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Friday, April 17 (4:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Sinclair (4-5) vs. LHP Tully (3-1)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Saturday, April 18 (2:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: LHP Kubat (4-1) vs. RHP Lakins (1-2)
TV: NET
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN Plus
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Sunday, April 19 (1:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Burkamper (4-1) vs. LHP Riga (5-2)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Lincoln - For the third straight season, the No. 23 Nebraska baseball team (28-11, 5-4 Big Ten) and the Ohio State Buckeyes (24-9, 7-2 Big Ten) are set to meet at Hawks Field for a three-game Big Ten series. The Huskers and Buckeyes have met 15 times dating back to 1991, while meeting 13 times since the Huskers joined the Big Ten, with NU posting a 9-4 record since 2012.
Nebraska enters the series fifth in the Big Ten standing with a 5-4 record. The Huskers have been tough at home this season, posting an 18-2 record, including a 5-1 record in Big Ten games at Hawks Field.
Ohio State enters the weekend third in the league standings with a 7-2 mark, one game back of both Illinois (8-1) and Iowa (8-1) for first place. The Buckeyes are 7-3 over their past 10 games, including a win at home over Louisville on Tuesday. Last week the Buckeyes hosted UNLV and took the first game of the series, but then dropped the final two contest. Like the Huskers, the Buckeyes have played well at home this season with a 15-4 record at Bill Davis Stadium. Also like the Huskers, OSU has not been as good on the road with a 9-5 mark, including a 6-5 record in road games. The Buckeyes have played six of their nine Big Ten games at home, with their lone road trip to Piscataway, N.J., where they took 2-of-3 from Rutgers.
Chance Sinclair is scheduled to make his 26th career start on Friday night and will look to even his record on the season, as he sits at 4-5 on the year in nine starts. Over 57.0 innings, Sinclair has struck out 40, while walking 11. Last season against the Buckeyes, Sinclair tossed his first career complete game at Nebraska and struck out seven, while walking none.
The Buckeyes are scheduled to start sophomore lefty Tanner Tully on Friday, who is 3-1 on the year in nine starts with a 2.63 ERA. Tully was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season, as well as a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game. Over 51.1 innings this season, the Elkhart, Ind., native has recorded 33 strikeouts to 10 walks. During league play, Tully is 2-1 in three starts and leads the Buckeyes with a 1.31 ERA. Tully started the middle game of the series last year in the Lincoln and no hit the Huskers over the first 6.2 innings of the game before Tanner Lubach delivered a two-out single. Tully held the Huskers to one run on three hits over 7.1 innings, but didn’t factor into the decision on April 5. Tully also started against the Huskers in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament and again didn’t factor into the decision after allowing three runs on seven hits in 7.0 innings, while striking out eight.
Senior Kyle Kubat is scheduled to start on Saturday and for the fourth straight week he’ll try to notch his 20th career win. With a 4-1 record on the year and a 19-4 career record, Kubat is looking to become the 11th pitcher in school history to record 20 wins.
Sophomore Travis Lakins is scheduled to start for the Buckeyes on Saturday. In nine starts this season, he is 1-2 with a 3.83 ERA in 54.0 innings of work. During league play, Lakins has worked 18.0 innings over three starts and has a 1-0 record with a 3.00 ERA. The righty from Franklin, Ohio, saw action out of the bullpen in three games against the Huskers last season, and he gave up six runs (four earned) on five hits and four walks over 3.2 innings.
Sophomore Derek Burkamper will take the hill on Sunday for the Huskers and he’ll be in search of his fifth win of the season. The Muscatine, Iowa, native has not factored into the decision in his last two starts, and hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning of either start after working 6.0 or more inning in four of his previous five starts.
Senior Ryan Riga is scheduled to start on Sunday and enters the weekend with a team-best 1.76 ERA in nine appearances, including eight starts, over a team-high 56.1 innings. Earlier this season, Riga posted a school-record scoreless streak of 30.2 innings, and had the streak snapped at Penn State on April 6. It’s the longest streak by any pitcher in the country this season and broke OSU’s previous record of 22.1 scoreless innings by Bob Spears in 1995. The 6-0 left hander didn’t throw against the Huskers in any of four meetings between the two teams last season.
On the Radio
Fans across Nebraska and around the world can listen to Greg Sharpe, Lane Grindle and Ben McLaughlin 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
Saturday’s game will be carried statewide on NET.
Web Streams
Both Friday’s and Sunday’s games will be carried in HuskersNSide (subscription required). Saturday’s game will be streamed on BTN Plus (subscription required).
Looking Back at Last Season
The Buckeyes will be out for revenge this weekend after the Huskers won all four meetings last season in their final at-bat of the game. Nebraska took the lead in eighth inning of the series opener last season before Christian DeLeon notched his first complete game of the year in a 3-2 win. Chance Sinclair followed with a complete game on Saturday, but left the mound after the top of the ninth in a 3-1 hole, but he NU offense scored three run in the bottom of the frame for a walk-off win. Aaron Bummer pitched NU’s third-straight complete game on Sunday and with the game tied, 1-1, heading to the bottom of the ninth, the Huskers won again in walk-off fashion.
The teams then met in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and Buckeyes jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the fourth. The Huskers cut the lead in half with three runs in the fifth, but the Buckeyes held a 6-3 lead going in the bottom of the ninth. Once again, the Buckeyes couldn’t put the Huskers away, as Tanner Lubach drove in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly off Tyler Giannonatti.
B1G Time Conference
Big Ten Conference baseball teams have been making noise this year and the national media is taking notice. In the latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll released on Monday, four Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 25, including No. 12 Illinois, No. 22 Maryland, No. 24 Iowa and No. 25 Nebraska, while another two teams received votes - Ohio State and Indiana. Monday marked the first time since the poll began in 1992 that the Big Ten has had four teams represented at once.
D1Baseball.com’s latest NCAA Field projections on Monday had four Big Ten teams in the postseason, including Illinois and Iowa as hosts, however, the Hawkeyes are projected as the No. 2 seed at the Iowa City Regional, and UC Santa Barbara as the top seed. D1Baseball also had the Huskers a No. 2 seed in the Dallas Regional (Dallas Baptist) and Maryland as a No. 2 seed at the Baton Rouge Regional (LSU).
Solving Sinclair
This season though nine starts, Chance Sinclair’s walks are down, he’s striking out more batters and he’s getting more run support than last season, but he sits at 4-5 on the year.
Last season though nine starts senior Chance Sinclair had 1.76 ERA and a 5-1 record. This season, Sinclair has a 3.47 ERA and a 4-5 record.
Even though he’s giving up more runs, you could argue that Sinclair has been better on the mound. While he has allowed nine more hits this season (61 to 52), Sinclair has issued fewer walks (11 to 17) and struck out 18 more hitters (40 to 22). The Husker offense is also giving him a slight boost in run support with 3.7 runs per game this season, while he got 3.1 runs per game last season through nine starts.
Getting to 30 Wins
With a 28-11 record entering Friday, the Huskers have a shot to get to 30 wins in 41 games. The last time the Huskers got to 30 wins faster was in 2008, when NU had a 30-7-1 record in 38 games following a 16-7 win at Creighton on April 23.
Last season the Huskers notched their 30th win in their 47th game of the season.
Going for 20
Senior Kyle Kubat enters the weekend with a 19-4 career record and is trying to become just the 11th player in program history to notch 20 wins during their career.
If Kubat reaches 20 wins, he would tie Zach Kroenke (2003-05) and Jim Sandstedt (1946-49) for ninth place in the NU’s career record book.
Shane Komine holds the school record for wins with 41 during his career from 1999 to 2002.
Three or Less
In 27 of Nebraska’s 39 games this season the Husker pitching staff has allowed three runs or less.
The Huskers are 24-3 when holding the opposition to three runs or less, while they are 4-8 on the year when teams score four or more runs.
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.
With 11 saves in 12 chances this season, Roeder enters Friday ranked second in NU history with 29 career saves and needs three more saves in 2015 to break Brett Jensen’s school record of 31 saves.
Roeder also has a shot at the single-season saves record of 16, also held by Jensen (2005). Jensen holds the top-two single season marks at 16 and 13, while Roeder’s 12 saves last season rank third.
Experienced Lefty
Senior Kyle Kubat has nine starts under his belt in 2015 and enters his start on Saturday against Ohio State with 37 career starts on the mound, which ranks eighth on NU’s career list. Zach Kroenke, Josh Bullock and John Lepley are each tied for fifth on the all-time list with 41 starts.
After staring 28 games during this first three seasons, Kubat needs 12 starts in 2015 to become the first Husker since Johnny Dorn to make at least 40 career starts. Dorn ranks second all-time at Nebraska with 58 career starts from 2000 to 2003.
Since 2000, only four pitchers at Nebraska have made at least 40 career starts, including Shane Komine (59), Dorn (58), Jamie Rodrigue (53) and Kroenke (41).
200 and Counting
After Michael Pritchard and Pat Kelly each joined Nebraska’s 200-hit club last season, senior Austin Darby become the program’s 23rd member on Saturday, April 4 at Maryland with a one-out single in the seventh inning. Darby enters Tuesday ranked 21st in school history with 204 career hits.
Darby is the fourth Husker to join the club 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. 210 Austin Darby 2012-present
22. 203 Ken Harvey 1997-99
23. 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 100-12 since 2012 when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 104-6 when leading after seven innings and nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 112-4 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 21-1 23-0 22-0
Not Nice to Steal
Senior catcher Tanner Lubach enters Friday 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.
Topping 100
On Sunday, April 12, senior Austin Darby collected his 100th career RBI to become the 44th Husker since 1986 to notch 100 RBIs in their career. After producing 15 RBIs as a freshman, Darby topped the 30-RBI during both his sophomore and junior years with 33 and 36 RBIs, respectively. Through 39 games this season, Darby has 18 RBIs.
With a team-high 33 RBIs in 2015, Blake Headley (91 career RBIs) is also on pace to join the club this season.
Headley has improved his RBI total every year at Nebraska. After notching six as a freshman in 2012, he produced 25 in 2013, topped that number with 27 in 2014 and has already set a single-season high with 33 through 39 games this season.
Matt Hopper is the only Husker to ever top the 200-RBI mark, with a school-record 271 career RBIs.
Tanner Tearing It Up
Tanner Lubach didn’t get off to the start he wanted in his senior year, going 0-for-18 to start the season. Lubach broke the dry spell with a double that nearly left the park against BYU on Saturday, Feb. 21.
In his 28 games since, Lubach is hitting .364 (36-for-99) with six doubles, one triple, three home runs and 12 multi-hit performances. Against Kansas State last Tuesday, he went 5-for-5 and was a home run short of the cycle with three singles, a double and a triple.
On the year, Lubach is fifth on the team with a .287 average and is tied for third on the team in RBIs with 18.
Most importantly, Lubach has struck out 11 times over his past 28 games, after notching nine strikeouts through his first six games of the season.
Start with Boldt
Since moving Ryan Boldt back to the leadoff spot, the Huskers are 15-5 on the season. Boldt hit third in 15 of NU’s first 19 games and the Huskers were 9-6. Last season with Boldt in the leadoff spot the Huskers were 22-7.
A Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American last season, Boldt leads the Huskers with a .336 batting average, while also leading the team in runs (35) and hits (48).
Surging Schleppenbach
Lincoln native Jake Schleppenbach has a solid addition to the Husker lineup this season after transferring from Hutchinson CC. On the season, the sophomore ranks second on the team with a .328 average and is tied with Blake Headley for second on the team with 45 hits.
Schleppenbach has been hot at the plate in Nebraska’s last 10 games. In nine starts, Schleppenbach is hitting .405 with seven runs scored, four doubles and five of his eight RBIs on the season. He has also been making defenses work, with just one strikeout in 37 at bats.
Keep Them on Base
The Husker bullpen has inherited 63 runners this season and only 13 have scored.
Junior Jeff Chesnut leads the way with 23 runners inherited, and only four has scored. Fellow junior Colton Howell has inherited 10 runners and none have scored, while freshman Jake Meyers has inherited nine runners and one has scored.