FW: [Husker] Huskers show heart on the road

[jschlechte at usfamily.net]

>   Nathan Culp, MU's ace, came into today with a 1.98 ERA and a 6-2
>   record. 5 runs were the most he's given up this year, so credit the
>   Husker hitters for scraping their way back into it.

Not to nitpick here as your summaries are great Skylar, but I would
argue Scherzer is still MU's ace.  Culp's good as well, but I expect
Scherzer to give NU fits today.  I know he was out for two weeks and his
ERA may not look quite as good as Culp's, but he's an All-American and
on the Clemens Watch list.  

Nebraska will need to make the most of their opportunities today at the
plate and hopefully Watson and the defense will be sharp as MU is quite
capable at the plate, even though they really haven't played as well as
expected this year.  This could easily be a 1-0 or 2-1 game if both
pitchers are on.  

The thing that worries me the most right now about this team is the
pitching.  I haven't been able to listen to or watch more than a half
dozen games, but the number of times our pitchers are getting into
trouble because of walks and HBP is a concern.  Currently, 4.5 free
passes (maybe earned if it's HBP :] ) are being issued every 9 innings.

As the conference race is really just starting to take shape, this
weekend is a good measure of the bats facing both Culp and Scherzer.  

One interesting tidbit from looking at NU's current RPI according to
Boyd's World is #6 (ISR is #2).  Amazing what a few changes in the
schedule can do.  The 3 game sweep against 'Bama has had a huge impact.
But back to the conference season as all this is quite meaningless until
the end of the season.  Should be a great game today.

Go Big Red,

Jay




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