Huskers Open 2021 Against Purdue in Round Rock

Friday, March 5 (3 PM)
Pitching: LHP Cade Povich (0-0) vs. TBA
TV/Streaming: BTN+
Radio: Husker Sports Network
 
Saturday, March 6 (10 AM) – DH1 (7 INN)
Pitching: RHP Chance Hroch (0-0) vs. TBA
TV/Streaming: BTN+
Radio: Husker Sports Network
 
Saturday, March 6 (45 Mins. After Game 1) – DH2 (9 INN)
Pitching: RHP Shay Schanaman (0-0) vs. TBA
TV/Streaming: BTN+
Radio: Husker Sports Network
 
Sunday, March 7 (10 AM)
Pitching: LHP Jake Bunz (0-0) vs. TBA
TV/Streaming: BTN+
Radio: Husker Sports Network
 
The Nebraska baseball team opens the 2021 campaign on Friday, March 5, at Dell Diamond Stadium in Round Rock, Texas, with the first of four games against the Purdue Boilermakers. First pitch of the season opener is set for 3 PM (CT).
 
The teams will then meet for a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 10 AM. The first game of the double dip will be seven innings, while game two will be nine innings and will start approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one. The four-game series concludes on Sunday with a morning match up, set for 10 AM.
 
All four games of the series will be carried on BTN+, a online streaming service through the Big Ten Network.
 
Fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action this weekend on the Learfield/IMG College Husker Sports Network. In Lincoln, fans can listen to Friday's season opener and Saturday's doubleheader on 1400 KLIN, while Sunday's game will be on 105.3 FM.
 
Every game this season can be heard for free on Huskers.com and the Official Nebraska Huskers App for both iOS and android devices.
 
Last Time Out
After just 15 games the 2020 season ended abruptly on Thursday, March 12, 2020, due to COVID-19. The Huskers ended the year on a three-game winning streak and had won six of their last seven games following an 8-1 victory over Northern Colorado on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, at Hawks Field.
 
Next Up
The Huskers head to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., next weekend for two games each against the Iowa Hawkeyes and Ohio State Buckeyes. The Huskers and Buckeyes open the weekend at 3 PM (CT) on Friday, March 12.
 
Scouting the Boilermakers
• Just like the Huskers, Purdue was under new leadership last season as Greg Goff took over as head coach after spending two seasons as an assistant coach in West Lafayette. 2021 marks Goff's 16th year as a collegiate head coach,  including Purdue (2020-present), Campbell (2008-14), Louisiana Tech (2015-16), Alabama (2017) and Division II University of Montevallo (2004-07).
 
• Purdue ended the 2020 season with a 7-7 record, including a 19-1 victory over Western Kentucky in the last game of the season. The Boilermakers started the season hot with six wins in their first seven games, but then dropped six straight prior to the season-ending win against the Hilltoppers.
 
• Purdue returns all three of its weekend starters from a year ago in RHP Jett Jackson, RHP Trent Johnson and RHP Cory Brooks. The three combined to started 10 of Purdue's 14 games and accounted for 53.0 of the team's 120.1 innings pitched.
 
• Purdue returns a wealth of experience at the plate, as 12 of the 16 players who had an at-bat last year return in 2021, including eight of nine starters.
 
• Of the 14 pitchers that made an appearance last season, eight are back for the 2021 season.
 
• Two-year starter Evan Albrecht was hitting .364 when the 2020 season ended. A junior in 2021, Albrecht posted the first five-hit game by a Boilermaker since May 2016 in the series finale vs. Western Kentucky, singling in each of his first five at-bats. He led the 2020 team in batting average (.364) and RBI (14), raising his average by .203 points from 2019.
 
The Series
• Nebraska leads the all-time series 14-9.
 
• Nebraska has won the last seven games in the series dating back to the 2016 season. Purdue last won on May 11, 2015, with a 9-6 victory at Hawks Field.
 
• Nebraska has swept the last two series between the two teams including three games at Hawks Field in 2019 and three games in West Lafayette in 2016.
 
• The teams have previously met once on a neutral field, with Nebraska winning 15-9 at the 2017 Big Ten Tournament in Bloomington, Ind.
 
Baseball is Back
• Husker fans are accustomed to baseball starting in mid-February, but the 2021 season will start on March 5 in Round Rock, Texas.
 
• There will have been 359 days between the end of the 2020 season and the start of the 2021 season on Friday.
 
• Nebraska last visited Round Rock, Texas, during the 2005 season when it played Rice, Texas State and USC at the Round Rock Tournament.
 
• Per a directive from the Big Ten Conference, no fans will be allowed at home or away games during the 2021 baseball season, except for families members of student-athletes and coaches.
 
New Faces on the Bump this Weekend
Fans will see new faces in the starting rotation to start 2021. Out of NU's four starters this weekend only Cade Povich has started a game at Nebraska.
 
• Opening-day starter Cade Povich transferred to Nebraska prior to last season from South Mountain CC. The Nebraska native made four starts last year and was 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA, but in his team-high 21.1 he struck out 26 and walked just two.
 
• Chance Hroch is set to get the ball in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader and is in his first year at Nebraska after spending four seasons at New Mexico State. A first-team all-region and all-conference selection in 2019, Hroch went 10-1 with a 2.74 ERA in 15 starts, notching 69 strikeouts in 85.1 innings as a junior.
 
• Right hander Shay Schanaman is scheduled to start game two of Saturday's doubleheader, his first start as a Husker. Over his first two seasons in Lincoln Schanaman has made 25 appearances and has a 4.36 ERA. For his career he is averaging one strikeout per inning with 33 in 33.0 innings.
 
• Hutchinson CC transfer Jake Bunz is slated to start Sunday's finale in Round Rock. A native of Elkhorn, Neb., Bunz is a 6-5 lefty who went 8-1 and had 81 strikeouts in 54.1 innings as a freshman at Hutchinson in 2019.
 
Schwellenbach Named Preaseason All-American
Prior to the start of the 2021 season, Spencer Schwellenbach received third-team preseason All-America accolades from Baseball America and second-team honors from D1Baseball. Both publications tabbed him as a utility player.
 
Over his first two seasons at Nebraska, Schwellenbach batted .281, starting all 59 games he has played in for the Huskers. He played 44 games as a freshman in 2019 and 15 games as a sophomore in 2020 before the season was cut short due to COVID-19.
 
Back for Year No. 5
Three Huskers are back for their fifth season in 2021, including Joe Acker, Mojo Hagge and Luke Roskam.
 
• The trio has combined to play in 428 games (Acker - 100, Hagge - 173, Roskam - 155) and has made 364 starts (Acker - 77, Hagge - 145, Roskam - 142).
 
• Joe Acker and Mojo Hagge have each been named team captains for 2021.
 
Foster Returns After Year Off
Lincoln native Logan Foster had to sit out the 2020 season after he transferred to Nebraska from Texas A&M, where he spent the first three seasons of his college career.
 
• Played in 167 games for the Aggies, making 156 starts. Totaled 33 doubles, nine triples, 19 home runs and 100 RBIs as a .282 hitter.
 
• Was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American in 2017.
 
• Product of Lincoln Southwest High School.
 
2021 Team Captains
Joe Acker, Mojo Hagge, Jaxon Hallmark and Spencer Schwellenbach have been voted on by the Nebraska baseball players to serve as team captains for the 2021 season.
 
"These four guys all bring a little different brand of leadership to the team," Head Coach Will Bolt said. "As a unit, they help set the high standards of our program on a daily basis. These guys are selfless, consistent hard workers and are certainly deserving of this honor."
 
Watch on BTN+
The Big Ten Conference has announced that BTN+ will carry every neutral site game during the first two weeks of the conference's baseball season. The Nebraska baseball team is scheduled to play eight games over the first two weeks of the season.
 
• More information regarding TV and streaming information will be released at a later date. Every game of the 2021 baseball season can be heard on the Huskers Sports Network, including for free on Huskers.com and the Husker Mobile App.
 
44-Game Season in 2021
The Nebraska baseball team will play a 44-game, conference-only schedule, as announced by the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday, Feb. 17. With all 44 games counting as conference games, the Big Ten also announced that there will be no 2021 Big Ten Tournament, which Omaha was slated to host in May.
 
The 13-week schedule consists of five, four-game weekends and eight, three-game weekends. Each team is scheduled to play every other conference team at least three times. The Huskers will play both Iowa and Rutgers five times.
 
Opponent (games this season)
Purdue (4)
Ohio State (4)
Iowa (5)
Minnesota (4)
Illinois (3)
Maryland (3)
Penn State (3)
Michigan State (3)
Rutgers (5)
Indiana (4)
Northwestern (3)
Michigan (3)