• Texas A&M vs Texas

Given how these two teams have done this season, it’d be easy to understand if the Aggies won this series. Husker fans are hoping that’s not the case and there’s something in this rivalry that gets the blood flowing for both teams.
This is a BIG series for both teams as the Aggies want to win the Big 12 and secure a national seed while the ‘Horns want to improve their postseason status.
The Longhorns have had all season to get their burnt orange poop together and haven’t done it, so what makes anyone think that this weekend would be different.
Look for the Aggies to take this series 2-1, winning the Big 12 regular season title.

• Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State

Oklahoma has had a bad season and they need to get a win to get into the Big 12 tourney. Right now they sit in eighth place, just behind Kansas, and ahead of Kansas State and Texas Tech. What’s worse is they’re playing a highly-ranked Cowboy team.
Oklahoma State can catch Nebraska for second place if the Huskers falter in Columbia.

Oklahoma State wins this series 2-1. Don’t be surprised if it’s a sweep by the Cowboys.

• Kansas vs Kansas State

JQ over at Rock Chalk Talk has a preview on this series. Both teams are fighting for something besides bragging rights - they’re fighting to make the Big 12 tourney.

Kansas secures a bid to the Big 12 tourney with a 2-1 series victory over the Wildcats.

• Baylor vs Texas Tech

Tech has had a horrid season which will probably end this season. From JQ at RockChalkTalk: Oklahoma and Kansas both own tie breakers over the Red Raiders so TTU would need to beat Baylor this weekend, and hope that both Kansas and Oklahoma lose their series to sneak in.

Baylor hasn’t set the world on fire, but they’re pretty much a lock to make the Big 12 tourney. Even with a sweep the Bears can’t finish above .500, though.

Look for Baylor to take this series 2-1, and end the Red Raiders baseball season.

• Nebraska vs Missouri

Does this make Missouri our rival? Maybe that’s not a bad idea given that they’ve been getting all uppity as of late.
Kendall Rogers over at Rivals has this picked as one of his weekend series to watch. Here’s what he says:

What the???? Is that freaky or what? When the season started, Missouri was picked high in the Big 12 due to their pitching. Nebraska was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 because of losing so much pitching in the draft last season. Ha! I say Ha! to the naysayers! (Oh, actually, I don’t blame them, who could see this young team mature this quickly?)

Tonight’s game - Johnny Dorn vs Aaron Crow, two pitchers made the Dick Howser semifinalist list. Don’t be surprised if the Huskers lose game one then come back to take next two.

So look for Nebraska to take this series 2-1.

It won’t be enough to overtake Texas A&M, but remember that the Huskers beat the Aggies in their series... but then there’s that darned tie game.

The Sunday Huskers-Tigers game is televised on FSN at 3:30 pm.

Doing a SBS Server upgrade tonight, not one of my favorite things because SBS sucks, but I’m stuck indoors on the most beautiful spring night so far this year. Ah, well.… probably just be out in my front yard drinking beer most of the night and wake up feeling like... dung. Hoping to climb out this weekend, get back to posting on a regular basis, and like I said, big changes are coming at the end of the week.

In the Big 12 this week:

- 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.

• You're welcome to join us for the game day thread, however in order to participate in posting, you must create an account using the "Create Account" link at the upper right. It will require a valid email address, but what doesn't these days?
  

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. 

In the Big 12 this week:

- 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! 

Big 12 Baseball Weekend!

Statistics rankings cited below are Big 12 Conference Only statistics.

• Texas at Missouri

Texas was picked to win the Big 12 at the start of the season, but has yet to come around and play the level of ball everyone thought they'd be playing. They are not without their great players - Cameron Rupp is hitting .533, Jordan Banks is at .440, and David Hernandez is hitting .421, but Texas is ranked sixth overall in team pitching with a 5.01 overall ERA.

Despite the nation's best pitcher in Aaron Crow, Missouri has been a disappointment to this point. They're behind Nebraska in overall ERA at 3.13, and while their team batting average is sixth in Big 12 conference games, they're lacking in run production. And that's the problem with Missouri - they're not getting guys across the plate.

Lack of run production is why the Tigers lost their series at Texas Tech and at home against Oklahoma State. It's why they'll most likely lose this weekend against Texas.

The 40 Acre Sports Dudes have a good write up on this series over at BON.

•  Nebraska at Oklahoma State

Nebraska has now moved to the top of the Big 12 in team pitching with an overall ERA of 2.81. Other than the opening weekend against Stanford, the Huskers haven't lost a series yet this season, and have won 23 of their last 26 games.

Oklahoma State is at .500 in conference play at 6-6. The Cowboys are normally known for their terrific offense, but they're currently eighth in conference at .245 when you look at Big 12-only statistics (although their web site trumpets the fact that they're second, that relates to overall statistics which includes midweek games).  They're not doing bad at pitching, currently at third with an overall ERA of 4.19, but they're last in fielding percentage.

If that sounds like it adds up to an easy win for Nebraska, think again, as the Cowboys have lost only once at home this season out of 13 games. They are 705-145 (.829) all-time at Reynolds Stadium, since 1981. During that time, they've only lost three in a row once. It's a tough place to win.

Don't be surprised if Nebraska finally loses a series.

Kendall Rogers at Rivals has picked this as his series of the week, and he picks OSU to win. We can all blame him if we lose.

• Oklahoma at Texas A&M

Oklahoma is currently 3-5-1 in the Big 12, putting them seventh in the standings, not where they expected to be. Next, they head to College Station this weekend to face the Aggies who are on a 10-game winning streak, have the best offense in the Big 12, and have swept their last two Big 12 opponents (although they were KSU and KU.... still, a sweep is a sweep).

Texas A&M is first in the Big 12 in overall team batting at .322, the Sooners are second at .322. For pitching, the Aggies are fourth and hte Sooners fifth. Aha! Fielding percentage shows us that the Aggies are fifth, and the Sooners are ninth! Upon closer look, though, the differences are miniscule, and perhaps that's enough to describe Oklahoma's 3-5-1 record.

Then consider that the Aggies have built their win total off KU, KSU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma state. The Sooners have lost a close series to Texas, split games with and then tied Nebraska, and then won a series against Baylor. When you consider those series, these teams look fairly even.

Unfortunately for Oklahoma, the series is on the road. After this weekend, they might find themselves staring eye-level with Kansas State.  Sunday's finale will be televised nationally on Fox Sports at 1:00 pm.

•  Baylor at Kansas State

Quick! What do these teams have in common?

They've both beaten Oklahoma State in a series. They've both lost to UT-San Antonio. What's it all mean? I haven't a clue, but I'm not alone as I'm sure the coaches of both these teams are asking the same questions.

Baylor on the road against the 2-7 Wildcats, the key phrase being "Baylor on the road".....  Baylor is 19-1 in Waco against KSU, while only being 8-7 against the Wildcats in Manhattan.

•  Texas Tech at Kansas

Kansas has only one conference win at this point. They are dead last in conference ERA at 9.3. If Kansas is going to move up to make sure they make the conference tournament, they need to win this series at home, otherwise, well, the season may be over.

I'd say this adequately describes Baylor's season so far.