Huskers Continue Homestand, Host Cal St. Fullerton

Tuesday, March 24 (6:35 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP King (1-0) vs. RHP Seabold (2-1)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Wednesday, March 25 (1:35 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Engelken (1-0) vs. TBA
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Fresh off a three-game sweep of the Michigan Wolverines to open Big Ten play, the Nebraska baseball team (17-6, 3-0 Big Ten) will now play seven non-conference games before paying a visit to Big Ten newcomer Maryland on Friday, April 3.

The Huskers are in the home stretch of a 16-game homestand and after winning the first 10 games of the homestand NU is set to host the Cal State Fullerton Titans (11-11, 0-0 Big West) for a pair of games starting on Tuesday, March 24, at 6:35 p.m. The teams will then meet on Wednesday at 1:35 p.m.

Tuesday’s series opener will be the ninth all-time meeting between the two teams, but the first-ever game between the teams in Lincoln. Five of the previous eight meetings took place in Fullerton, while the other three happened in the NCAA Tournament, including a pair of games at last year’s NCAA Regional in Stillwater and a game at the 2001 College World Series. The Titans are 8-0 all-time against the Huskers.

The Huskers enter Tuesday on a 10-game winning streak, their longest since 2008, and they are a perfect 10-0 at Hawks Field this season. The Titans are 4-6 in their last 10 games and are just 2-7 away from Goodwin Field, including a 1-5 record in road games. The Titans notched their first road win of the season this past weekend when they won the middle game of their series with Long Beach State by a score of 2-1 in 10 innings.

Husker freshmen right handers Garett King and Zack Engelken are scheduled to throw on Tuesday and Wednesday for the third straight week. Each notched a career-long outing against Indiana State last week, with Engelken producing a career-high five strikeouts over 4.1 innings.

The Titans will start freshman right hander Connor Seabold on Tuesday and have yet to announce a starter for Wednesday.

On the Radio
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 in Lincoln - and live on Huskers.com, the Official Husker App or the TuneIn Radio App.

TV Coverage
No TV coverage for games between Nebraska and Cal State Fullerton.

Web Streams
Both games against Cal State Fullerton will be streamed live on HuskersNSide (subscription required).

10 in a Row
Nebraska enters Tuesday on a 10-game winning streak. It is the longest streak by a Husker team since 2008 when NU rolled off 14 straight wins from Feb. 29 - March 18.

All 10 of the wins have taken place at Hawks Field and the 10-0 start at home is also the best start to a home schedule since 2008 when the Huskers won their first 11 home games before dropping the second game of a two-game series with Arkansas. NU also won its first 11 home games in 2005 and 1999.

The longest home winning streak to start a season happened in 1988, when the Huskers won their first  24 home games of the year. The first lost in 1988 came in the second game of a doubleheader against Oklahoma State on April 30.

190 and Counting
After Michael Pritchard and Pat Kelly each joined Nebraska’s 200-hit club last season, senior Austin Darby is 10 hits away from becoming the program’s 23rd member.

If he joins the club, Darby would be the fourth Husker to join over the past three seasons, as Chad Christensen ended his career with 247 hits in 2013.

Prior to Christensen, Jake Opitz was the last Husker to join the club in 2008.

Matt Hopper holds the school record with 338 career hits and is one of just two players in school history to have topped 300 hits.

NU 200-Career Hit Club

1.   338    Matt Hopper      2000-03

2.   305    Jeff Leise          2000-03

3.   281    Will Bolt            1999-02

4.   261    Darin Erstad      1993-95

5.   251    Michael Pritchard 2011-14

6.   250    Paul Meyers      1984-86

7.   249    Joe Simokaitis  2002-05

8.   248    Jed Dalton        1992-95

9.   247    Chad Christensen 2010-13

10. 246    Darin Petersen   1992-95

11. 242    Mark Kister        1985-87

12. 240    Alex Gordon      2003-05

13. 238    DJ Belfonte       2007-10

14. 234    Todd Sears       1995-97

15. 231    Daniel Bruce      2002-05

16. 229    Ken Ramos       1987-89

17. 227    Jake Opitz         2005-08

18. 223    Curtis Ledbetter 2003-05

19. 222    John Cole         1999-01

20. 212    Pat Kelly           2012-14

21. 203    Ken Harvey       1997-99

22. 201    Francis Collins   1995-97

Confidence in the Pen
During Darin Erstad’s tenure at Nebraska, the Husker bullpen has done its job when it has a lead.

Led by pitching coach Ted Silva, the Huskers are 93-11 since 2012 when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 96-6 when leading after seven innings and nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 105-4 record.

Year  Lead after 6     After 7      After 8

2012              31-5         29-3          31-2

2013              20-3         25-2          28-1

2014              28-3         27-1          31-1

2015              14-0         15-0          15-0

Cruise with Chesnut
Not only does Omaha native Jeff Chesnut have one of the best mustaches in college baseball, but he has also been nearly flawless out of the bullpen in 2015.

Chesnut is 3-0 on the year and holds a 0.55 ERA over 16.1 innings in a team-high 11 appearances. He has allowed one run on the year on five hits and two walks, while striking out 11.

Chesnut has inherited 13 runners on the season and only one has scored. In his first appearance of the season at UNLV on Feb. 14 he entered the game with runners on second and third with one out, and while he didn’t allow a hit, a run scored on a RBI ground out.

Going back to last season, Chesnut has allowed just one earned run in his last 19.0 innings over 14 appearances.

Topping 100
Senior Austin Darby is five RBIs away from becoming the 44th Husker since 1986 to notch 100 RBIs for their career.

With a team-high tying 22 RBIs so far in 2015, Blake Headley (80 career RBIs) also has a chance to join the club this year, needing 20 more RBIs in 2015. Headley produced a career-high 27 RBIs last season.

Pat Kelly joined the club last year and ended his three-year career with 125 RBIs, while Michael Pritchard fell four RBIs short of 100 career RBIs.

Matt Hopper is the only Husker to ever top the 200-RBI mark, with a school-record 271 career RBIs.

Early Leads
After scoring just 38 first-inning runs last season in 62 games, the Huskers have gotten their starting pitchers leads early and often in 2015.

Through 23 games, the Huskers are outscoring the opposition 27-6 in the first inning of games this season.

Last season the Huskers outscored their opponents 123-95 in the first three innings of games, while this year NU holds a commanding 52-16 advantage.

Not Nice to Steal
Senior catcher Tanner Lubach enters Tuesday with 37 career runners caught stealing, which ranks third all-time at Nebraska. He is one caught stealing away from moving into a tie for second place.

Cory Burleson (2009-12) holds the school record with 46 runners caught stealing, while current volunteer assistant Jeff Christy ranks second with 38 runners caught stealing in just two years behind the plate in 2005 and 2006.

Miller’s Time
Sophomore Ben Miller has been a key cog in NU’s offense this season. A left-handed hitter from Clive, Iowa, Miller  is tied with Blake Headley for the team lead in RBIs with 22 in 23 games, nine more than the 13 RBIs he totaled in 29 starts last season.

Miller and Headley are each tied with Michigan’s Carmen Benedetti for second in the Big Ten in RBIs, while Maryland’s Jose Cuas leads the conference with 25 RBIs.

Fullerton Connections
Both of Nebraska’s assistant coaches have ties to the Cal State Fullerton program, as Associate Head Coach Ted Silva  both played and coached for the Titans, while Assistant Head Coach Mike Kirby coached at CSF for 11 seasons, including each of the last three years.

Silva started the national championship game in 1995 when Fullerton won the College World Series and Kirby was an assistant coach on the squad.

Husker Nation Packs the Park
Husker fans posted a three-day attendance of 17,083 during NU’s series with Florida Gulf Coast, which easily broke the previous facility record of 14,885 for a non-conference series at Hawks Field.

The previous mark was set in 2006, when the Huskers opened their home schedule with a three-game series against Alabama.

During the first 10 games on NU’s 16-game homestand the Huskers have posted an attendance mark of 40,050 (Avg. 4,005). Last season over 25 dates the Huskers posted a home attendance of 81,044 (Avg. 3,241).

Get the Hits
Last season the Huskers produced double-digit hits in 30 of their 62 games, including 14 of their 27 home games.

The Huskers were 25-5 when notching double-digit hits last season.

Through 23 games this season, the Huskers have notched double-digit hits seven times and are a perfect 7-0 in those games.

The Huskers are 11-1 this year when out-hitting their opponent. The only loss came against LSU, when the Huskers out hit the Tigers, 9-8, but lost 4-2.

Last season, Nebraska was 32-3 when they out hit their opponent, with losses coming against Oregon State, as well as both of NU’s losses to Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA Tournament.

Tanner Heating Up
Tanner Lubach didn’t get off to the start he wanted in his senior year, going 0-for-18 to start to the season. Lubach broke the dry spell with a double that nearly left the park against BYU on Saturday, Feb. 21.

In the 14 games since, Lubach is hitting .360 (18-for-50) with two doubles, two home runs and six multi-hit performances.

More importantly, Lubach has struck out just five times over the past 14 games, after notching nine strikeouts through his first six games of the season.

Close the Door
After playing his freshman season at Louisburg College in North Carolina, Josh Roeder joined the Huskers in 2013 and helped solidify the back end of NU’s bullpen.

During the 2013 season, Roeder saw most of his action in a setup role to Dylan Vogt, but did collect six saves. Roeder took over the closer role in 2014 and saved 12 games.

Already with seven saves in seven chances this season, Roeder enters Tuesday ranked second in NU history with 25 career saves and needs seven more saves in 2015 to break Brett Jensen’s school record of 31 saves.