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.
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.
The Huskers took game two from Texas Tech 5-2 as some guy called Thad Weber delivered a career-high 11 strike outs, giving up only five hits and two earned runs over 7.2 innings.
I find it odd that we're supposed to believe that this is the same guy who gave up five runs in the first inning and eight overall before being replaced in the third inning at Stanford. Clearly, something has happened to him between then and now.
Weber entered this weekend second in Big 12 pitching with a 0.39 ERA, behind out of this world guy Aaron Crow, who has yet to give up a run in conference play.
You might point out that it was Nebraska's first series on the road, that they hadn't yet practiced outside yet. You may point to Nebraska's new pitching coach Eric Newman as another factor.
You can do that but there is evidence that something else is at work here.
Here's Thad Weber at Stanford.
Here's Thad Weber now.
Notice any difference?
Ok, pretty silly, but I stayed up late last night watching some damned Sci-Fi channel movie about a meteor or comet experiment gone wrong that caused the earth to shift off it's orbit and become hotter. Incredible writing and action in that one. Not as good as Friday night's showing of "The Return of the Living Dead" which became much less interesting after the nude punk rock girl was overcome by a gob of brain-eating zombies.
I'm in shock this morning as news comes that Ben-Hur has died. All of the modern-day car chases and special effects have nothing on that chariot racing segment. Nothing
Moses, Ben-hur, El Cid, so many to pick from. While most of this generation knew Heston as the NRA's main guy, he warned us in the 70's that we would ultimately destroy ourselves, allowing for apes to evolve and take over the planet. So many great lines in his movies, but my favorite has to be the warning given in the final scene of "Planet of The Apes".
"You maniacs. You blew it up. Damn you. Damn you all to hell!"
I changed the look this week in order to make things more readable, but it's causing some problems with publishing. Therefore, it's after the full story story link.
The bottom line:
- Nebraska finally lost a Big 12 game
- Nebraska continues to remain on top of the conference
- Everyone else is squishing themselves into a big, sweaty pile
Great to see Nebraska baseball team took two away from UC Riverside on Saturday, winning the first game 10-4 and the second 5-2.
Dan Jennings started the first, pitching 5.2 innings. He faced 19 batters, giving up three earned runs, struck out five but walked five as well. Matt Freeman, Erik Bird and Casey Houptman all saw the mound for Nebraska in game one and didn't give up a run between them.
The Cornhuskers scored four runs in the second, two in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, while UC Riverside could only score two apiece in the fifth and sixth innings.
Nebraska pitcher Thad Weber came into the second game with a 24.00 ERA. He pitched seven innings, giving up seven hits, two earned runs, six K's and zero walks. Finally a great outing for Weber. Zach Herr gave up a hit but little else and then Mike Nesseth came in for a save, striking out two and walking one while giving up no hits.
Nice output by the Husker offense battering the Highlanders young pitchers. Good teams beat the teams they're supposed to, pick up games against even opponents and upset the teams they're not supposed to beat. Saturday was an example of beating a team they should beat.
Bryce Nimmo and DJ Belfonte are playing great defense early in the season with only a single error between them. They're hitting .364 and .357, respectively and Belfonte leads the team in RBI's with seven. Belfonte's catch on Friday night made ESPN's Top Plays segment. If I can find a video of it, I'll post it.
Nebraska basketball lost on the road to OSU 77-63. I listened to the for a while before I had to attend a Cub Scout event, go swimming and generally have fun with the kids.
It was clear early on that the Huskers were missing Cookie Miller and playing poorly against an energetic Cowboy team. The good news is that the Huskers shot 50% from the field. Aleks Maric had another double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Steve Harley continued to provide points with 17.
The bad news is that we had 19 turnovers. The loss drops us to 6-8, ninth in the Big 12. Disappointing loss, but not entirely unexpected.
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.
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