Huskers to Play Kansas at Kauffman on Wednesday

Wednesday, April 27 (6:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: LHP Knutson (0-1) vs. RHP Edwards (1-0)
TV: TWC SportsChannel
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: ESPN3
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Lincoln - Before getting back to Big Ten play next weekend at Rutgers, the Nebraska baseball team (25-15, 7-5 Big Ten) was set to play a pair of midweek games against the Creighton Bluejays (27-9, 5-1 Big East) and Kansas Jayhawks (17-22, 3-8 Big 12).

Tuesday’s game against Creighton was postponed to May 17 due to severe weather.

On Wednesday night the Huskers and Jayhawks will be at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, for the National College Baseball Hall of Fame Classic at the K. It will be the first meeting between Nebraska and Kansas since 2011, when Nebraska was still in the Big 12 Conference. The Huskers visited Lawrence for a three-game series that season, and KU took 2-of-3 at Hoglund Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday night and the Jayhawks will be the home team.

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

Wednesday’s game can be heard in Lincoln on 1400 AM and in Omaha on 590 AM. The game is also scheduled to be carried on TuneIn Radio.

Wednesday’s game at Kauffman Stadium will be carried on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in the state of Kansas and the Kansas City Metro, TV stations can be found here http://kuathletics.com/jtv. Everywhere else in the country the game will be streamed live on ESPN3.

Life on the Road
The Huskers are set to play one of their toughest stretches of the year with seven straight games on road. NU visits Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Wednesday night for a meeting with the Kansas Jayhawks. NU finishes the road stretch with back-to-back Big Ten series at Rutgers and Michigan State.

It’s the second-longest road stretch of the year for the Huskers, trailing their nine straight games away from Lincoln to start the season.

On the flip side, the Huskers end the regular season with seven straight home games, including a midweek game against Omaha, followed by Big Ten series against Penn State and Indiana.

Count on Chesnut
Senior Jeff Chesnut enters Wednesday ranked second all-time at Nebraska with 85 career appearances, including 23 this season and 31 last year. His 31 appearances in 2015 are tied for sixth on Nebraska’s single-season chart.

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

Career Appearances
1. 87 Steve Hale 1999-03
2. 85 Jeff Chesnut 2013-present
3. 82 Casey Hauptman 2008-11
4. 80 Brett Jensen 2004-06
5. 79 Dylan Vogt 2010-13
6. 78 Erik Bird 2006-09
78 Jeff Anderson 1981-84
8. 74 Zach Herr 2006-08
9. 73 Jonas Armenta 1994-97
10. 70 Jarod Bearinger 1996-99
70 John Lepley 1985-88

Walk this Way
As of Monday morning, senior Jake Placzek was ranked fourth Division I with 44 walks. Michigan’s Carmen Benedetti ranked second in the Big Ten and was tied for 20th nationally with 35 walks. UNC Aschville’s Pete Guy and Miami’s Zack Collins led the nation with 48 walks.

Adding in his six hit-by-pitches, Placzek leads the Huskers with an on-base percentage of .469. Placzek would need to record a on-base percentage of .518 or better to crack NU’s single-season top-10 list. Alex Gordon’s .518 on-base percentage in 2005 ranks 10th.

Placzek has accounted for just under 30% of NU’s 149 walks this year. Six other Huskers have drawn double digit walks in 2016, with Jake Schleppenbach sitting a distance second on the team with 14 walks.

Placzek has drawn multiple walks in 13 games entering Wednesday, including three walks in a game four times this year.

Placzek needs 18 more walks this year to tie Todd Sears (62 - 1997) for 10th place on NU’s single season walks list. Placzek has 100 career walks and needs 15 more walks in 2016 to enter NU’s career walks list. Rich King and Steve Stanicek are tied for 10th with 115 career walks.

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. Dating back to the 2014 season, the Huskers have won 70 straight games when leading after the eighth inning.

Led by pitching coach Ted Silva, the Huskers are 125-16 since the start of the 2012 season when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 131-8 when leading after seven innings and are nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 141-4 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.

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 26-3 28-2 28-0
2016 20-2 22-0 23-0
Total 125-16 131-8 141-4

He Can Do it All
In Sunday’s win over Nicholls State, sophomore Jake Meyers not only tossed 7.0 shutout innings and got the win on the mound, but he also drove in the eventual game-winning run with a three-run homer.

Meyers is the first Husker to homer and record a pitching win since April 21, 2009, when Adam Bailey hit a solo home run and tossed 2.2 innings of relief in his only pitching win as a Husker.

Former League Foe
After Nebraska plays Kansas on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, the Jayhawks will be the fourth current Big 12 team the Huskers have played since leaving the conference following the 2011 season. Nebraska has also played Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas. Nebraska played Texas A&M last season, but the Aggies were members of the SEC.

Of the teams that were in the Big 12 in 2011 and are still members of the conference, the Huskers have yet to play Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.

Stretching the Pen
Nebraska’s bullpen has had to eat up innings on the weekend this year.

Through 40 games, Nebraska has had a starting pitcher go 7.0 innings of more three times, including two this past weekend. Derek Burkamper has a pair of 7.0 inning outings and Jake Meyers also has a 7.0 inning start.

Last season in 57 games, Nebraska had four starters combine to go 7.0 innings or more 17 times, including Kyle Kubat (8), Chance Sinclair (5), Burkamper (3) and Garett King (1).

Score Early
In 40 games this year the Huskers have scored a run in the first inning 13 times. The Huskers are 11-2 on the year when they score a run in the first inning.

The Huskers are 20-5 this year when they score first in the game.

Longball
Nebraska’s home run totals are up in a big way this year, as they have hit 34 in 40 games after totaling 22 in 57 games last season.

Nebraska last topped 30 home runs in a season in 2012, when they hit 47.

Nine different players have hit a home run this season, including a team-high nine from Scott Schreiber, six from Jake Placzek and five from Ben Miller. Miller and Tanner Lubach tied for the team lead last season with four each.

Nebraska already has 11 multi-homer games this season after notching two all of last year.

Nebraska is 17-5 on the year when they hit a home run.

Double Digits
Nebraska has amassed double digit hits 21 times in 40 games entering Tuesday and is 16-5 when reaching the mark.

Last season the Huskers totaled 10 or more hits 23 times in 57 games.

Boldting Up the List
Recently named one of 60 players on the 2016 Gold Spike Award Midseason Watch list, Ryan Boldt became the 24th member of Nebraska’s 200-hit club on Sunday, April 10, with a single in the ninth inning against Northwestern. Boldt enters Tuesday ranked 22nd all time at Nebraska with 205 career hits.

Boldt is just the 15th player in school history to reach the mark in three seasons or less, and the first since his cousin, Pat Kelly, notched 212 hits from 2012-14.

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.

This season, Boldt is hitting .308 (56-for-182) with 16 multi-hit games, including 10 games with three hits.

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. 205 Ryan Boldt 2014-Present
23. 203 Ken Harvey 1997-99
24. 201 Francis Collins 1995-97

Stolen Bases
Nebraska has been more active on the base paths this season, stealing 46 bases in 40 games, an average of 1.15 per game.

After stealing three bases against Northwestern on April 10, the Huskers have been in a slump with just one stolen base over the last nine games.

Ryan Boldt leads the team with 16 steals, the most by a Husker since 2006 when Bryce Nimmo stole 16 bases all season.

Last year the Huskers totaled 40 stolen bases in 57 games, an average of 0.7 stolen bases per game. Nebraska last topped 60 stolen bases in a season in 2011 when they were 62-for-81.

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 their first 13 games.

That changed on Saturday, March 12, when the Huskers entered the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead and NU went to true freshman Chad Luensmann. The 6-4 right hander worked a scoreless ninth for his first career save. Luensmann now has eight saves on the year in eight chances.

Luensmann already holds the freshman record at Nebraska for saves and has entered Nebraska’s single-season top-10 list. His next save would tie him with Steve Boyd (1992) for seventh on NU’s single season list.

Fives of Luensmann’s eight saves have come during Big Ten play, which leads the league.

Single Season Saves at Nebraska
1. 16 Brett Jensen (Jr.) 2005
2. 15 Josh Roeder (Sr.) 2015
3. 13 Brett Jensen (Sr.) 2006
4. 12 Josh Roeder (Jr.) 2014
5. 11 Thom Ott (Jr.) 2001
6. 10 Mike Bellows (Sr.) 1994
7. 9 Steve Boyd (Jr.) 1992
8. 8 Dylan Vogt (Sr.) 2013
8 Casey Hauptman (Sr.) 2011
8 Chad Luensmann (Fr.) 2016
10. 7 Travis Huber (Jr.) 2012
7 Matt Foust (Jr.) 2007
7 Tevis Arnold (Sr.) 1998
7 Dave Matranga (Sr.) 1991
7 Gary Nolting (So.) 1978