[Husker] Baseball: Week 5

[jon johnston]

On a weekly basis, I'll put out a visual representation of Big 12 team  
and batting statistics at Big 12 Hardball:

http://www.big12hardball.com/2009/3/26/811942/big-12-team-pitching-stati

http://www.big12hardball.com/2009/3/26/811959/big-12-team-batting-statis

You can select different stats as data points, and when you look at  
how many walks Nebraska is giving up relative to the rest of the Big  
12, you can get an idea of why we're going to struggle as long as that  
isn't corrected.

Jon Johnston
http://www.cornnation.com

On Mar 24, 2009, at 5:26 PM, Skylar Dodds wrote:

> Sorry, a day later this week.  Been really busy.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> Week 5 Recap
>
> It's been said repeatedly here that this team is young and sometimes  
> they're
> going to look like world beaters and sometimes they're going to look  
> like
> they might miss the regionals. If the last three weeks aren't  
> evidence of
> that, I don't know what is. From a 5-0 week over South Dakota State  
> and Cal
> State Northridge to a disappointing 1-2 series loss at Texas Tech  
> back to a
> 3-2 week against a pair of top 15 teams, one of which was on the road.
>
> Hopefully the Huskers can break that trend this week at Oklahoma,  
> but it
> won't be easy. Oklahoma is ranked as high as #8 this week, posting a  
> 20-5
> (2-1 in the Big XII) record.
>
> Nebraska 3 - Arkansas 7
> The Huskers traveled south to visit the home of a familiar face to  
> Husker
> fans, Dave Van Horn. In the first game of the visit, the Huskers  
> were kind
> to the Razorbacks, letting them off the hook on a couple different big
> scoring opportunities. In the 2nd, the Huskers loaded the bases with  
> no outs
> off three straight walks from the Arkansas Staff, but was only able  
> to get
> one run out of it, on a double-play grounder by Cody Asche in the  
> 2nd. The
> Huskers loaded the bases again off of 2 walks and an error by  
> Arkansas in
> the third inning. This time, Adam Bailey and Tyler Farst struck out,  
> and
> Nick Sullivan grounded out to end the threat.
>
> Unfortunately, the Huskers were unable to keep Arkansas off the  
> scoreboard
> in the meantime. Husker starter Erik Bird (0-1) went just and inning  
> and
> 2/3, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits. From there, the young Husker staff  
> did
> pretty well as 8 pitchers combined to pitch the final 6 1/3 and give  
> up just
> 3 runs, but by that time the damage had been done.
>
> Nebraska 7 - Arkansas 4
> It looked like Nerbaska was going home without a "W" from their trip  
> to
> Fayetteville. It's the top of the 9th, 1 out and no runners on and  
> Arkansas
> is cruising to a victory with a 3-1 lead. Ben Kline battled at the  
> plate,
> fouling off pitches and coaxed a 1 out walk for Nebraska's first  
> runner of
> the inning. Cody Asche also managed to work his way on via the free  
> pass.
> Then, what happened next turned the Husker "L" into a "W".
>
> Cory Burleson hit a soft grounder between 1st and 2nd, but the first  
> baseman
> threw the ball wildly to his pitcher covering allowing everyone to  
> advance,
> including Ben Kline to score the first run. Then, true freshman Cody  
> Asche
> made a heads up play and noticed that the catcher had backed up the  
> throw to
> first and nobody was covering home. In a sprint race to the plate,  
> Asche
> just beat it out, pulling the game to a 3-3 tie and gave new life to  
> the
> Husker dugout. The play was ruled an infield single with an error on  
> the
> throw allowing the runners to advance.
>
> The Huskers weren't done though, the next 2 batters singled in the  
> runner on
> 2nd and took 2nd themselves before a 3rd single by Mort lead to  
> Bubak being
> thrown out at the plate. Adam Bailey decided it wasn't enough though  
> and
> drove his Big XII leading 9th homerun over the right-center wall to  
> make it
> 7-3.
>
> The Razorbacks opened the bottom with a solo shot to bring them  
> within 3,
> but Nesseth struck out the site to finish the game and give the  
> Huskers
> another great come from behind win.
>
> Oklahoma State 4 - Nebraska 11
> The #11 Oklahoma State Cowboys came and visited the Huskers this  
> weekend and
> the Huskers were ready. Friday night the Cowboys sent up their All- 
> American
> ace Andrew Oliver who had pitched a complete game shutout against  
> Nebraska
> in Stillwater just a year ago, but the Huskers were not intimidated.  
> In the
> bottom of the 3rd, the Huskers found themselves behind 3-0, but they  
> didn't
> panic. The Huskers first got on the board with 2 singles and 2 walks,
> including a 2-out bases-loaded walk by Jeff Tezak. Cody Neer started  
> off
> what would be a great weekend with a 2-out 2-RBI double to center to  
> tie up
> the game at 3. Cody Asche continued the charge, ripping a triple  
> down the
> line scoring Neer and Tezak to give the Huskers a 5-3 lead.
>
> The Huskers added a couple more in the next inning with back-to-back  
> RBI
> singles from Jake Mort and Adam Bailey to chase the All-American  
> Oliver, and
> the Husker cruised to a victory. Casey Hauptman got the start and the
> Huskers used 6 pitchers to keep the OSU bats at bay, including Mike  
> Nesseth
> who was usually the Friday starter and was recently moved to the  
> bullpen to
> close out of the latter part of the game.
>
> Oklahoma State 4 - Nebraska 12
> Again, Nebraska found themselves up against an All-Big XII pitcher  
> in Tyler
> Lyons and again, they didn't seem to notice. In the first, Jeff  
> Tezak and
> Tyler Farst singled to drive in a pair of runs to take the early 2-0  
> lead
> before Cody Neer ripped an RBI double to extend the lead to 3.
>
> In the 2nd, the Huskers kept it going. An error and a single by Jake  
> Mort
> put runners on the corners for Nerbaska's dangerous newcomer Adam  
> Bailey.
> Bailey did what he does best, he ripped a double to the left-center  
> gap and
> scored both runners before coming around to score on Tezak's second  
> RBI
> single of the game.
>
> The 6-0 lead proved to be all Jordan Roualdes needed as he cruised  
> for 7
> innings, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits to give the Huskers the series  
> win.
>
> Oklahoma State 6 - Nebraska 3
> For the first time all weekend, the Huskers found themselves fooled by
> Oklahoma State's starting pitching. Ironically enough, it came  
> against a
> pitcher that they knocked all over the field a year ago in  
> Stillwater in
> Tyler Blandford. In fact, about the only Husker Blandford didn't  
> have in
> check was Nick Sullivan who was 2 for 4 with a homerun and two RBIs.
>
> Husker starter Michael Mariot couldn't keep the Oklahoma State bats  
> quiet.
> Mariot spent too much time over the plate and the Cowboys came up  
> swinging
> most of the afternoon. Mariot lasted just 3 innings, gave up 8 hits  
> to just
> 16 batters and allowed 4 runs.
>
> The Huskers made it close in the 6th when Kyle Bubak reached with  
> one out.
> Bubak proceeded to steal 2nd and then came around to score on two wild
> pitches to notch the game at 4-2. However, the Huskers weren't able  
> to do
> any more damage as Adam Bailey struck out to end the inning.
>
> A look back: The Good
>
> Adam Bailey- Again, Adam continued to show he's one of the better  
> hitters in
> the Big XII this year. The JUCO transfer hit .381 for the week with  
> a homer,
> 7 RBI and scored 6 times. Adam is tied for the Big XII lead with 9  
> homeruns
> and leads the Big XII with 33 RBI. He flat out is just getting it  
> done at
> the plate.
> Nick Sullivan - Just two weeks ago, Sullivan only held a .182  
> average, and
> for the 2nd week in a row, Nick was able to break out a little,  
> posting a
> .333 average (.467 OBP) and with a homerun, lifting his season  
> average to
> .254.
> Jordan Roualdes - While allowing 4 runs over 7 innings isn't going  
> to turn
> any heads, I'm sure Mike Anderson will tell you that he's been one  
> of the
> Huskers most valuable pitchers on this young staff. He's been able  
> to go
> deep into games almost every week and keep the young bullpen arms  
> rested for
> the Friday and Sunday games.
> Jeff Tezak - Tezak's presence back in the lineup after being injured  
> all
> year last year is very welcome. Tezak continued to be one of  
> Nebraska's most
> consistent hitters posting a .357 average and a .526 on base  
> percentage as
> well as 4 runs and 4 RBIs to help the Huskers.
> Cody Neer - Despite a rough midweek game and a rough game on Sunday,  
> Cody
> drove in 8 runs and scored twice in the Friday and Saturday  
> victories for
> the Huskers, including a late 3-run bomb on Saturday to put the game  
> away
> for good. If Cody can learn some consistency and stay under control  
> at the
> plate, he should see more of the starting lineup.
> Jake Mort -Again, Jake is forcing Mike Anderson to keep him in the  
> lineup.
> The Senior hit .313 on the week and scored 5 times to help power the
> Huskers.
> Matt Freeman -Matt Freeman has shown, that when he's got his  
> control, he's
> one of Nebraska's better pitchers. On the year, opposing hitters are  
> batting
> an abysmal .148 against him (2.81 ERA), but also leads the team with  
> 17
> walks. This week, Freeman pitched better, going 7 innings in 4  
> appearances,
> allowing just 2 runs and striking out 4 while walking 4.
>
> A look back: The Not So Good
>
> Runners left in scoring position (Wed) - Scoring just 1 run with the  
> bases
> loaded and no outs twice really hurt the Huskers. Had they been able  
> to
> capitalize and possibly win the first game at Arkansas, they may find
> themselves ranked this week. Posting a 4-1 record over two Top 15  
> opponents
> would have been huge.
> Erik Bird - I'm not sure what's wrong with Bird, but he's really  
> struggled
> as of late. In his last two starts, he's pitched 4.2 innings and  
> given up 9
> earned runs for a 17.36 ERA.
>
> Overall Grade: B+
> It's hard to give them any lower, because they did go 3-2 against  
> two Top 15
> teams this week, including an impressive 'last at-bat' come from  
> behind win
> over Arkansas on Wednesday and two convincing wins against what is  
> probably
> one of the top 2 or 3 pitching duos in Oklahoma State on Friday and
> Saturday. However, as you've been warned, the inconsistency of the  
> team is
> still keeping them from being one of the very best in the Big XII.  
> On one
> end they got just one run out of two bases-loaded no out situations on
> Wednesday and they were hancuffed by the least heralded pitcher they  
> saw on
> Sunday. On the other end, they went up against two of the best  
> pitchers
> they're going to see all year in Oliver and Lyons and treated them  
> like
> batting practice. For the pitchers, even though we dropped our walk/ 
> 9 rate
> this weekend, we are still walking too many and need to get that under
> control. The Big XII is just too darn competitive to be giving away  
> free
> passes. The bright side is, that when they play consistent baseball,  
> they've
> shown they can play with anybody.
>
> The Huskers take on Northern Colorado in the midweek before heading to
> Norman Oklahoma to face the #8 Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma can be  
> summed up
> in one word, offense. They lead the Big XII in runs (248), homeruns  
> (40),
> average (.348 team average), hits (309), doubles (63) and walks (111).
> Fortunately, they're 7th in the Big XII in pitching with a 5.16 ERA.  
> Expect
> some high scoring, whoever scores last types of games. If you're an
> old-fashioned pitchers duel kind of fan, you might want to look away.
>
> http://www.nebsports.com/2009/03/24/husker-baseball-blog-week-5/
>
> --
> Skylar
>
>
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jon johnston
jon.johnston at gmail.com