Huskers Continue Homestand with Visit from Shockers

Friday, March 18 (4:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Burkamper (1-0) vs. RHP Schwanke (2-2)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Saturday, March 19 (2:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: LHP Jake McSteen (1-0) vs. RHP Lewis (0-2)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Sunday, March 20 (12:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Matt Waldron (2-1) vs. TBA
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: HuskersNSide
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Lincoln - After opening the 2016 home slate with six games last week, the Nebraska baseball team (9-6 0-0 Big Ten) will wrap up a nine-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against the Wichita State Shockers (5-11, 0-0 MVC).

The Huskers are on a six-game winning streak after going undefeated at Hawks Field last week, including a four-game sweep of Loyola Marymount. The Shockers are still in search of their first road win this season, as they are 0-8 away from Eck Stadium. The Shockers were on a five-game losing streak after getting swept at Cal State Fullerton last weekend, but then snapped the streak with a 16-3 victory over North Dakota on Tuesday in Wichita.

The Huskers hold a slim 23-22 advantage all-time over the Shockers. This weekend will mark just the second time the two teams have played a three-game series. The only other three-game set took place in Wichita during the 1983 season.

The series opens on Friday at 4:05 p.m. and the Huskers will start junior Derek Burkamper, who has yet to allow a run this season in 12.0 innings over two starts. Junior Willie Schwanke will start for the Shockers. The right hander is 2-2 on the year with a 5.32 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 22.0 innings over four starts.

Game two is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. and NU redshirt freshman Jake McSteen is scheduled to make his second career start against WSU junior right hander Zach Lewis. McSteen is 1-0 on the year with a 3.45 ERA in 15.2 innings, while Lewis in 0-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 20.0 innings over six appearances, including three starts.

Sunday’s finale is set for 12:05 p.m., with freshman Matt Waldron set to start for the Huskers. Wichita State has not announced a starter yet. In five appearances, including two starts, Waldron has tossed a team-high 19.1 innings and his 15 strikeouts are tied for the team lead with Burkamper.

How to Listen/Watch the Huskers
Fans can listen to Greg Sharpe, Ben McLaughlin and Nick Handley call all the action on the Husker Sports Network, including on Huskers.com and the Official Husker App.

All three games can be heard in Lincoln on 1400 AM and in Omaha on 590 AM. Every game is also scheduled to be carried on TuneIn Radio. Broadcast adjustments could be made depending on the Nebraska women’s basketball schedule in the WNIT.

All three games this weekend will be video streamed live on HuskersNSide (subscription required).

Schreiber Finds His Stroke
Sophomore Scott Schreiber had a monster four-game stretch last week at Hawks Field and for it he was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week and the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

In four games of action, Schreiber hit .571 (8-for-14) with four home runs, two doubles, 11 RBIs and six runs scored to help the Huskers sweep both Northern Colorado and Loyola Marymount.

Schreiber homered in consecutive at bats against Northern Colorado on Tuesday, added another homer on Wednesday and hit his fourth of the week in Sunday’s series finale against Loyola Marymount. In addition, Schreiber doubled in a pair of runs in Saturday’s 3-0 win. Schreiber missed NU’s doubleheader on Friday after being hit in the elbow during Wednesday’s game against Northern Colorado.

His four home runs last week were more than the three he had all last year in 40 games.

Big Ben
Junior Ben Miller enters Friday with a team-high .390 batting average, with four doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs. He has nine multi-hit games on the year, including a pair of three-hit performances

Slotted as the Huskers’ No. 3 hitter in 13 of the first 15 games, opposing pitchers have not been able to pitcher around Miller with slugger Scott Schreiber hitting behind him.

After striking out twice in the season opener, Miller has struck out just seven times over his past 14 games, with three of the seven strikeouts coming in the series opener at Long Beach State.

Home Sweet Hawks
The Nebraska baseball team is celebrating its 15th season at Hawks Field in 2016. Since playing their first game at the park in 2002, the Huskers have posted a 307-109-1 (.737) record at the facility entering this weekend’s series, including a 21-6 record last season.

The Huskers notched a .778 winning percentage at home last year, the highest home winning percentage since 2008 when Nebraska posted a .843 winning percentage with a 29-5-1 record.

Nebraska has won 60% or more of its home games 12 times over the past 14 seasons, including each of the past six seasons. NU’s worst home season came in 2009 when the Huskers posted a 16-14 record (.533).

Get a Lead for the Bullpen
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 112-15 since the start of the 2012 season when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 117-8 when leading after seven innings and are nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 126-4 record.

The last time the Huskers lost a game when leading going into the ninth inning was March 21, 2014, in Iowa City, Iowa. The Huskers held a 1-0 leading going into the bottom of the ninth, but the Hawkeyes rallied for a 2-1 walk-off victory.

Finding the Zone
Over the first two weeks of the season the Huskers played six games and NU’s pitching staff had its struggles. The Huskers were 2-4 and the pitching staff was averaging 10.7 runs, 7.3 strikeouts and 5.7 walks per game.

Since making a trip to Long Beach, the Husker arms have started to look like their old selves. Over the past nine games the Huskers are 7-2 and their pitchers are averaging 1.7 runs, 7.6 strikeouts and 2.9 walks per game.

Count on Chesnut
Senior Jeff Chesnut enters Friday with 70 career appearances, including 31 last season. His 31 appearances in 2015 are tied for sixth on Nebraska’s single-season chart.

Chesnut needs three more appearances to tie Jonas Armeta (1994-97) for eighth place on NU’s career list.

Steve Hale holds the school record with 87 career appearances from 1999-2003.

Stolen Bases
Nebraska has been more active on the base paths this season, stealing 17 bases in its first 15 games, an average of 1.1 per game. Last year the Huskers totaled 40 stolen bases in 57 games, an average of 0.7 stolen bases per game.

Longball
Nebraska’s home run totals are up this year, as they have hit 17 in 15 games after totaling 22 in 57 games last season. Eight different players have hit a home run this season, including a team-high six from Scott Schreiber and three from Ben Miller. Miller and Tanner Lubach tied for the team lead last season with four each.

The Huskers did change equipment prior to this season, as the team is swinging adidas bats this year after using Rawlings bats each of the last four years.

New Blood on the Mound
Multiple newcomers have seen time on the mound through 15 games. Out of the 17 pitchers that have seen time this season, eight are true or redshirt freshmen

The eight young arms have combined to throw 59.1 innings, including a team-high 19.1 innings from Matt Waldron. The eight newcomers have accounted for over 43% of Nebraska’s innings pitched.

Boldt Keeps Hitting
Ryan Boldt broke onto the collegiate scene as a freshman in 2014 with a .311 average and 74 hits. He avoided a sophomore slump in 2015 by hitting .344 with 75 hits.

Entering the weekend, Boldt is hitting .318 (21-for-66) with seven multi-hit games, including five games with three-hits.

Boldt needs 30 more hits this season to become the 24th player in school history with 200 career hits.

Just a junior, Boldt would be just the 15th player to reach the mark in three seasons, and the first since his cousin, Pat Kelly, notched 212 hits from 2012-14.

Other Huskers who have reached 200 or more hits in three seasons include: Darin Erstad (261), Paul Meyers (250), Matt Hooper (249), Mark Kister (242), Alex Gordon (240), Todd Sears (234), Ken Ramos (229), Curtis Ledbetter (223), John Cole (222), Jeff Leise (217), Pat Kelly (212), Will Bolt (205), Ken Harvey (203), Francis Collins (201).

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. 226 Austin Darby 2012-15
19. 223 Curtis Ledbetter 2003-05
20. 222 John Cole 1999-01
21. 212 Pat Kelly 2012-14
22. 203 Ken Harvey 1997-99
23. 201 Francis Collins 1995-97

-- 170 Ryan Boldt 2014-Present

Replacing Lubach
One of the biggest holes to fill on the 2016 squad was the void left by senior catcher Tanner Lubach, who was taken in the ninth round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The task of filling the void has been up to senior Taylor Fish and freshman Jesse Wilkening. Fish enters Friday second on the team with a .344 batting average (11-for-32) and has four doubles on the year, after recording one double over his first three seasons at NU.

Wilkening is still making the adjustment to college pitching, however, his ability to hit can been seen as the Indiana high school record holder for career hits has one home run and two doubles in eight games.

Burkamper Back
After missing the first two weeks of the season, junior Derek Burkamper has made a pair of starts and had been dominant on the mound. He has started on Saturday each of the past two weekends, but will move to Friday spot in the rotation this week.

Yet to allow an run in 12.0 innings this season, Burkamper struck out a career eight batters in his 2016 debut at Long Beach State and followed it up with a seven-strikeout performance last weekend against Loyola Marymount.

Filthy Freshman
After career saves holder Josh Roeder graduated last year, the Huskers needed to find a new closer. It wasn’t a problem early on, as the Huskers didn’t have a save opportunity during the first 13 games of the year.

That changed on Saturday when the Huskers entered the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead and NU went to freshman Chad Luensmann. The 6-4 right hander worked a scoreless ninth for his first career save. The Huskers then had a 5-4 lead the following day and with a four-game sweep on the line, NU again went to Luensmann, who tossed a 1-2-3 inning against the top of Loyola Marymount’s lineup.

Golden Spikes Watch List
Junior outfielder Ryan Boldt was one of 50 players named to USA Baseball’s preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list on Tuesday, Feb. 16. Boldt has already been named a preseason All-American by multiple publications and is ranked as the #13 college prospect for the 2016 MLB Draft by Baseball America.

Boldt was one of three Big Ten players named to the watch list, joining Michigan’s Carmen Benedetti and Maryland’s Mike Shawaryn.

Alex Gordon is the only Husker to ever win the Golden Spikes Award, as he won the Golden Spikes, Brooks Wallace and Dick Howser Awards in 2005, and he was also named ABCA Player of the Year. Two other Huskers have been finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, including Darin Erstad (1995) and Ken Harvey (1999).

Draft History
Eight members of the 2016 Husker baseball team have previously been drafted:

Luis Alvarado - 2014 (Boston Red Sox, 33rd Round)
Ryan Boldt - 2013 (Boston Red Sox, 22nd Round)
Derek Burkamper - 2013 (Boston Red Sox, 20th Round)
Sean Chandler - 2015 (Milwaukee Brewers, 32nd Round)
Colton Howell - 2015 (San Diego Padres, 27th Round)
Garett King - 2014 (New York Mets, 36th Round)
Chad Luensmann - 2015 (New York Mets, 39th Round)
Jesse Wilkening - 2015 (Arizona Diamondbacks, 28th Round)