NU Ends Tournament Play at Oklahoma State

The Nebraska softball team wraps up the tournament portion of its schedule this weekend with five games in three days at the Mizuno Classic, hosted by Oklahoma State.

Live stats and audio will be available for all games, with Nate Rohr calling all of the action for the Husker Sports Network. A live video stream will also be available to paid subscribers when Nebraska plays Oklahoma State. Rain is in the forecast all weekend, so fans are encouraged to check Huskers.com for scheduling updates this weekend.

Nebraska faces a three-team field in Stillwater. The Huskers open the tournament on Friday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, before facing Oklahoma State. Nebraska then concludes round-robin play with Loyola-Chicago on Saturday, before the teams will be seeded for bracket play on Saturday and Sunday.

The Huskers' tough opening schedule gets a bit easier this weekend. After playing 10 of its last 11 games against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams, only one of Nebraska's three opponents this weekend qualified for postseason play last year. The highlight of the weekend schedule is a matchup with the host Oklahoma State Cowgirls. The Cowgirls recently fell out of the top 25, but are coming off an appearance in the 2011 Women's College World Series. Nebraska's other two opponents this weekend are a combined 0-18 this season.

Nebraska is 10-11 on the year and is hoping to bounce back from some recent struggles. The Huskers were 8-3 after the first two weekends of play, but have finished 1-4 in each of the last two weekends, losing eight of their last 10. The good news for the Huskers is that although all phases of the game haven't been clicking at the same time, NU has shown glimpses of its potential the past two weekends.

The Husker offense entered play last weekend with a .330 batting average, a .481 slugging percentage and a .434 on-base percentage. Nebraska was averaging 7.2 runs per game entering last weekend, a statistic made even more impressive considering the Huskers had played seven ranked teams. But last week, Nebraska scored a total of five runs in five games. The offense looks to bounce back in Oklahoma. 

In the circle, NU pitching tossed a shutout and posted a 2.62 ERA in five games last week. Earlier this season, the staff posted a 1.75 ERA in five games at the Troy Cox Classic.

Nebraska has had its pitching and offense working at different times this season, and the Huskers hope both are clicking this weekend as they look to snap a four-game losing streak.

Scouting Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-13)
Arkansas Pine-Bluff is searching for its first win on the season, as the Golden Lions are 0-13. UAPB faced a tough start to its season, as head coach Kayla Curbow resigned just one week before the season opener. Interim coach Chrystal Bowers, an assistant cross and track country coach with the Golden Lions, is leading the team on short notice. Arkansas-Pine Bluff opened its year with a four-game home series against Creighton, and the Bluejays swept the series by a combined score of 54-4. UAPB's closest games have been a pair of one-run losses to Houston Baptist.

Offensively, the Golden Lions are batting .166 as a team and averaging less than one run per game. Tanisha Bradford leads the team with a .321 average as the only player hitting above .300. Cece Kolesar and AnJewllique Frazier have hit UAPB's lone home runs this season, while Heather Leigh leads the team with four RBIs.

In the circle, UAPB owns a 11.46 team ERA, and the Golden Lions are giving up an average of 10.5 runs per game. Four pitchers have split the time in the circle this season. Lacie Sutterfield is 0-3 with a 7.24 ERA in 19.1 innings and she has started four games. Amanda Nordberg has also started four games, posting an 0-3 record and a 19.00 ERA in 18.0 innings. Leigh has made a team-leading seven appearances and is 0-2 with a 7.44 ERA in 16.0 innings, while Kolesar is 0-3 with a 16.66 ERA in 19.1 innings.

Nebraska and UAPB are meeting for the first time ever this weekend.

Scouting Oklahoma State (8-9)
Oklahoma State opened the year ranked after advancing to the Women's College World Series a season ago. But like NU, Oklahoma State has had its share of struggles against a tough schedule. OSU is 8-9 on the year heading into a Wednesday game at Tulsa.

The Cowgirls opened their season 4-1, but have lost eight of 12. OSU and NU have faced common opponents this season in Houston, Arizona and Oregon. The Huskers posted a 2-1 record against that group with their lone loss to the Ducks, while OSU went 0-3 against that group, losing by a combined score of 19-0.    

Oklahoma State features a strong pitching staff, but the offense has struggled to replace key hitters lost from last season's lineup, including their top two averages. OSU is hitting just .234 as a team, averaging only 2.3 runs per game, and the Cowgirls have hit just two home runs this season.    

Tamara Brown is one of three Cowgirls hitting above .300 this season, as she leads the team with a .360 average, two doubles and one triple. Ari Morrison is batting .345 with a team-high five stolen bases, while Shelby Davis is hitting .310. Kelsey Anchors leads the team with one home run and eight RBIs to complement a .291 average. Seniors Julie Ward and Chelsea Garcia, both returning all-conference selections, have gotten off to a slow start, combining for a .226 average, two doubles, one triple and four RBIs through 17 games.    

In the circle, Simone Freeman and Kat Espinosa give Oklahoma State a solid tandem. Espinosa is 4-3 this season with a 3.22 ERA. She has made a team-high 11 appearances and thrown a team-high 54.1 innings, posting 45 strikeouts and holding opposing hitters to a .241 average. Freeman has started a team-high eight games and is 3-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 49.1 innings. She has struck out 49, but opponents are hitting .279 against her. Morgan Hawkins (1-2, 4.32 ERA in 11.1 IP) rounds out the Cowgirl staff.

Oklahoma State leads the all-time series with Nebraska, 46-44, including an 18-8 advantage in Stillwater. The Huskers swept the Cowgirls in a two-game series at Bowlin Stadium last year to snap a three-game losing streak in the series. Nebraska has lost four straight in Stillwater, last winning in 2006.

Scouting Loyola-Chicago (0-5)
Loyola-Chicago just opened its season last weekend, posting an 0-5 record in Tulsa, Okla. The Ramblers lost twice to Tulsa, twice to Austin Peay and once to North Texas. They will have two more chances to pick up their first win on Wednesday, when they face Wichita State in a doubleheader.

The Ramblers are batting .254 as a team this season and averaging 2.6 runs per game. Defensive, Loyola-Chicago is allowing 8.2 runs per contest and the pitching staff owns a collective ERA of 9.79.

Offensively, Tarran Shaffer is 8-for-15 (.533) to open the year, and Jessica Balzano is 7-for-14 (.500). Both players are tied for the team lead with two RBIs, while Shaffer leads the Ramblers with two doubles and one triple and Balzano leads the team with two stolen bases and three walks. Brooke Andresen is also hitting above .300, as she owns a .313 average. Lauren Arceneaux and Lauren Moore have each homered this season.

In the circle, Amanda Ciran has thrown more than half of the team's innings. She's started three games, including two complete-game efforts. Ciran is 0-3 on the year with a 5.57 ERA in 16.1 innings. Keali Engelkens is 0-0 with an 8.17 ERA in 6.0 innings and Brittany Gardners is 0-2 with a 17.50 ERA in 4.0 innings and three appearances. Seana Stillson rounds out the staff having made one appearance and posting a 7.00 ERA in 3.0 IP.

Nebraska is 1-0 all-time against Loyola-Chicago, winning 7-3 in 2005 in Las Cruces, N.M.

Quick Hitters
The information below provides a quick glimpse of a few statistics and brief notes of interest as the Huskers try to snap out of a recent slide at the Mizuno Classic, hosted by Oklahoma State:

• Nebraska owns an all-time record of 421-246 (.631) in the month of March. The Huskers have posted a winning month of March for 16 straight seasons dating back to 1994, but NU is 1-4 to open March this season.
• Nine of NU's first 21 games this season have come against top-25 teams, and the Huskers are 2-7 in those games.
• Nebraska has been outscored in the first, second and seventh innings this season, 47-34. But in innings three through six, the Huskers have outscored their opponents 84-42.
• The Huskers have committed 31 errors and allowed 24 unearned runs through 21 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 95 runs Nebraska has allowed this season have scored on home runs (39 percent).
• Nebraska has issued 81 walks this season and hit 18 batters, ranking next-to-last in the Big Ten in walks and third-from-last in hit batters. 
• Thirty-one of the 95 runners who have scored against Nebraska this season reached base by a walk or hit-by-pitch (33 percent).
• Nebraska is 10-11 this season, and the Huskers are only three 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 1.5 runs per game this season.
• Combining Nebraska's 81 walks, 18 hit batters and 25 errors where the hitter should have been retired, the Huskers are "giving" the opponent nearly one free base runner per inning.
• Ashley Hagemann enters this weekend 24 strikeouts shy of becoming the fifth pitcher in school history to reach 800 career strikeouts.

Huskers Look to Follow Path of 2000 Team
Nebraska is just 10-11 this season, thanks in part to a challenging early-season schedule that has seen the Huskers play 13 of their first 23 games against teams ranked or receiving votes in the national polls and 15 contests against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams. After 20 games, Nebraska's record stood at 10-10, marking only the fourth time in Rhonda Revelle's 20 seasons that her Huskers did not have a winning record at the 20-game mark. Two of those four times came in Revelle's first two seasons, when she was rebuilding the Husker program. But this year's team can look for inspiration from the only other time a Revelle-coached team has been .500 or worse at the 20-game mark, the 2000 season.

That year, Nebraska's record also stood at 10-10 20 games into the year. But that squad rebounded from the tough start and went on to win a school-record 52 games that season. Among the highlights of that season were a 15-2 record and a second-place Big 12 finish behind Oklahoma, that year's national champion. The Huskers also won the Big 12 Tournament title that season, finished a perfect 20-0 at home and were one of the final 16 teams competing for a spot at the Women's College World Series before losing twice at Arizona. The 2000 Huskers ended the year ranked 14th.

In 2000, the Huskers' record fell to as low as 13-15 before posting a 15- and 14-game winning streak to finish the season with 38 wins in the final 44 games.

Hagemann Coming Through in Increased Workload
Senior right-hander Ashley Hagemann has continued to improve after a disappointing opening weekend, and she has shown consistency even as she burdens a heavy workload for her team and a depleted Husker pitching staff. Hagemann was 1-2 with a 4.87 ERA after the opening weekend, including giving up 10 runs in back-to-back starts.

She rebounded the next weekend to post a 3-0 record with one save in five games at a New Mexico State tournament. That weekend, Hagemann posted a 2.05 ERA and allowed more than one earned run in only one of her four appearances. She also added 32 strikeouts in only 17.0 innings.

Hagemann has faced a greater challenge over the past two weekends, as she has faced some of the top teams in the nation and has had to throw nearly every inning for the Huskers. Two weeks ago at the Cathedral City Classic, Hagemann appeared in all five games and each of her four starts came against top-20 teams. Although she posted a 1-3 record at the event, Hagemann lowered her season ERA with her performance at the tournament and allowed four or fewer hits in three of her four starts against ranked opponents.

A native of Elkhorn, Neb., Hagemann started the final three games at the Cathedral City Classic, then started all five games last weekend at Texas A&M. She posted a 1-4 record last weekend, but allowed only nine earned runs in 28.0 innings, posting a 2.25 ERA. She tossed a one-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts against Houston and finished with four complete games in three days.

Overall, Hagemann has pitched in 12 consecutive games for Nebraska and 19 of the Huskers' 21 total games this season. Hagemann has started each of Nebraska's last eight games and has gone the distance in seven of those contests.