Nebraska Baseball: Iowa Hawkeyes Come To Haymarket

Husker baseball plays a three-game conference series against the evil (redundant) Iowa Hawkeyes this weekend at Haymarket Park.

Both teams are 3-3 in the Big Ten, both having played the Northwestern Wildcats with Iowa winning their series, 2-1, and Nebraska losing in horrific fashion on the road at Evanston 1-2.

Television: Friday's game will be shown in Nebraska on NETV. Out of state Husker baseball fans and evil (redundant) Iowans can stream the game online on BTN's Digital Network (subscription required).

Last week I stated that Nebraska wasn't going to lose a game against Northwestern - HA! The losses - especially Saturday's loss in which the Huskers gave up eight unearned runs and committed six errors - were on the verge of heartbreaking to those of us whose expectations were that Nebraska would somehow make the NCAA tournament.

Those losses would be nothing compared to losing a conference series to Iowa at home. It burns us when Nebraska loses to annoying (redundant) Iowa in anything - therefore, it cannot happen!

Nebraska is currently ranked second in the Big Ten in team batting average at .319. Iowa is ranked sixth at .273.

In team pitching, Nebraska is ranked fourth with a 3.82 ERA, and Iowa is right behind them at 3.93. Neither team has a pitcher ranked amongst the tops in conference.

In team defense/fielding, Nebraska is ranked first with a fielding percentage of .975, while Iowa is in fifth at .968.

Both teams appear somewhat similar when you look at them in this manner, but consider this - Nebraska's ISR is 51. Flatulent (redundant) Iowa's? 215. In other words, Iowa has comparable stats for the most part, but against far worse opponents than Nebraska.

Projected Starting Pitchers

Nebraska (20-11, 3-3 Big Ten) vs. Iowa (12-14, 3-3 Big Ten)

Fri., April 6 - 6:35 p.m

Tom Lemke, Jr., RHP (3-2) vs. Jarred Hippen, Jr., LHP (2-3)

Sat., April 7 - 2:05 p.m.

Brandon Pierce, So., RHP (3-1) vs. Matt Dermondy, Jr., LHP (1-3)

Sun., April 8 - 1:05 p.m.

Zach Hirsch, Jr., LHP (3-2) vs. Sasha Kuebel, Fr., LHP (2-0)

A change in the starting line up this weekend has Brandon Pierce getting his first conference start in place of Jon Keller.

That bit about comparable stats? You might be tempted to take it with a grain of salt, but I'd be cautious. Nebraska has one of the top offenses in the nation, from Huskers.com:

National Notice
Even after struggling offensively last weekend at Northwestern, the Huskers entered the week ranked in the top-25 nationally in nine categories, including a pair of top-five ranking in hits and runs scored.

Through April 1, the Huskers ranked second in the country in runs scored with 237, while New Mexico State, who the Huskers beat earlier this season, lead the nation with 300 runs. NU sits fourth nationally in hits with 337, only 13 behind Indiana State's nation-leading total of 350.

The Huskers are also ranked in the top-25 in slugging (11th - .467), batting average (13th - .320), home runs (17th - 27), home runs per game (19th - 0.90), on-base percentage (21st - .402) and doubles (24th - 60).

After last week's debacle in which I poo-poo'ed Northwestern's pitching, I'm a little hesitant to do the same to Beautiful, Peaceful (lying bastard) Iowa. All three of their starting pitchers are lefties, and while the game is in Lincoln, you don't know what you're going to get until the teams get out on the field.

On the other hand, I hope we stomp the crap out of Don't Deserve Your Crap (bullshit, but maybe you're right with all them hogs they probably have enough of their own) Iowa. They're A Real Pain In Ass to Everyone Around (truer words never spoken) Iowa, for crying out loud.

Nebraska Offense

Player	AVG	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	SLG%	BB	HBP	SO	GDP	OB%	SF	SH	SB-ATT	PO	A	E	FLD%
4 Pritchard, Michae	0.412	30-26	102	31	42	7	0	0	10	49	0.48	13	1	7	4	0.483	0	2	3-6	38	2	1	0.976
9 Kelly, Pat.......	0.407	20-16	59	11	24	3	1	4	16	41	0.695	4	0	9	1	0.444	0	2	1-1	19	33	6	0.897
20 Scheffert, Josh..	0.378	23-17	74	18	28	6	0	3	16	43	0.581	4	0	5	0	0.41	0	0	1-1	99	32	3	0.978
2 Christensen, Chad	0.354	31-31	127	32	45	7	2	6	34	74	0.583	15	2	20	1	0.431	0	1	5-6	61	88	6	0.961
39 Stock, Richard...	0.343	26-23	102	17	35	9	1	1	25	49	0.48	3	3	13	3	0.376	1	0	1-1	164	9	1	0.994
11 Sanguinetti, Rich	0.339	29-28	115	25	39	8	2	2	27	57	0.496	11	0	20	0	0.391	2	10	5-8	79	2	1	0.988
3 Kalkowski, Kash..	0.325	23-19	83	10	27	3	0	3	21	39	0.47	1	4	5	0	0.364	0	0	1-2	50	2	1	0.981
41 Darby, Austin....	0.317	21-16	63	11	20	5	0	1	8	28	0.444	9	0	13	1	0.397	1	3	4-4	34	1	0	1
22 Headley, Blake...	0.314	17-7	35	6	11	0	0	0	5	11	0.314	5	0	7	1	0.4	0	0	1-3	9	20	1	0.967
10 Farmer, Kurt.....	0.270	22-18	63	15	17	1	1	2	10	26	0.413	11	2	8	3	0.39	1	1	2-3	9	45	5	0.915
13 Burleson, Cory...	0.260	23-21	73	16	19	3	0	1	14	25	0.342	6	5	18	0	0.357	0	2	1-1	100	26	1	0.992
7 Peters, Bryan....	0.243	24-21	70	17	17	3	1	0	11	22	0.314	6	7	9	1	0.357	1	0	2-4	48	72	2	0.984
14 Kiser, Kale......	0.200	29-24	80	21	16	5	0	4	20	33	0.413	23	10	8	0	0.422	3	2	4-5	44	1	1	0.978
40 Stucky, Sam......	0.192	11-8	26	7	5	1	0	0	1	6	0.231	4	2	10	1	0.333	1	2	0-0	49	8	0	1
46 Kildow, T........	0.125	15-4	16	6	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.125	3	0	7	0	0.263	0	0	1-1	13	0	0	1
Totals..............	0.319	31-31	1088	243	347	61	8	27	218	505	0.464	118	36	159	16	0.4	10	25	32-46	834	383	31	0.975
Opponents...........	0.282	31-31	1089	142	307	49	3	12	135	398	0.365	107	30	166	19	0.36	7	14	12-28	803	362	43	0.964

Nebraska Pitching

Player	ERA	W-L	APP	GS	CG	SHO/CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	2B	3B	HR	AB	B/Avg	WP	HBP	BK	SFA	SHA
37 Hander, Ryan.....	1.350	1-0	10	0	0	0/2	0	13.1	8	2	2	3	9	1	0	0	46	0.174	0	1	0	0	0
44 Pierce, Brandon..	1.930	3-1	16	1	0	0/0	1	23.1	18	8	5	14	14	4	0	0	88	0.205	3	2	0	0	0
26 Vogt, Dylan......	2.190	1-1	14	0	0	0/0	0	24.2	22	9	6	7	17	2	0	0	90	0.244	1	2	0	2	1
55 Huber, Travis....	3.000	0-2	14	0	0	0/1	5	15	19	8	5	9	10	2	0	0	63	0.302	1	0	0	0	0
19 Bublitz, Luke....	3.090	0-1	10	0	0	0/0	1	11.2	13	4	4	2	12	3	0	1	45	0.289	0	2	0	1	2
31 Kubat, Kyle......	3.120	2-0	8	3	0	0/0	0	17.1	23	6	6	11	8	5	0	0	68	0.338	0	1	0	0	1
32 King, Tyler......	3.240	1-0	15	1	0	0/1	0	16.2	12	11	6	11	12	2	0	0	61	0.197	3	2	0	1	1
18 Bummer, Aaron....	3.270	1-0	11	0	0	0/2	0	11	7	4	4	4	12	0	0	0	40	0.175	0	2	0	0	0
30 Lemke, Tom.......	4.130	3-2	7	6	0	0/0	0	32.2	42	16	15	7	13	8	0	1	137	0.307	0	3	0	1	0
23 Keller, Jon......	4.170	3-1	8	8	0	0/1	0	36.2	47	26	17	15	19	5	1	2	153	0.307	1	7	0	0	1
27 Hirsch, Zach.....	4.650	3-2	8	8	0	0/0	0	40.2	46	21	21	8	25	9	1	4	153	0.301	0	3	0	1	5
50 Spitsnogle, Dexte	5.870	0-0	4	2	0	0/0	0	7.2	9	5	5	1	3	1	0	3	31	0.29	0	2	0	0	0
21 Niederklein, Tyle	6.530	2-1	9	2	0	0/1	0	20.2	27	15	15	10	8	4	1	1	82	0.329	2	2	0	1	3
36 Stovall, Jeff....	9.450	0-0	7	0	0	0/0	0	6.2	14	7	7	5	4	3	0	0	32	0.438	2	1	0	0	0
Totals..............	3.820	20-11	31	31	0	2/2	7	278	307	142	118	107	166	49	3	12	1089	0.282	13	30	0	7	14
Opponents...........	7.300	11-20	31	31	1	1/1	4	267.2	347	243	217	118	159	61	8	27	1088	0.319	22	36	2	10	25

Iowa Offense

Player	avg	gp-gs	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	tb	slg%	bb	hbp	so	gdp	ob%	sf	sh	sb-att	po	a	e	fld%
Keppler, Phil	0.353	19-13	51	11	18	0	1	0	6	20	0.392	6	0	7	1	0.421	0	0	1-2	65	7	0	1
McQuillan, Mike	0.341	26-26	91	25	31	4	1	0	8	37	0.407	21	5	16	1	0.483	1	1	7-9	134	52	4	0.979
Niedbalski, Bryan	0.333	17-8	27	5	9	0	0	0	6	9	0.333	4	2	7	0	0.441	1	1	0-0	55	5	0	1
Yacinich, Jacob	0.319	22-19	69	13	22	3	1	0	13	27	0.391	4	5	7	2	0.392	1	7	7-7	32	42	8	0.902
Zeise, Chett	0.299	26-25	97	17	29	10	0	2	14	45	0.464	12	2	15	2	0.384	1	5	5-7	11	52	6	0.913
Host, Andrew	0.289	24-10	38	7	11	3	0	0	5	14	0.368	1	2	9	1	0.333	1	1	0-0	36	0	0	1
Rumpf, Ryan	0.273	20-18	77	8	21	1	2	0	12	26	0.338	3	0	14	3	0.3	0	0	1-1	0	0	0	0
Toole, Eric	0.271	21-13	48	3	13	0	0	0	4	13	0.271	0	0	8	0	0.265	1	4	2-5	21	0	0	1
Sheppard, Dan	0.242	20-18	66	10	16	1	0	0	7	17	0.258	5	3	14	0	0.32	1	0	3-3	105	8	2	0.983
Goodman, Kris	0.232	20-16	56	7	13	3	0	0	5	16	0.286	2	1	13	1	0.271	0	3	2-2	38	1	0	1
Flanagan, Sean	0.200	18-15	50	10	10	4	0	3	11	23	0.46	5	9	20	0	0.369	1	0	0-1	27	0	1	0.964
Carling, Kasey	0.194	15-9	31	4	6	1	0	0	5	7	0.226	4	0	6	1	0.286	0	1	0-0	16	24	2	0.952
Zeutenhorst, Taylor	0.164	24-17	61	8	10	4	0	1	5	17	0.279	8	5	22	1	0.311	0	0	3-4	30	0	0	1
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Torres, Anthony	0.400	5-2	10	2	4	1	0	0	1	5	0.5	1	0	1	0	0.455	0	0	0-0	17	2	2	0.905
Mangler, Jake	0.325	13-9	40	5	13	1	1	0	10	16	0.4	1	2	3	2	0.356	2	1	1-2	14	19	1	0.971
Ewing, Andrew	0.267	9-4	15	1	4	0	0	0	1	4	0.267	2	0	6	0	0.353	0	1	0-0	5	7	3	0.8
Brand, Keith	0.250	11-9	28	2	7	1	0	0	6	8	0.286	2	6	5	0	0.405	1	3	0-1	62	11	0	1
Day, Nick	0.250	4-1	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	2	0.5	1	0	1	0	0.4	0	0	0-0	2	5	0	1
Haen, Kyle	0.111	11-2	9	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.111	0	1	2	0	0.2	0	0	1-1	4	0	0	1
Brennan, Patrick	0.000	2-0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0-0	0	0	0	0
Kuebel, Sasha	0.000	1-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	1	8	0	1
Totals	0.274	26-26	871	141	239	38	6	6	120	307	0.352	82	43	177	15	0.361	11	28	33-45	687	276	32	0.968
Opponents	0.268	26-26	876	125	235	38	3	13	112	318	0.363	92	22	181	15	0.349	9	29	35-44	685	306	44	0.957

Iowa Pitching

Player	era	w-l	app-gs	cg	sho	sv	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	2b	3b	hr	ab	b/avg	wp	hbp	bk	sfa	sha
Brown, Nick	0.000	1-0	7-0	0	0/1	4	9	5	0	0	7	13	1	0	0	32	0.156	1	0	1	0	0
Rumpf, Ryan	0.000	1-0	5-0	0	0/0	0	4.1	5	0	0	3	4	0	0	0	17	0.294	2	0	0	0	0
Bergman, Ben	0.000	0-0	5-0	0	0/0	0	1.2	1	0	0	4	3	0	1	0	6	0.167	0	0	0	0	0
Hedrick, Andrew	2.950	2-0	6-4	0	0/0	0	18.1	20	10	6	12	14	6	0	1	72	0.278	2	2	0	0	2
Kaufman, Taylor	3.000	0-0	10-0	0	0/1	0	12	9	4	4	3	14	1	0	0	43	0.209	1	0	1	0	0
Kuebel, Sasha	3.180	2-0	6-6	0	0/0	0	34	30	15	12	6	14	2	1	1	127	0.236	1	2	0	0	4
Hibbing, Nick	3.680	0-1	8-1	0	0/0	1	14.2	10	6	6	9	7	1	0	1	50	0.2	0	1	0	0	2
Fangman, Tim	3.860	1-3	11-0	0	0/0	0	16.1	22	13	7	7	13	1	0	0	68	0.324	2	2	0	3	3
Hanse, Andrew	3.860	1-0	10-0	0	0/0	0	11.2	16	5	5	8	14	4	0	0	47	0.34	3	1	0	0	2
Hippen, Jarred	4.240	2-3	7-7	1	0/0	0	51	55	28	24	9	35	9	1	5	201	0.274	0	4	1	1	5
Dermody, Matt	4.330	1-3	7-7	0	0/1	0	35.1	35	22	17	14	32	8	0	2	132	0.265	1	5	0	2	6
Lala, Patrick	8.220	1-3	8-0	0	0/0	0	7.2	8	9	7	4	7	0	0	1	28	0.286	1	3	0	1	2
Sandquist, Ricky	8.710	0-1	5-1	0	0/0	0	10.1	14	10	10	4	8	4	0	2	42	0.333	1	2	0	1	2
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Keppler, Phil	10.120	0-0	3-0	0	0/0	0	2.2	5	3	3	2	3	1	0	0	11	0.455	0	0	0	1	1
Totals	3.970	12-14	26-26	1	1/1	5	229	235	125	101	92	181	38	3	13	876	0.268	15	22	3	9	29
Opponents	4.140	14-12	26-26	1	2/2	5	228.1	239	141	105	82	177	38	6	6	871	0.274	18	43	5	11	28