Nebraska Travels South to Face No. 20 Baylor

The 14th-ranked Nebraska softball team heads to Texas this weekend for a two-game series with No. 20 Baylor. The Huskers enter play this weekend with a 35-10 overall record and a 5-7 mark in the Big 12 Conference.

NU is currently in seventh place in the Big 12 standings, but the Huskers have an opportunity to move up the standings. Beginning with this weekend, Nebraska plays six conference games in a span of nine days, including three road games and three home contests. The Huskers and Iowa State are the only two Big 12 teams with more than four conference games remaining, giving Nebraska a chance to make up some ground in the standings.

Although a conference title is out of reach for the Huskers in their final year in the Big 12, Nebraska could finish with a winning record by posting victories in five of its final six games. That would be a noteworthy accomplishment heading into postseason play, as seven Big 12 teams are ranked this week, as many as eight have been ranked at one point this season and nine league schools are in the top 50 of the NCAA RPI, with all 10 in the top 70.

To have a chance at a 5-1 finish, Nebraska must pick up at least one victory in Waco this weekend. That will be a challenge against a Lady Bear squad that is tough at home and features one of the nation’s top pitchers. Baylor is 37-12 on the season, including a 20-5 mark at Getterman Stadium. Four of Baylor’s five home losses have come to ranked teams, including three losses to top-10 opponents.

Baylor is led by sophomore left-hander Whitney Canion, who was the 2009 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year as a freshman, before missing nearly all of last season with an injury. Canion owns the nation’s 20th-best ERA with a mark of 1.35, while also ranking 26th nationally in strikeouts, wins and saves and 30th in strikeouts per seven innings.

Canion is expected to start Saturday’s game, which would mark Nebraska’s fourth straight game against a left-handed pitcher. The Huskers have been held to one run or less in two of their last three games against left-handers. Nebraska is batting only .272 against left-handed pitching this season, compared to a .324 average against right-hander.

While the Huskers have struggled against left-handed pitching this season, Nebraska has been great in the first game of each Big 12 series this season. In the first game of its six conference series, Nebraska is 4-2 with wins over No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Missouri, and a 1-0 loss to No. 5 Texas. The Huskers have outscored their opponents 18-7 in series openers, thanks to junior right-hander Ashley Hagemann.

In the first game of a series, Hagemann is 4-2 with two shutouts and a 1.20 ERA in 41.0 innings. Opponents are hitting only .166 against her in those six games and have struck out 45 times. Offensively, Nebraska’s batting average rises in the second game of the series, but NU’s ERA climbs to 3.76.

Scouting the Baylor Lady Bears (37-12, 8-7 Big 12)
Baylor enters play this weekend with a 37-12 overall record. The Lady Bears are 8-7 in conference play and are fifth in the league standings. Baylor is 20-5 at home this season, but BU has lost four of their last six home games, including four straight to conference opponents. Nebraska and Baylor have each played Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech this season. The Huskers posted a 5-7 record against that group, while Baylor went 7-4.

Offensively, Baylor is batting .302 as a team and averaging 4.8 runs per game. The Lady Bears are one of the fastest teams in the nation, as they rank second in the league and eighth nationally with 102 stolen bases. Dani Leal leads the team with a .365 average, 14 home runs and 37 RBIs. Four other Lady Bears are batting above .300. Kathy Shelton is hitting .344 and has stolen 30 bases in only 32 attempts. She has only been thrown out twice in 49 career attempts. Holly Holl ranks second on the team with a .355 average, while leading Baylor with eight doubles, 28 walks and a .496 on-base percentage.

In the circle, Whitney Canion is having a tremendous redshirt sophomore season, after missing nearly all of last season due to injury. The 2009 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year as a freshman, Canion is 21-9 this season with a 1.35 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 187.1 innings. The left-hander ranks among the top 30 pitchers nationally in ERA (20th), wins (26th), strikeouts (26th), saves (26th) and strikeouts per seven innings (30th). As a staff, Baylor ranks ninth nationally with a 1.57 team ERA. Courtney Repka and Liz Paul have seen the most action behind Canion. Repka is 9-2 with a 2.27 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 74.0 innings this season, while Paul is 7-1 with a 1.51 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 69.1 innings. Alicia Vasquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 4.0 IP) rounds out the Lady Bear staff.

Husker History vs. Baylor
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Baylor, 32-11. The teams have split the regular-season series in five of the past seven years, with Baylor sweeping Nebraska at home in 2007, and the Huskers sweeping the Lady Bears at home in 2004. Baylor won the final meeting last year, but neither team has won more than two straight games in the series since Nebraska won seven in a row from 2002 to 2005 as part of a string of 23 wins in 24 meetings. NU’s 16-game win streak in the series from 1986 to 2001 is its longest ever against a Big 12 school. Head Coach Rhonda Revelle is 23-8 in her career against Baylor, including a 14-8 record against 10th-year Baylor Head Coach Glenn Moore. Nebraska also leads the all-time series in Waco, 11-7.

Last year, Nebraska and Baylor split a two-game series at Bowlin Stadium. The Huskers won game one, 5-3. Ashley Guile went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while Nikki Haget was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Brooke Thomason added a two-run homer to account for the final runs. Robin Mackin earned the win, with Ashley Hagemann picking up the save with 2.0 innings of two-hit, shutout relief. In game two, Nebraska jumped out to a 1-0 lead, only to see Baylor rally for six runs over the final four innings for a 6-2 win. Haget doubled, drove in a run and walked twice, while Thomason added Nebraska’s other RBI. Mackin to the loss for NU, as the Husker pitching staff walked seven and the defense committed two errors.

Individually, Guile is 3-for-7 in her career against Baylor with two RBIs, while Haget is 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Thomason is 2-for-7 with a home run and three RBIs, while Gabby Banda is 2-for-6 against the Lady Bears. In the circle, Hagemann is 0-0 with a 2.62 ERA in 5.1 career innings against Baylor.

Quick Hitters
The information below provides a quick glimpse of a few statistics and brief notes of interest as No. 14 Nebraska travels to Waco, Texas, this weekend for a two-game series with No. 20 Baylor.

• The Huskers are 160-105 (.604) all-time in the month of May.
• The Huskers have outscored their opponents by an average of 3.5 runs per game this season.
• Eight of Nebraska’s 10 losses this season have come to teams ranked in the top 30 of the NCAA RPI.
• Freshman Taylor Edwards has 48 RBIs this season in only 54 at bats with runners in scoring position.
• Heidi Foland enters play this weekend with 198 career starts.
• Foland also enters this weekend with 24 career home runs, one shy of 10th place on the Nebraska career chart.
• Taylor Edwards enters play this weekend with 49 hits this season. She needs only one hit to become just the third Husker freshman in the past decade to record 50 hits in a season (also Nicole Trimboli in 2001 and Brooke Thomason in 2010).
• Ashley Hagemann enters this weekend with 493.0 career innings. Only nine pitchers in school history have thrown 500.0 career innings.
• Hagemann also enters the week with 25 wins this season. The record for most wins by a Husker junior is 26.

Huskers Hit Five Home Runs Against Texas Tech
Nebraska hit five home runs last Saturday in a 7-0 shutout of Texas Tech. Junior Madison Drake homered twice, while seniors Julie Brechtel and Heidi Foland and freshman Tatum Edwards each added one home run. The five home runs were the most a Husker team has ever hit in a Big 12 Conference game and ranked second overall in school history. The five-homer game also marked only the third time in school history that a Husker team had hit five home runs in a game.

Drake Securing Starting Spot in Left Field
Junior Madison Drake has started the last seven games in left field, the longest streak of consecutive starts by a Husker left fielder since sophomore Megan Southworth made 12 straight starts in left from Feb. 27 to March 16. After Southworth used a hot start to solidify her spot as Nebraska’s starting left fielder during the non-conference season, Drake appears to have earned the starting spot during the conference season after some impressive performances at the plate.

In her last seven games as the regular starter in left field, Drake has produced five hits, including one double and two home runs. She has also added a team-high five RBIs during that stretch, while posting a team-best .357 batting average, a team-high .857 slugging percentage and a .412 on-base percentage. Drake enjoyed a big weekend against Texas Tech, going 4-for-5 with a double, two home runs, a walk, three RBIs and two runs scored. In game one, Drake went 2-for-2 with a pair of home runs, after entering the day with only one career homer. The two-homer day also marked the first multi-homer game by a Husker this season. She then went 2-for-3 with a double in game two.

In Big 12 games only, Drake has made seven starts and leads the team with a .733 slugging percentage and a .389 on-base percentage, while ranking second with a .267 average and one double and third with two home runs and four RBIs. On the season, Drake is batting .351 with 13 hits, two doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs. She entered this year with a .188 career batting average, three hits, no doubles, no home runs and two RBIs.

Huskers Chasing School Records
With six games remaining in the regular season, Nebraska is challenging several school records this season. If the season ended today, the Huskers would set school records for slugging percentage, on-base percentage, home runs per game and RBIs per game. NU would challenge several other cumulative records were it not for fewer games played than previous seasons, when a 56-game regular-season limit was not in effect.

Huskers Fielding Well
Nebraska has committed only 31 errors in 45 games this season, as the Huskers’ .973 fielding percentage is just shy of the best mark in school history. The Huskers currently rank fourth in the Big 12 Conference and 21st nationally in fielding percentage. In league games only, Nebraska is fielding at a .981 clip that ranks second in the conference.

The Husker infield has been especially impressive over the last 15 games. During that stretch, first baseman Ashley Guile, second baseman Julie Brechtel, third baseman Heidi Foland and shortstop Gabby Banda have each committed only one error. Over the last 15 games, the Husker infield owns a collective .979 fielding percentage.