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.
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.
I listened to the Nebraska - Okie State game last night over the Internet. Cowboys pitcher Andrew Oliver won the pitching duel over Johnny Dorn, allowing only three hits, striking out 10 and not giving up a walk. Dorn was his usual brilliant self, pitching a complete game and allowing only four hits and striking out seven.
The only run of the evening came in the sixth inning after Bryce Nimmo slipped on the soggy warning track and the fly hit by Michael Dabbs fell from his glove, allowing lead-off triple. Later in the inning Jordy Mercer hit an RBI single and that was the ball game.
Nebraska's three hits came from Mitch Abeita, Cody Neer, and Bryce Nimmo.
The Cornhuskers lose their second Big 12 game of the season and Johnny Dorn picks up his first loss on the season. It was also Nebraska's first Friday night loss since the opening game at Stanford.
Texas - Missouri NU's baseball announcers gave a score update early in the Texas - Missouri game, and in the first two innings, Texas was up 8-0. That's to be expected, or so I thought, as Texas has jumped out to an early start quite a bit this year.
Then an inning or two later, announcer Greg Sharpe mentioned that Missouri was ahead 10-8. I thought that was odd, given the Tigers inability to generate runs. I forgot about it the rest of the night, and this morning got up to check the score.
One of the best sources for Texas baseball is Joanna's Longhorn baseball page, so that's where I went first. The line showed a 31-12 Texas loss.
I thought maybe she'd gotten it wrong. Texas giving up 31 runs to a team that has had problems generating anything? No way, but NCAA-Baseball showed the same score. Must have been some kind of revenge for Texas getting to Missouri ace Aaron Crow who gave up his first runs of the Big 12 season in the early innings.
Here's Joanna's take:
The Tigers then got to the Texas starter, Austin Wood. He gave up 3 solo homeruns in the bottom of the 2nd. No worries, though. Right? The Horns still had a 5-run lead. They even padded it with another run in the 3rd. And, then the wheels really fell off. The Tigers scored 10 in the bottom of the 3rd. Yep, 10. Sadly, they were not done there. They scored 6 more in the 4th. And, 6 again in the 6th (in response to a single run scored by the Horns in the top of the inning) and then 2 more in the 7th. Texas scraped a couple together in the 8th. 'Course, the Tigers answered with 4 more in the bottom of the inning. For a grand total of 31.
Oeeewwwheee! Talk about a blood-letting! What's going to happen today!???!!!!
Other than that, all the Big 12 home teams won Friday.
Texas A&M 8, Oklahoma 7
Kansas State 6, Baylor 1
Kansas 9, Texas Tech 5
Nebraska's Thad Weber (6-1, 3.06 ERA) will be going up against the Oklahoma State's Tyler Lyons (5-2, 3.12 ERA).
Weber has pitched brilliantly this season. It will be interesting to see how he handles this game. There'll be extra pressure on him as he's accustomed to coming in after a Friday night win. Lose today, we lose the series.
Consider this your game day thread to comment on today's game. Nebraska hasn't lost a Big 12 series yet this season, here's hoping that record stays intact.
Nebraska took game one from Texas Tech last night, as Johnny Dorn was brilliant once again. He pitched 7.1 innings, striking out 10 and only allowing one hit. Too bad the one hit was a solo home run to Red Raider Doug Thennis in the fifth inning, but if that’s all the damage that was done, I’ll take it!
Dorn moved to 4-0 on the season. He remains a force on Friday and the best reason we have a great shot at winning every conference series this season. If you have any doubt to his pitching prowess, consider that he struck out the side in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Craig Corriston hit his second home run of the year, while Cody Neer and Jake Optiz knocked in a pair of runs, while Mitch Abeita provided another.
Today’s game begins at 2:05 pm today. Consider this a game day thread if you care to discuss Husker baseball.
Missouri beat Oklahoma State 3 - 0 (another shutout for Tiger pitcher Aaron Crow who extended his scoreless innings streak to 42.2!!!!!)
Texas beat Oklahoma 10-7
Texas A&M beat a struggling KSU team 7-2
Baylor beat Kansas 4-3 (Baylor can win at home)
If you haven’t been following college baseball around the nation, you’re missing the juggernaut that is Arizona State. They have routinely been destroying everyone, having only lost one game (surprisingly enough to Northern Colorado). Yesterday they beat Stanford 6-4, and Stanford has been playing well this season.
14 runs, 17 hits. Can you hear that note reverb around the nation? Let's hope it has sustain, man!
Weird game. Texas comes in for the first three innings, scores four runs against Johnny Dorn and it looks like they're going to tear up the place. Fourth inning comes along and Huskers finally score as Bryce Nimmo comes home on a DJ Belfonte double. Dorn shuts down the Texas offense with three straight ground outs, then does it again in the fifth as the Husker score four runs.
After that, it's all Husker. Dorn allows a double, then it's Dan Jennings to the mound and he proceeds to mow down the Texas batters. Jennings didn't allow a hit and struck out four, finishing the game. Meanwhile, the Huskers continued to score, putting up four runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Dan Johnston finished three for three, with two runs, and two RBI. Ben Kline finished three for five, with one run and two RBI. Five other Husker finished with two hits apiece.
Texas used six different pitchers, starting with Kenn Kasparek who gave up four earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of work. Brandon Workman didn't fare much better, pitching 1.2 innings and giving up six hits and three runs, two of them earned.
The result - 17 hits, 14 runs for the Huskers to four runs, seven hits and three errors for the Longhorns.
With today's win, Nebraska leads the series 13-9 at Austin. Is there another team in the nation that has a winning percentage in Austin against the Longhorns?
The Cornhusker baseball team opens up at Hawks Field in Lincoln today with a four-game series against the UC Riverside Highlanders. The weather might corporate this weekend as it's might hit 50 degrees by Friday's game time at 1:35 pm. Compare that to Riverside, California where it will be in the mid-70's and could hit 80 on Sunday. Saturday features a double-header, starting at 12:05 pm while Sunday's game will start at 1:05 pm.
Nebraska comes into the series at 1-2, having lost a series against Stanford. UC Riverside comes in at 2-3, having split games in a four-games series against the Washington Huskies and picking up a loss against #29th-sranked Pepperdine.
Johnny Dorn will start on the mound versus the Highlanders' Stephen Penny. Penny picked up his first win of the season last weekend against Washington. In 5.1 innings, he gave up two earned runs, six hits, and struck out eight.
Projected Starters
Nebraska
Stanford
Friday
Johnny Dorn (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Stephen Penny (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
Saturday-1
Dan Jennings, Jr., LHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Matt Larkins, Fr., RHP (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
Saturday-2
Thad Weber, Sr., RHP (0-1, 24.00 ERA)
TBA
Sunday
Aaron Pribanic, Jr., RHP (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
TBA
Twelve different Highlander pitchers have been on the the mound already this season.
Nebraska's DJ Belfonte comes into the series hitting .467 with one run and five RBI's in 15 at-bats. Following him are Cody Neer (.308), Bryce Nimmo (.300), Jake Opitz (.300) and Mitch Abeita (.300).
For the Highlanders, Brett Hambright is the top hitter at .444 with two RBI's in nine at-bats. Following him are Drew Garcia (.421), Aaron Wible (.412), and Joey Gonzales (.353). Last season, Gonzales has been named to the Brooks Wallace Watch list. He is the returning leading hitter, having a .356 average in 2007, with two home runs and 19 RBI's.
The school first opened in 1954. School colors are blue & gold - every school in the University of California System has some combination of blue and gold as their school colors. I did not know that.
The team mascot was chosen as the "Highlanders" after several other suggestions weren't accepted. Some people wanted the mascot to stick with the "Bear" concept so they would be on par with their brethren from UCLA and Cal-Berkeley, but this didn't stick either. "Hylanders" was suggested and the spelling later changed. The full story at UCR's web site is pretty interesting - if you thought "Nebraska Bugeaters" was odd, how 'bout the "UCR Aphids"?
“Highlanders” fit the campus well for several reasons. The Box Springs Mountains, which stand behind the campus, were known as the Highlands. In addition, UCR is the highest elevation campus in the UC System.The name proved to be a solid compromise, allowing the bear proponents to make a contribution.
This is why you see the Bear in the Highlander Mascot. Be sure to welcome their fans to Lincoln and maybe bring an extra coat for them this weekend!
Here's to hoping that the Husker's opening game against Stanford isn't a harbinger on the season.
Stanford ran the score to 17-0 before Nebraska scored. Thad Weber started on the mound, giving up five runs in the first inning with a total of eight before being replaced in the third inning by Joe Hatasaki. Hatasaki gave up four runs, being replaced by Michael Mariot who gave up five runs. It was Nebraska's first season-opening loss in seven years.
The first game ended 17-7 as the Huskers came around late to make it a less embarrassing defeat. It may be that the Huskers took some time to get the season started, as they continued to their progress in the second game.
In the second game, Stanford went up 1-0 in the first and after that it was all Nebraska. Seven innings in a row the Huskers retired the first two Stanford batters, severely limiting the Cardinal offense.
Starter Johnny Dorn pitched brilliantly for six innings, facing 24 batters, giving up only three hits, one unearned run, with seven K's and one walk. He was relieved by Mike Nesseth, who pitched for two innings, facing six batters and giving up one hit and no runs. Zach Herr came in in the bottom of the eighth and struck out the first two batters he faced. He ended up facing six batters, giving up one hit and one earned run as Stanford added a run in the bottom of the ninth, making it a 9-2 Nebraska win.
DJ Belfonte went four for six with a sacrifice bunt and four RBI's. Bryce Nimmo went two for four, but walked twice, scoring three runs. Freshman Ben Kline, making his first start at shortstop went one for four, scoring two runs and an RBI.
The Stanford announcers commented that there were more Husker fans in the stands than those for the Cardinal. Tomorrow's game schedule has been changed to 3:00 pm central. Again, you can watch the Stanford series online at CSTV's All-Access site.
It's opening day for *everyone* across the college baseball landscape. Tons of baseball happening, as earlier we posted the opening day schedule for the Big 12 conference.
Nebraska returns five pitchers out of 17 who have seen action as a Husker. Between them they have a total of 14 wins and eight losses. Beyond Johnny Dorn, Husker pitchers have started a total of three games. RHP Aaron
Pribanic is a JUCO transfer from Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College. He was 8-2 in two seasons, going 6-1 last season wit a 3.33 ERA. After the starters, it's anyone's guess as to who'll be on the mound.
The last time we saw Thad Weber was when we were getting shelled by Arizona State in the final game of 2007. Perhaps that's not a fair statement about Weber, it's a new season, but given our inexperience and the Huskers lack of power at the plate, the pitchers had better be more than we expect them to be.
Well.... it's Saturday at 3:00 pm, and we're leading the Oklahoma State Cowboys 8-2 at the seventh inning stretch.
Our pitching rotation has obviously changed.
Watson pitched wonderfully yesterday in a win over Okie State, pitching a complete game. Normally Charlie Shirek would be pitching today, but he ain't been doing so good, so today Dorn has taken over.
With Dorn moving to Saturday, I figured that Foust to be the Sunday pitcher. Dorn replaced to a standing ovation by Foust, so now I'm confused. Great fans at Haymarket Park, BTW.
So who's going to be the Sunday pitcher. They're moving things around, maybe so Shirek gets blessed by God on Easter Sunday?
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