Huskers Make First Visit to Rutgers

Friday, April 29 (2 p.m. CT)
Probable Starters: RHP Burkamper (4-1) vs. LHP Brey (5-3)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN Plus
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Saturday, April 30 (Noon p.m. CT)
Probable Starters: RHP Waldron (4-1) vs. TBA
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN Plus
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Sunday, May 1 (11 a.m. CT)
Probable Starters: LHP Meyers (2-1) vs. TBA
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN Plus
Radio: Husker Sports Network

The Nebraska baseball team (26-15, 7-5 Big Ten) makes is first ever trip to Piscataway, N.J., this weekend for a three-game Big Ten series against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (21-20, 5-7 Big Ten). The series opens on Friday at 2 p.m. (CT) and will be the first meeting between the two teams as Big Ten opponents. Saturday’s game is set for Noon and the finale is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Out of the 12 other Big Ten programs that have baseball (Wisconsin doesn’t have baseball), Rutgers is the only team the Huskers have never played in a Big Ten series.

The Scarlet Knights have defended Bainton Field this year with a 12-2 record, including a 4-2 record during league play with series victories over Indiana and Penn State. Rutgers has struggled on the road though, going just 9-18 away from Piscataway.

Nebraska and Rutgers have previously met three times, with all three meetings taking place in the state of Nebraska, and the Huskers are 3-0. Rutgers came to Lincoln in 2001 for the NCAA Lincoln Regional and the Huskers won a pair of games, 5-4 and 14-10. The 14-10 victory advanced the Huskers to the Lincoln Super Regional where they swept Rice to advance to the College World Series. Nebraska and Rutgers last met during the 2013 season at the TD Ameritrade Park Classic in Omaha and the Huskers won, 3-1. Four current Huskers were part of the team in 2013, including seniors Taylor Fish, Jake Placzek, Jeff Chesnut and Colton Howell, but none of them played in the game.

Both teams enter the weekend half way through their conference schedule, and after this weekend will have three conference series left. Nebraska enters Friday tied with Maryland for sixth place in the league with a 7-5 record. Rutgers sits outside of the top eight, as they are tied with Ohio State for 10th in the league with a 5-7 record. The Huskers finish the season with a road trip to Michigan State, before coming home for home series against Penn State and Indiana. The Scarlet Knights head to Michigan next weekend, then visit Maryland before ending the regular season at home against Northwestern.

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

All three games this weekend can be heard in Lincoln on 1400 AM and in Omaha on 590 AM. The games are also scheduled to be carried on TuneIn Radio.

All three games between Nebraska and Rutgers are scheduled to be streamed live on BTN Plus (subscription required).

Get the First One on the Road
Since joining the Big Ten Conference prior to the 2012 season, Nebraska has played 18 road series and has a road series record of 11-7. In 53 regular-season Big Ten road games, NU is 29-24.

The Huskers have won the opening game of a Big Ten road series 12 times and have won 10 straight series when they have taken the opener on the road.

The last time NU didn’t win the series after winning the opener was in 2012 at Indiana. Nebraska took game one 13-2, but then dropped a doubleheader the next day, 7-5 and 9-6.

In the six road series when the Huskers have started with a loss, they have gone on to win the series just once. It took place in 2012 at Ohio State. NU lost 10-2 in the opener on Friday and following a rainout on Saturday, took a doubleheader on Sunday, 5-4 and 17-9.

Count on Chesnut
Senior Jeff Chesnut enters Friday 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 Thursday morning, senior Jake Placzek was ranked fourth Division I with 45 walks. Michigan’s Carmen Benedetti ranked second in the Big Ten and was tied for 22nd nationally with 35 walks. UNC Aschville’s Pete Guy and Miami’s Zack Collins led the nation with 48 walks.

Adding in his seven hit-by-pitches, Placzek leads the Huskers with an on-base percentage of .467. 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 29% of NU’s 156 walks this year. Six other Huskers have drawn double digit walks in 2016, with Jake Schleppenbach sitting a distance second on the team with 15 walks.

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

Placzek needs 17 more walks this year to tie Todd Sears (62 - 1997) for 10th place on NU’s single season walks list. Placzek has 101 career walks and needs 14 more walks in 2016 to enter NU’s career walks list. Rich King and Steve Stanicek are tied for 10th with 115 career walks.

Life on the Road
The Huskers are playing one of their toughest stretches of the year with seven straight games on road. Following a 3-1 win over Kansas on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, the Huskers play six straight Big Ten road games, including 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.

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 73 straight games when leading after the eighth inning.

Led by pitching coach Ted Silva, the Huskers are 126-16 since the start of the 2012 season when they lead after the sixth inning. The Huskers are 132-8 when leading after seven innings and are nearly perfect when leading after eight innings with a 144-4 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 21-2 23-0 24-0
Total 126-16 132-8 144-4

He Can do it All
In last 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.

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

Through 41 games, Nebraska has had a starting pitcher go 7.0 innings of more three times, including twice last 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 41 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 21-5 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 41 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.

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 nine saves on the year in nine 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 Mike Bellows (1994) for sixth on NU’s single season list.

Fives of Luensmann’s nine 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
9 Chad Luensmann (Fr.) 2016
9. 8 Dylan Vogt (Sr.) 2013
8 Casey Hauptman (Sr.) 2011

Double Digits
Nebraska has amassed double digit hits 21 times in 41 games entering Friday 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.

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 48 bases in 41 games, an average of 1.17 per game.

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

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.