Huskers Hit the Road to Face #19 Hawkeyes

Friday, April 24 (6:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Sinclair (5-5) vs. RHP Peyton (4-3)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN Plus
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Saturday, April 25 (3:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: LHP Kubat (4-2) vs. RHP Hickman (6-1)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: None
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Sunday, April 26 (1:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Burkamper (4-1) vs. RHP Mathews (3-1)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: None
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Lincoln - After winning its final non-conference home game of the season Tuesday night, the Nebraska baseball team (30-13, 6-6 Big Ten) gets back to Big Ten play this weekend with a trip to Iowa City, Iowa, for a three-game series against the #19 Iowa Hawkeyes (27-11, 10-2 Big Ten).

The Huskers and Hawkeyes will meet at Duane Banks Field for the third straight season, with the series opener scheduled for 6:05 p.m. on Friday night. The series continues on Saturday at 3:05 p.m., while the finale is set for 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. The Huskers hold a 5-4 advantage in the series since joining the Big Ten and won the first two series between the two teams before the Hawkeyes took 2-of-3 last year.

Nebraska enters the weekend seventh in the Big Ten with a 6-6 record and have played just one league series on the road, and they were swept at Maryland. The Hawkeyes were not picked in the top six of the preseason Big Ten coaches poll, but sit second in the league with a 10-2 mark, including a 5-1 home record. On the season, the Hawkeyes are 9-3 at Duane Banks Field following a 4-3 11-inning win over Northern Illinois on Wednesday night.

Iowa has won each of its first four league series this year, including a home sweep of Indiana and a road sweep at Purdue. Following its series with the Huskers, the Hawkeyes have three series remaining, including a trip to Michigan, Minnesota at home and a road series at Rutgers to end the regular season.

Chance Sinclair is scheduled to make his 27th career start on Friday night and will look to move above .500 on the year, as he sits at 5-5 in 10 starts. Over 62.0 innings, Sinclair has struck out 46, while walking 13. Sinclair started the middle game of the series last season and pitched the Huskers to their lone win of the weekend. Sinclair gave up one unearned run over 7.0 innings.

Iowa is scheduled to start junior Tyler Peyton on Friday night, who also leads the Hawkeyes with a .363 average (45-for-124) in 33 starts. The two-way player is 4-3 on the year in 10 starts on the mound with a 2.83 ERA in 57.1 innings of work. The right hander has 46 strikeouts on the year to 18 walks, and has given up 15 doubles. Peyton started the finale last season and gave up four runs on six hits over 6.1 innings, but didn’t factor into the decision after the Hawkeyes rallied for a win with four runs in the bottom of the eighth in an 8-4 Iowa victory.

Senior Kyle Kubat is scheduled to start on Saturday and for the fifth straight week he’ll try to notch his 20th career win. With a 4-2 record on the year and a 19-5 career record, Kubat is looking to become the 11th pitcher in school history to record 20 wins. Kubat is coming off a 9.0-inning outing against Ohio State where he took the mound in the 10th inning, but took the loss in a 2-1 defeat to the Buckeyes. Over his past four starts, Kubat has 18 strikeouts to one walk. The lefty did not pitch against Iowa last season.

Blake Hickman is scheduled to start on Saturday for the Hawkeyes. The junior from Chicago has been in Iowa’s weekend rotation all year after making five starts in 17 appearances last season. The 6-5 right hander has drawn attention from MLB scouts after touching 96 mph last summer in the Cape Cod League. This season, Hickman is 6-1 on the year with a 2.56 ERA over a team-high 59.2 innings. He has struck out 38 on the year season, but has also given up 26 walks. Hickman threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief over two appearances against the Huskers last season.

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. A native of Muscatine, Iowa, Burkamper will face the Hawkeyes for the first time as a Husker. Burkamper is coming off a career-low 2.2 inning start last weekend, after he had thrown at least 5.0 innings in seven of his eight outings to start the year.

Junior Calvin Matthews is scheduled to start the finale for the Hawkeyes after he started the series opener last year. Matthews leads Iowa’s starters with a 2.01 ERA and is 3-1 on the year in nine starts over 10 appearances. A 6-4 right hander from Bloomfield, Iowa, Matthews has struck out 26, but walked 18, over 44.2 innings. Last season, Matthews gave up one run on six hits over 8.0 innings and was on the hook for the loss before Iowa walked off the Huskers in the ninth with a pair of runs.

On the Radio
Fans across Nebraska and around the world can listen to Greg Sharpe 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
No TV coverage for this weekend.

Web Streams
Friday series opener will be streamed live on BTN Plus (subscription required).

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 12 saves in 13 chances this season, Roeder enters Friday ranked second in NU history with 30 career saves and needs two 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 this season and last season rank third.

Schleppenbach’s Road Success
The Huskers are just 6-6 in true road games this season, while they’ve posted a 20-4 record at Hawks Field.

The Huskers are hitting 54 points higher at home, .294 to .240 and also have a 2.29 ERA at home, compared to a 3.53 ERA on the road.

One Husker has enjoyed hitting away from Hawks Field though. In 11 starts, sophomore Jake Schleppenbach is hitting a team-best .375 (15-for-40) with three doubles and eight runs scored. In 19 starts at Hawks Field, Schleppenbach is hitting .278 (22-for-79) with five doubles and 12 runs scored.

30 Wins
Nebraska picked up its 30th win in its 43rd game of the year on Tuesday with a 10-4 victory over Kansas State.

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.

B1G Time Conference
The latest NCAA RPI report released on Wednesday afternoon had six Big Ten teams in the top 50, including Ohio State (14), Nebraska (18), Illinois (21), Maryland (30), Iowa (35) and Michigan State (38)

D1Baseball.com’s latest NCAA Field projections on Wednesday had five 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. 3 seed in the Springfield Regional (Missouri State), while Ohio State was a projected No. 2 seed at one Los Angeles Regional (UCLA) and Maryland as a No. 2 seed at the other Los Angeles Regional (USC).

The Big Ten has had multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament 26 times, but has never had more than three teams in the NCAA field. Three Big Ten teams have made the NCAA Tournament in the same season five times, with it first happening in 1987 (Minnesota, Michigan, Purdue) and the last time it happened was 2009 (Minnesota, Ohio State, Indiana).

Get Chance Some Support
This season though 10 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 5-5 on the year.

Last season though 10 starts senior Chance Sinclair had 1.85 ERA and a 5-1 record. This season, Sinclair has a 3.30 ERA and a 5-5 record.

Even though he’s giving up more runs, Sinclair has been better on the mound. While he has allowed seven more hits this season (67 to 60), Sinclair has issued fewer walks (13 to 19) and struck out 19 more hitters (46 to 27).

The biggest difference is that Sinclair is getting two less runs a game from his offense. Last season, Nebraska scored an average of 5.8 runs in Sinclair’s first 10 starts of the year, but this season they are scoring 3.8 runs per game.

Going for 20
Senior Kyle Kubat enters the weekend with a 19-5 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 29 of Nebraska’s 43 games this season the Husker pitching staff has allowed three runs or less. The Huskers are 25-4 when holding the opposition to three runs or less, while they are 5-9 on the year when teams score four or more runs.

Nebraska is 2-6 on the year when opponents score five or more runs.

Experienced Lefty
Senior Kyle Kubat has 10 starts under his belt in 2015 and enters his start on Saturday at Iowa with 38 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 Friday ranked 20th in school history with 214 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. 214    Austin Darby 2012-present

21. 212    Pat Kelly           2012-14

22. 203    Ken Harvey       1997-99

23. 201    Francis Collins   1995-97

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 31 games since, Lubach is hitting .363 (40-for-110) with seven doubles, one triple, three home runs and 14 multi-hit performances. Against Kansas State on Tuesday, April 7, 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 four on the team with a .293 average and is tied for third on the team in RBIs with 19.

Over NU’s last 10 games, Lubach has played in eight and is hitting a team-best .457 (16-for-35) for six runs scored, three doubles, one triple, one home run and seven RBIs.

Most importantly, Lubach has struck out 13 times over his past 31 games, after notching nine strikeouts through his first six games of the season.

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 102-12 since 2012 when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 106-6 when leading after seven innings and nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 114-4 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              23-1         25-0          24-0

Pound the Zone
The Huskers pitching staff has racked up 288 strikeouts this year, while issuing 106 walks, for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.72 to 1.

Four times in 43 games this season the Husker pitching staff has completed a game without walking a single batter. Last season the Huskers didn’t walk a batter in six of their 62 games.

The Huskers walked in their first run of the season on Sunday, April 12, in the top of the fourth inning against Minnesota, their 37th game of the season.

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 43 games this season, Darby has 19 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 this season.

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

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 43 games this season, the Huskers have notched double-digit hits 17 times and are a perfect 17-0 in those games.

The Huskers are 22-2 this year when out-hitting their opponent. The only losses came against LSU and Cal State Fullerton.

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.