Huskers Travel to UNO to kick Off Historic Week

The Nebraska softball team hits the field for the first time in a week on Tuesday, kicking off a historic week with a non-conference matchup at Nebraska-Omaha. The Huskers then open the conference season on Friday at Bowlin Stadium against Northwestern.

It will be a week of firsts for Nebraska, beginning with Tuesday’s 3 p.m. game at UNO. The game will be the first game at UNO’s new off-campus home, Westside Field at Westbrook, located near 80th and Western. Tuesday’s matchup will also mark the first time Nebraska and UNO are meeting as Division I opponents in any sport. The Mavericks are in their first year transitioning to the Division I level in all sports. The two schools have met numerous times over the years in different sports in both regular-season and exhibition play, but Tuesday is the first time both schools meet as Division I programs.

The week of historical firsts continues on Friday, when Nebraska opens its inaugural season as a member of the Big Ten Conference with a 5 p.m. game against Northwestern. The Huskers will play their first-ever Big Ten game on Friday, host their first-ever Big Ten home game and welcome Northwestern to Lincoln for the first time ever. A brand new video scoreboard will also debut for the home fans for the first time on Friday.

Historical footnotes aside, Nebraska is looking to take a five-game winning streak into its Big Ten Conference opener. The Huskers have won four straight heading into Tuesday’s matchup at UNO. Nebraska has been dominant during its four-game win streak, outscoring its opponents 27-2 during that stretch. Overall during the last two weeks, the Huskers have gone 5-1 while outscoring their opponents 43-2.

Senior right-hander Ashley Hagemann has been dominant during Nebraska’s recent hot streak. She has started the Huskers’ last 14 games in the circle, throwing 12 complete games, four solo shutouts and one combined shutout during that stretch. Overall, Hagemann owns a 1.90 ERA during the 14-game streak, and she has allowed one earned run or less in six consecutive appearances.

While Hagemann has been in control in the circle, the Husker offense appears headed in the right direction after a slump to open the month of March. The first weekend of March, Nebraska scored only five total runs in five games, while posting a 1-4 record at the Texas A&M Invitational. The Huskers had been averaging 7.2 runs per game entering those games, and the hitters appear to have rebounded. Since that tough weekend in Texas, Nebraska has hit .380 as a team and averaged 7.2 runs per game.

Scouting Nebraska-Omaha (10-8)
In its first season transitioning to the Division I level, Nebraska-Omaha has posted a 10-8 record this season while facing only Division I teams. The Mavericks have won six straight games, allowing only four runs during that stretch and posting three shutouts. UNO has not played since Thursday, when it wrapped up a 6-2 record during an extended stay at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla.

UNO has been led by its pitching staff this season, as the Mavericks own a 1.60 team ERA and are allowing only 2.4 runs per game. Since it is reclassifying to the Division I level and allowed to play half of its games against non-Division I opponents, UNO is not included in the NCAA statistical rankings, but if they were, the Mavericks would rank 24th nationally in ERA. Offensively, UNO is batting .272 as a team and averaging 3.2 runs per game.

Tonya Peterson is one of two Mavericks hitting above .300, as she leads the team with a .365 batting average and a .459 on-base percentage. Lauren Larson, who began her collegiate career at Creighton, is hitting .339 and is second on the team with four doubles. Katelyn Hinton is the top power threat, as she leads UNO with seven doubles, two home runs, 13 RBIs and a .526 slugging percentage to complement a .298 average. Lindsay Redding is batting .288 and has posted team-high totals of nine runs scored, eight walks and seven stolen bases. Amber Lutmer has added two home runs of her own and 10 RBIs.

In the circle, UNO has primarily relied on the duo of Dana Elsasser and Kat Barrow. Elsasser has seen the most action, appearing in nine games - including nine starts - and throwing 57.0 innings. Barrow has made eight appearances and seven starts while tossing 50.1 innings. Elsasser is 5-4 on the year with a 1.47 ERA and one shutout. Opponents are hitting just .192 against her and have produced only six extra-base hits in 219 at bats this season. Elsasser has gone the distance in eight of her nine starts. Barrow is 4-3 with a 1.67 ERA. She has walked only seven batters in her 50.1 innings and owns a nearly 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Ashton Hughes (1-1, 1.97 ERA in 10.2 IP) rounds out the UNO staff.

Defensively, UNO has committed 28 errors in 18 games this season. The Mavericks own a .949 fielding percentage and 17 of the 44 runs they have allowed this season have been unearned. Peterson has committed 12 errors from her shortstop position, while five Mavericks have been flawless in the field this season.

Series History
Nebraska and UNO are meeting for the first time during the regular season since 1982. The Huskers lead the all-time series, 11-10. Nebraska has won six of the last seven meetings, after the Mavericks won seven of the first nine meetings. In the last meeting, Nebraska defeated UNO, 3-2, at the 1982 Creighton Classic. That is the only meeting between the two in-state programs during the NCAA softball era (1982-present). The Huskers are 5-4 all-time in road games at UNO, although the Mavericks are christening their new facility on Tuesday.

UNO is in its first season of transition to the Division I level. The Mavericks figure to be a regular on Nebraska’s non-conference schedule in future years, following a similar path as South Dakota and South Dakota State, who have each been on the Huskers’ schedule every season since beginning their respective transitions to the Division I level.

Husker hitting coach Diane Miller has ties to UNO, as she began her coaching career as an assistant coach for the Mavericks from 1993 to 1995. She joined a UNO staff led by head coach Mary Yori, the older sister of Husker women’s basketball coach Connie Yori.
Quick Hitters The information below provides a quick glimpse of a few statistics and brief notes of interest as the Huskers travel to Omaha to face UNO on Tuesday in the first meeting as Division I programs in any sport between the two state schools.

• Nebraska owns an all-time record of 426-247 (.633) in the month of March. The Huskers have posted a winning month of March for 16 straight seasons dating back to 1994. NU is 6-5 to open March this season.
• Fourteen of NU’s 27 games this season have come against teams ranked or receiving votes in the polls.
• The Huskers have committed 35 errors and allowed 26 unearned runs through 27 games this season. In 55 games last year, Nebraska committed 43 errors and allowed only five unearned runs.
• Through five games this season, Nebraska had allowed more unearned runs (9) than it did all of last year (5).
• Thirty-seven of the 99 runs Nebraska has allowed this season have scored on home runs (37 percent).
• Nebraska ranks ninth in the Big Ten in hit batters and 10th in walks.
• Thirty-three of the 99 runners who have scored against Nebraska this season reached base by a walk or hit-by-pitch (33 percent).
• Nebraska is 15-12 this season, and the Huskers are only two losses from matching their entire loss total from last season, when NU went 41-14.
• Overall, batters who have walked or been hit by a pitch score an average of 1.1 runs per game this season.
• Combining Nebraska's 93 walks, 21 hit batters and 28 errors where the hitter should have been retired, the Huskers are "giving" the opponent nearly one free base runner per inning.
• Nebraska ranks ninth nationally in doubles per game this season.
• Not a single player has started every game at the same position this season. The closest are Brooke Thomason, who has started 26 of Nebraska’s 27 games at right field and Ashley Guile, who has started 26 of 27 games at first base.
• Ten Huskers have an active hit streak heading into Tuesday’s game, including team-best four-game hitting streaks for Gabby Banda and Madison Drake.
• Gabby Banda enters Tuesday's game with 98 career hits. She has approached the 100-hit milestone quickly, as she has posted three consecutive three-hit games, going 9-for-10 in that stretch.
• Nikki Haget enters Tuesday’s game needing one run scored to move into eighth place on the Nebraska career chart and two runs scored to move into seventh.
• Ashley Guile needs one double to move into a tie for 10th place on Nebraska’s all-time chart.
• Guile is slated to make the 190th start of her career on Tuesday.
• Ashley Hagemann ranks sixth nationally in strikeouts this season.
• Hagemann enters Tuesday’s game with 689.1 career innings pitched. She is just 6.1 innings shy of passing pitching coach Lori Sippel for fifth place on Nebraska’s all-time chart.
• Hagemann is also only 21 strikeouts away from passing Sippel for fourth place on Nebraska’s all-time strikeout chart.
• Tatum Edwards owns 19 career home runs. With her next home run, she would join Brooke Thomason (22) and Taylor Edwards (21) to give Nebraska three players with 20 career home runs for only the second time in school history (also in 1998).

Double Up
Nebraska has hit 47 doubles through only 27 games this season. That total ranks ninth nationally and is higher than the season total from any of the first 18 seasons of Nebraska softball (1977 to 1993). The Huskers are currently on pace to hit 97 doubles this season, a number that would top the previous school record of 94 set in 1995. Nebraska has hit at least one double in 21 of 27 games this season, including six games with three or more doubles. The Huskers’ 47 doubles lead the Big Ten Conference and are 10 more than any other team has produced.

Individually, two Huskers have already set career highs in doubles this season. Sophomore Taylor Edwards leads NU with nine doubles this season after hitting seven doubles in her All-America freshman campaign. Edwards’ nine doubles are only one shy of matching Gabby Banda’s 2011 team-leading total of 10. Senior Madison Drake has seven doubles this season after producing a total of two doubles through her first three seasons. Only eight Big Ten players have hit seven doubles this season and four of those players are Huskers. Taylor Edwards leads the Big Ten with her nine doubles.

The Producers
Through 27 games, five Huskers have already produced more than 20 RBIs. This year’s group has already become only the ninth team in school history to have five players produce 20 RBIs in the same season. The 2011 and 2012 Huskers are the only teams to accomplish that feat since the NCAA limited teams to a maximum of 56 regular-season games beginning with the 2007 season. Five Huskers are on pace for more than 40 RBIs this season. In program history, no team has ever had more than four players produce 40 RBIs in the same season and only the 1996 Huskers have had five players produce even 30 RBIs in the same season.

Sophomore Tatum Edwards leads Nebraska with 26 RBIs this season, while her twin sister Taylor is next with 25, junior Gabby Banda has driven in 22, senior Ashley Guile owns 21 RBIs and junior Brooke Thomason has produced 20 RBIs. Five of the Big Ten’s 10 leading RBI producers this season are Huskers. Tatum Edwards ranks second in the Big Ten with 26 RBIs and her twin sister Taylor is fourth with 25 RBIs.