doubtful that this stuff could happen between Creighton and Nebraska. Well, at least in Lincoln. You never know what's going to happen in Omaha.
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