Huskers Travel to Creighton on Wednesday

The Nebraska softball team begins a five-game road trip on Wednesday, when the Huskers travel to Omaha to battle in-state rival Creighton at 6 p.m. at the Creighton Sports Complex.

Fans unable to make the trip up Interstate 80 can follow the game on Huskers.com, as veteran softball play-by-play announcer Nate Rohr will call all of the action for the internet-only broadcast.

Wednesday’s game is the first of five straight road games for the Huskers. NU returns to conference action this weekend, when the Huskers travel to Lubbock, Texas, for a key two-game series with the upstart Texas Tech Red Raiders, who are 30-6 this season after finishing 15-42 in 2009. The road trip continues next week with games on back-to-back days against Kansas and Iowa State.

The Huskers are 0-10 on the road this season and have lost 12 straight road games dating back to last year. Nebraska hopes to change that on Wednesday against a Creighton squad that was picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference, but has struggled recently. The Bluejays are 16-16 on the season after snapping a six-game losing streak by sweeping a doubleheader with North Dakota State in Omaha on Monday.

Nebraska is 21-17 on the year after posting a 4-2 record last week. The Huskers went 3-1 in non-conference action with the only loss coming in heartbreaking fashion. Drake, which was down to its final out, scored twice with two outs in the seventh inning and then scored twice more with two outs in the eighth to rally for a 4-2 eight-inning victory. The Huskers rebounded with three straight wins heading into a Big 12 doubleheader with No. 18 Texas A&M last Saturday.

In game one, the Huskers lost another late lead, as the Aggies scored five times in the sixth inning to rally from a two-run deficit and post a 6-3 victory. Nebraska turned the tables on A&M in game two. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Huskers hit three home runs in a six-run inning to rally for an 8-3 win.

On the week, Nebraska produced impressive results at the plate and in the circle. The Huskers hit .341 in the six games last week, while scoring 32 runs, an average of 5.3 runs per game. Nebraska also posted a .497 slugging percentage, as the Huskers totaled 10 doubles, one triple and five home runs.

Freshman Brooke Thomason and juniors Julie Brechtel and Heidi Foland all enjoyed big weeks. Thomason hit safely in all six games, batting .529 (9-for-17) with three doubles, a homer and five RBIs. Brechtel went 10-for-21 (.476) with a double, a triple and six RBIs, while Foland doubled, homered three times and drove in six while batting .450 (9-for-20).

In the circle, Nebraska posted a 1.95 ERA. Sophomore right-hander Ashley Hagemann was 3-0 on the week with a 0.93 ERA. She tossed a shutout in two of her three starts, while striking out 29 in only 22.2 innings. Opponents hit only .135 against her and she walked just four.

Scouting the Creighton Bluejays (16-16)
Creighton snapped a six-game losing streak with an emphatic doubleheader sweep of North Dakota State on Monday. The Bluejays won game one, 8-4, before a 13-run first inning propelled them to a 14-1 five-inning victory in game two. CU has lost six of its last eight games and is just 2-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

A big reason for the Bluejays’ recent struggles has been the NCAA’s increased focus on illegal pitches. Tara Oltman was an NFCA All-American last season and was off to another fine start in 2010 before the NCAA instructed umpires to strictly enforce the pitching rules in a memo last month. In four consecutive conference starts, Oltman faced a total of only 12 batters before being pulled by head coach Brent Vigness in each start due to her being called for numerous illegal pitches. But in her return to non-conference action on Monday, Oltman earned a complete-game victory and did not allow an earned run. On the season, Oltman is 13-7 with a 1.49 ERA in 117.2 innings. Opponents are hitting just .198 against her and she has struck out 130. Creighton’s other two pitchers haven’t been nearly as strong, as Kylie Hovinga is 2-4 with a 5.83 ERA in 51.2 innings and freshman Sammy Snygg is 1-5 with a 4.45 ERA in 45.2 innings.

Offensively, the Bluejays are hitting just .207 as a team, but 31 home runs have helped Creighton average nearly four runs per game. Reigning MVC Player of the Year Renae Sinkler is batting .369 with 14 homers and 34 RBIs. Amy Baker is enjoying a fine freshman season, as she is batting .324 with six home runs and 22 RBIs. No other Bluejay is hitting above .260 and only two other starters are above .190.

Husker History vs. Creighton
Nebraska has played more games against Creighton than any other program in school history. The Huskers and Bluejays have met 110 times entering Wednesday’s meeting, with Nebraska holding a 74-36 edge in the series. The Huskers’ 74 wins in the series unofficially rank as the fifth-most victories against a single opponent in NCAA Division I history, according to research compiled by the Florida State media relations office. Head Coach Rhonda Revelle is 46-13 in her career against Creighton, including a 43-11 mark vs. Bluejay Head Coach Brent Vigness.

Nebraska had won 15 straight in the series - and 23 of 24 overall - before Creighton swept the season series for the first time ever in 2005. The Bluejays again swept the season series in 2008 as Creighton has won five of the last seven meetings. Nebraska is 28-20 all-time against Creighton in Omaha, including a 3-2 victory last season. Each of the Huskers’ last two victories against the Bluejays have come in Omaha.

In the first meeting last season at Bowlin Stadium, Creighton defeated the Huskers by a score of 3-0. Nebraska out-hit Creighton 5-4, but the Bluejays had the more timely hits. Tara Oltman tossed her only career shutout against the Huskers while winning her fourth straight start against Nebraska. Molly Hill took the loss for Nebraska, allowing only one earned run and striking out 10 in a complete-game effort. Offensively, Julie Brechtel went 2-for-2 with a walk to lead the Husker offense, which stranded six runners on base.

Brechtel also played a key role in Nebraska’s 3-1 win at Creighton four weeks later. She went 1-for-3 with a home run, while Crystal Carwile drove in a pair of runs. Oltman took the loss and Hill earned the win despite some seventh-inning dramatics. Nebraska led 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, before an error prolonged what could have been a 1-2-3 inning. But with two outs, a pair of hits cut the deficit to 3-1 and left the tying runners on second and third. Bailey Dawson then flew out to the wall in left for the game’s final out.

Quick Hitters
The information below provides a quick glimpse of a few statistics and brief notes of interest as the Huskers travel to Omaha for a mid-week contest with in-state rival Creighton.

• The Huskers are 453-218 (.676) all-time in the month of April, including a 1-1 mark this April and an 8-8 record last April.
• NU has outscored its opponents 147-36 in its 21 wins, winning by an average of 5.3 runs per game.
• Nebraska is just 1-6 this season in one-run games.
• Eight Huskers have homered this season, including three with at least four home runs.
• Nebraska tied the school record by turning three double plays at No. 10 Arizona State on March 14.
• Junior second baseman Julie Brechtel has not committed an error in 31 straight games, as she is perfect in 94 chances this season. The 31-game errorless streak is the second-longest streak of Brechtel’s career, as she posted a 32-game errorless streak last season. Overall, Brechtel has posted five separate 10-game stretches without an error in her career.
• The Nebraska outfield has gone 19 straight games without committing an error, after committing eight errors through the first 21 games of the season.
• Junior right-hander Robin Mackin needs nine strikeouts to reach 900 strikeouts for her career, including her two seasons at Fresno State in 2006 and 2007. Mackin has struck out at least nine batters in each of her last three starts, despite going only 5.0 innings in one start and 5.1 innings in another.
• The Husker offense has produced at least 10 hits in four of the last five games. Overall, Nebraska has produced 12 double-digit hit totals this season.
• The Huskers are 15-3 this season when leading after six innings of play. In all three losses, Nebraska has led by two runs or more in the seventh inning. During the last decade (2000-09), Nebraska went 288-5 when leading after six innings of play. The Huskers lost only twice when leading by at least two runs in the seventh inning.
• Junior Heidi Foland homered 10 times in February and March. Her 10 home runs marked the second-highest total in Nebraska history before the month of April, trailing only the 12 home runs hit by Ali Viola in 1998.
• Nebraska has hit nine doubles in its last three games, as the Huskers have hit 50 doubles in only 38 games this season. Not counting postseason, NU is on pace to hit 74 doubles this year, a total that would tie for third in school history. Nebraska has not hit 60 doubles in a season since 2003 and hasn’t recorded 70 doubles in a season since 2001.

Tough at the Top
Nebraska’s primary No. 1-5 hitters in the lineup ? Heidi Foland, Nikki Haget, Ashley Guile, Julie Brechtel and Brooke Thomason ? are batting a combined .368 (196-for-533) with 34 doubles, one triple, 22 home runs, 112 RBIs and 114 runs scored. Collectively, the group boasts a .572 slugging percentage and a .449 on-base percentage. The group is averaging 5.2 hits per game, 2.9 RBIs per contest and 3.0 runs per game. Perhaps even more impressive is that the group consists of two juniors, two sophomores and one freshman.

Husker Hitters Fare Better in Second Weekend of Conference Play
As a team, Nebraska improved its conference-only batting average by .161 after batting .345 against No. 18 Texas A&M in a doubleheader last Saturday. The Huskers hit just .085 in a two-game series at No. 15 Texas in the opening weekend of Big 12 play.

The Huskers pounded out 20 hits in the doubleheader split with 18th-ranked Texas A&M, including 11 hits in game two. Nebraska has produced at least 10 hits in five of its last six games, with the lone exception being a nine-hit effort in game one against the Aggies. The 11 hits in game two marked Nebraska’s first double-digit hit total in a conference matchup in 22 straight games dating back to an 11-hit effort against Missouri on May 3, 2008.

Stat of the Week
Although Nebraska has only played four conference games this season, the Huskers are already halfway to their offensive totals from last season’s entire 18-game league schedule in doubles (8-of-16), home runs (3-of-6) and extra-base hits (11-of-22).

Eleven of Nebraska’s 23 hits in conference play have gone for extra bases. Despite being held to a total of just three hits in the first two Big 12 games combined, the Huskers are still averaging 2.75 extra-base hits per game in conference play. A Nebraska team has not averaged 2.00 extra-base hits per game during a conference season since the 2000 Huskers averaged 2.24 extra-base hits per game in 17 Big 12 games.

Banda Producing Doubles in Big 12 Play
Freshman Gabby Banda has produced three doubles in her first four career Big 12 games. The last time a Husker freshman had more than three doubles in an entire Big 12 season came in 2000, when Amber Burgess doubled six times and Amanda Buchholz produced four doubles. The only other freshmen to produce even three doubles since that season are Banda this year and Jamie Waldecker, who doubled three times in 2004.

Overall, only six Husker freshmen have hit more than three doubles during a conference season since the Big 12 was formed in 1996.

Husker Hurlers Piling up Strikeouts
Nebraska’s pitching staff has struck out 292 batters in only 248.0 innings this season. The Huskers’ average of 8.2 strikeouts per seven innings leads the Big 12 Conference, while the 292 total strikeouts rank second behind Texas, which has struck out 13 more batters in 11.1 more innings. The 8.2 strikeouts per seven innings are on pace to rank as the second-highest total in school history (8.8 in 2006).

The Huskers have posted 13 double-digit strikeout games this season, including seven times in the last 12 games. In six games last week, Nebraska struck out 58 batters, but perhaps more encouraging was the decreased amount of walks. The Huskers have issued 127 walks on the year, 29 more than any other team in the league. But last week, Nebraska’s 58 strikeouts came against only 16 walks.

Individually, sophomore right-hander Ashley Hagemann ranks fourth in the league in total strikeouts (148) and third in strikeouts per seven innings (9.0), while junior right-hander Robin Mackin ranks seventh in total strikeouts (119) and sixth in strikeouts per seven innings (7.6).

Hagemann Posts Impressive Week in the Circle
Sophomore right-hander Ashley Hagemann was outstanding in four appearances last week. She posted two shutouts in three starts, including a two-hitter and a one-hitter. In her four appearances, she allowed only 10 hits in 22.2 innings and walked only four. Hagemann added 29 strikeouts while limiting opposing hitters to a .135 average.

In her first start of the week against Drake, Hagemann helped Nebraska salvage a split by tossing a two-hit shutout. She added seven strikeouts and did not walk a batter for only the second time in her career and for the first time this season.

Then against South Dakota State, Hagemann fired a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts. She then tossed 1.2 of scoreless relief against 18th-ranked Texas A&M before earning her first career Big 12 start in game two against the Aggies.

Hagemann stretched her career-best scoreless streak to 19.1 innings before allowing her first run of the week against the Aggies. In a winning effort, she tossed a five-hitter and allowed three runs, while striking out seven.

Two-Out Troubles
Nebraska has struggled to close out innings defensively over the last 10 games. During that stretch, the Huskers have allowed 33 runs, but 26 of those runs have scored with two outs (79 percent). Nebraska has allowed an average of 3.3 runs per game over its last 10 contests, but with a well-time third out, that average could be as low as 0.7 runs per game.

In a doubleheader with Wisconsin on March 24, all three runs the Badgers scored crossed the plate with two outs. Then, in a pair of losses at 15th-ranked Texas on March 27 and 28, the pitching staff allowed a total of 13 runs, but 11 of those scored with two outs. In game one of a doubleheader with Drake on March 30, the Bulldogs scored all four runs with two outs, including a pair of runs with two outs in the seventh inning to rally from a two-run deficit, and two more in the eighth inning to complete the comeback and post a 4-2 victory.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Heidi Foland has been hit by a career-high nine pitches this season, as teams have had to work carefully to the junior, who is batting .391 with seven doubles and 11 home runs. Her nine hit-by-pitches are just one shy of the Nebraska season record and have tied classmate Julie Brechtel for second place on the list, as Brechtel was plunked by nine pitches last season. Foland has now been hit by 16 pitches in her career, good for sixth place on the Husker career chart.

Freshmen Showcasing Power Potential
Freshman Brooke Thomason has hit nine doubles and six home runs this season, as 15 of her 33 hits have gone for extra bases. Thomason has produced 15 extra-base hits through 38 games this season, although she has only started 31 games. Classmate Gabby Banda has recorded six doubles, one triple and two home runs, as nine of her 19 hits have gone for extra-bases.

Together, the duo has combined for the most extra-base hits by a pair of Husker freshmen since the 2001 season. They are also the first pair of freshmen to homer more than once in the same season since 2004.

Led by Banda and Thomason, the entire Husker freshman class has produced 27 extra-base hits. Despite having played only 38 games, that total already ties for the sixth-highest total in Nebraska history.