Friday, March 7 – 1:35 p.m.
Probable Starters: LHP Kubat (0-0) vs. RHP Lomangino (0-2)
TV: None
Stream: Free Radio (Huskers.com) | Video Stream (HuskersNSide, premium)
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Saturday, March 8 –1:05 p.m.
Probable Starters: RHP DeLeon (1-1) vs. RHP McCormick (1-1)
TV: None
Stream: Free Radio (Huskers.com) | Video Stream (HuskersNSide, premium)
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Sunday, March 9 – 12:05 p.m.
Probable Starters: RHP Sinclair (2-0) vs. RHP Graziano (0-1)
TV: None
Stream: Free Radio (Huskers.com) | Video Stream (HuskersNSide, premium)
Radio: Husker Sports Network
After the Nebraska baseball team played its first 10 games of the year on the road, the Huskers are set to host their first home game of the season on Friday, March 7, when they open a three-game series against the St. John’s Red Storm. The series continues on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. and concludes on Sunday at 12:05 p.m.
The Huskers were scheduled to open a 10-game home stand on Tuesday, March 4 against Kansas State, but the game was postponed to Wednesday, April 9.
Nebraska holds a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series with St. John’s. The Huskers only loss in the series came in the first meeting between the two programs, which was in the 1989 NCAA Tournament at Northeast Regional in Annapolis, Md., with the Red Storm winning, 5-0.
This weekend’s series will mark the first time that either team has hosted a game at its home park, as the first six meetings all came at neutral sites. The last meeting came in 2006 at the Rice Invitational in Houston, Texas, and Nebraska won the game, 12-4.
Junior Kyle Kubat is set to make his first start of the 2014 season when he takes the hill for Friday’s series opener. The lefty is 10-1 during his career at Nebraska with a 2.23 ERA.
Senior Christian DeLeon will move to Saturday after staring on Friday the first three weekends of the season. DeLeon is coming off a bizarre start that saw him give up four runs to the first four hitters he faced last weekend at The Citadel, but he then gave up just one run on four hits over his next 6.0 innings of work and tied a career high with seven strikeouts.
Newcomer Chance Sinclair will stay in his Sunday spot and will look to improve to 3-0 on the year. The righty is coming off a 4-0 win over The Citadel where he cruised through his 7.0 innings, allowing four hits and no walks, while striking out five. The junior never allowed a runner past second base and faced the minimum of three Bulldog batters in five of his seven innings.
On the Radio this Week
Fans across Nebraska and around the world can listen to Greg Sharpe and Lane Grindle call all of the action on the Husker Sports Network - including KLIN 1400 AM and 94.5 FM in Lincoln - and live on the Internet at Huskers.com or the Official Husker App.
TV Coverage this Week
No TV coverage this weekend.
Web Streams this Week
A free radio stream of the game will be provided on Huskers.com. HuskersNSide will provide a video stream of the game (subscription required).
Scouting the St. John’s Red Storm (From the Nebraska Athletic Dept)
The Red Storm enter Friday with a 3-7 record, including a 3-5 record in true road games. The Red Storm opened the season with a 2-0 win at Pepperdine, but then lost the next two games in Malibu, Calif., all three games the following weekend at the ODU Tournament in Norfolk, Va., and its series opener last weekend against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Fla., to fall to 1-6. St. John’s broke the six-game losing streak with a win over Florida Atlantic in game two of the series, but then lost the series finale. The Red Storm are coming off a 18-1 win over Florida Memorial, a NAIA program, on Tuesday.
Historically, the Red Storm have been to the College World Series six times (last in 1980) and have made 34 NCAA Tournament appearances (last in 2012). They have won the Big East regular-season title and tournament titles seven times each, most recently sweeping the titles in 2012. In 2012, they made it to a Super Regional, but were swept by eventual NCAA champion Arizona.
Offensively, the Red Storm are hitting .223 as a team and are led by junior infielder Robert Wayman, who is red hot with a .415 average and 17 hits on the season. The Salinas, Calif., native transferred to St. John’s for the 2014 season after spending two seasons at Hartnell College CC (Salinas, Calif.). Bret Dennis is the only other hitter on SJU’s roster with an average of .300, but he is only 3-for-8 on the year. Looking at players with at least 20 at-bats, Troy Dixon has the next highest average behind Wayman at .261 (6-for-23).
On the mound, the Red Storm have a team ERA of 4.80 and have 69 strikeouts (6.9 per game) to 42 walks (4.2 per game). As a team they’ve given up 25 extra-base hits, including 17 doubles, two triples and six home runs. Their staff has had problems with control, as they have eight wild pitches and have hit eight batters through 10 games.
None of SJU’s scheduled starting pitchers this weekend have an ERA under 3.94. Senior righty James Lomangino (0-2) is scheduled to get the ball on Friday night and leads the team in innings pitched at 16.0 and has an ERA of 3.94 with a team-high 15 strikeouts. Sophomore Ryan McCormick gets the ball on Saturday and is the only other pitcher on the roster with more than 10.0 innings of work, as the righty has thrown 15.0 innings over two starters in three appearances and has a 5.40 ERA with six strikeouts. Joey Graziano is scheduled to make his third start of the year on Sunday, and will bring an 0-1 record with a 10.57 ERA into the contest.
With the glove the Red Storm are fielding at a .959 clip, as they committed 15 errors on the year, an average of 1.5 per game. Shortstop Jarred Mederos leads the team with four errors, while Wayman, outfielder Michael Donadio and catcher Tyler Sanchez each have two.
Husker Notes:
-Michael Pritchard just gets on base. Through last weekend, Pritchard had gotten on base in 52 consecutive games, which ties him for the longest active streak in the nation (Mark Payton of Texas matches him). The record is the longest for a Huskers since 2000, when records are available for the program. In 150 games in Pritchard's career, he's only not reached base in 18 games.
- Nebraska has a pretty long pair of streaks on the line today. The Huskers have never lost a home opener at Hawks Field (12-0) and have not lost a home opener since 1979.