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After taking two midweek games from Northern Colorado -- by margins closer than I would have liked -- Nebraska resumes Big 12 play on Friday.
The Northern Colorado series was marked by strong pitching and indifferent offense. Ryan Wehrle and Bryce Nimmo both pulled their averages safely above the Mendoza line, but are still far from ideal.
Jeff Tezak (1.066 OPS) and Craig Corriston (.971 OPS) continued to be the driving force behind the hot-and-cold Husker offense. DJ Belfonte is doing an excellent job setting the table with 27 walks and hit-by-pitches to inflate his on-base to .485, while 2B Jake Opitz is showing surprising power with a .573 SLG, including a team-high 12 extra-base hits.
This weekend, Nebraska heads down south to take on Rob Childress and the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies. After leaving Nebraska in 2005, Childress has taken a mediocre A&M team to the top end of the Big 12. Led by two of the top four Big 12 batting average leaders and three of the top eight ERA leaders, the Aggies look to bounce back from a series loss to Oklahoma.
Nebraska is coming off of a three-game win streak, though they dropped their last Big 12 series at home to Missouri. Nebraska is 4-11 all-time in College Station, though they've gone 4-5 in their last three series against the Aggies.
The games will all be broadcast on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com, while Friday's game will be televised in Omaha and Lincoln. In Omaha, the game is on Cox ch. 2, while in Lincoln you have to have digital cable to see ch. 102 on TimeWarner.
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Friday - 6:30 p.m. CDT
Nebraska at Texas A&M
SP- Watson, 1-1, 3.31, 26:14 SO:BB
Saturday - 2:00 p.m. CDT
Nebraska at Texas A&M
SP- Shirek, 2-2, 4.65, 21:10 SO:BB
Sunday - 1:00 p.m. CDT
Nebraska at Texas A&M
SP- Dorn, 4-1, 4.58, 26:9 SO:BB