• Nebraska vs Western Michigan preview
• No blackshirts says Bo Pelini
• Nebraska Football Week 1 Depth Chart Released
• Brent Qvale the newest commit for the Huskers
• New coaching staff doesn’t want to play “cupcakes”
• First day of practice has come and gone for the Huskers
• Nebraska’s first three games will be on Pay Per View
• Huskers get another verbal committment from Texas - This time Nick Ash
• Huskers get another committment from the state of Texas
• Ronnell Grixby won’t be playing in 2008
• Jesse Coffey says yes to Nebraska Football scholarship
• Husker talk at Big 12 Media Day
• Internet hoax about two Oklahoma players backfires on Husker fan
• Cody Green chooses Nebraska over Texas A&M
• Marlon Lucky and Joe Ganz appear on award watch lists

Lincoln, NE - The Husker bats came alive for a big 6-run 3rd inning which was way more than Husker starter Dan Jennings who went 6 innings and gave up just 3 hits for his 3rd win of the year 10-0.  Cody Neer powered the Huskers with a 2 for 4 day and 3 RBIs while Bryce Nimmo cotributed a 2 for 3 day with 2 RBIs and scored 3 times.

The third started off with a singles from DJ Belfonte and Jake Mort before Jake Opitz doubled home Belfonte.  Mitch Abeita grounded on the infield next, but the fielder tried to throw out Mort at home and Jake slid under the tag for a 4-0 advantage.  After Craig Corriston was hit by a pitch, Bryce Nimmo doubled a 1-0 pitch to right to bring home Abeita and Opitz.  Cody Neer followed that with a 2-RBI single bringing home Corriston and Nimmo.

For Northern Colorado, former Husker Jon Klausing took the loss.  In his tough start he gave up 8 runs in just 3 innings of work.

The two teams take the field again tomorrow at 1:35 pm before the Huskers travel to Austin, Texas to take on the Texas Longhorns at Disch Faulk field.

Lincoln, NE - The Huskers (15-2) and Junior lefty Dan Jennings put a damper on former Nebraska Head Coach Dave Van Horn’s first return to Lincoln with a 6-1 victory.  Coach Van Horn of course returns to Lincoln as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The complete game by Jennings was the first of his career, much longer than his previous high of 6 innings.  Jennings scattered 5 hits, walked just 2, and struck out 7.  Not only was Jennings sharp, but the defense also managed 4 double plays, including one in the 9th, to really stiffle anything the Razorbacks could get going.  The lone run was a single to right where if DJ Belfonte’s made a good throw that drifted up the line allowing the run to score.

From the dish, the Huskers found a little power scoring 5 out of the 6 runs via the homer.  In the 2nd Nick Sullivan crushed a 2-run blast into the right field bullpen to break a 1-1 tie.  Later in the 8th, Senior Catcher Mitch Abeita hit one out with 2 on and nobody out for the final 6-1 margin.  The first run came in the first off of the bat of Senior Bryce Nimmo who enjoyed a nice 2 for 3 day.

The win was the 14th in a row by the Huskers still leaves the Huskers 12 shy of the team record for consecutive victories.  That record was set by the 1983 Husker baseball team.

The 2-game set will wrap up tomorrow at 1:00pm at Haymarket in Lincoln before the Huskers welcome the Oklahoma Sooners to the Hawks field.

Manhattan, KS -Three freshman, David Stewart, Dan Johnston, and Mike Nesseth came through in a big way for the Huskers (14-2, 3-0) to complete the three game sweep of the Kansas State Wildcats (7-10, 0-3) 5-3 in the Sunday afternoon finale.  The win was the 13th in a row for the Huskers, the longest winning streak in the past 8 seasons for the Huskers.

In the top of the 9th, all hope seemed lost.  The Huskers were down 3-2, All-American closer Daniel Edwards is on the mound for Kansas State when true freshman David Stewart ripped a double to lead off the inning for the Huskers.  Dan Johnston came in to run for Stewart and eventually scored the tying run on a DJ Belfonte sacrifice fly.

Mike Nesseth nailed down the Cats in the bottom frame and the very next inning, Dan Johnston delivered the go ahead two-run single to left to put the Huskers up for good.  Sophomore Erik Anderson came on for the bottom of the 10th and faced the minimum 3 batters on just 15 pitches to earn his 3rd save of the year.  Nesseth and Anderson have been great all year for the Huskers as they have yet to give up an earned run.

The pitching as a whole was sharp today as starter Aaron Pribanic took a no-hitter into the 5th, but gave up 2 runs (both unearned) on 2 hits, a walk and an error when 2nd baseman Jake Opitz mishandled a ball and couldn’t recover in time to get the runner.

Nebraska jumped up early on a 2-run blast by senior catcher Mitch Abeita on a 1-0 pitched that he drilled over the left field wall.  KSU battled back with the two unearned in the 5th by Pribanic and the followed with another off reliever Zach Herr in the 6th after a walk, a sacrifice and an RBI single to take the lead.

Nick Sullivan and Jake Opitz both had a good day at the plate.  Opitz went 3 for 5 with a pair of runs scored and Sullivan went 3 for 3.

The Huskers return home to begin a two-game series against former Nebraska coach Dave Van Horn’s Arkansas Razorbacks beginning Tuesday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.

Lincoln, NE - Aaron Pribanic made a solid case to move up to the Sunday starter spot on Nebraska’s pitching rotation today with his 2nd straight complete game 7-0 win over visiting Northern Colorado (5-8).  The shutout was the first of the season for a Nebraska pitcher as the Huskers (10-2) completed the 4-game sweep of the Bears.

On the day, Pribanic allowed just 5 hits, struck out 7 and didn’t walk a single batter while throwing just 103 pitches.   The complete game lowered his ERA to 0.99 for the lowest ERA of the 4 starters (Dorn 1.35, Jennings 2.87, Weber 7.16).

The Husker bats were steady throughout scoring runs in all but the 1st and 5th innings.  DJ Belfonte led the way with a 3 for 5 day which included his homerun of the year.

Up next for the Huskers is South Dakota State in Lincoln tomorrow at 1:35 pm before they travel to Kansas State to take on the Wildcats for the first Big XII series of the season.

Lincoln, NE - The Huskers (9-2) took both ends of a doubleheader Sunday over the Northern Colorado Bears (5-7) 3-2 and 8-5.  The wins were the 7th and 8th consecutive victories, all of which started at the beginning of this 12 game home stand.

In the opener, the Huskers used a strong start from Junior right-hander Dan Jennings to fight off an equally strong start from former Husker Jon Klausing.  The Huskers managed just 3 hits against their former teammate, scoring just two runs, both in the 3rd inning.  DJ Belfonte coaxed a one-out walk and Jake Mort singled on a hit and run to put runners on the corners.  Senior Jake Opitz grounded out to first, but brought Belfonte home and moved up Jake Mort who was then brought home by a Bryce Nimmo RBI.

Northern Colorado got a run back in the 5th off a double and single (the only two hits allowed by Jennings).  Northern Colorado threatened again in the 7th when Jennings walked the first two batters and was relieved by Mike Nesseth.  Nesseth made a play on a sacrifice, but tried to get the lead runner and third and everyone was safe.

Nesseth managed to get the next hitter into a double play, but the damage was done and the tying run came across.  The game remained locked at 2 until the eigth when Craig Corriston singled home Mitch Abeita for the go ahead run.  Erik Anderson set the Bears down in order in the ninth for his first career save.

In game 2, the Huskers came out aggresive scoring four runs in the first inning and adding another in the 2nd off of David Stewart’s first career homer. 

Thad Weber was sharp early keeping a shutout through the 5 innings.  In the 6th however, he ran into trouble allowing 4 runs (2 earned) including a 2 run bomb by Kevin Sandberg.  He allowed 1 more in the 7th on an RBI double to bring the Bears within 3.

With the tying run at the plate, Zach Herr closed the door getting an inning ending groudout to end the threat.  Northern Colorado would not threaten again as Zach Heer struckout the next 5 batters before inducing a popout to end the game.  Zach ended with a career best 6 strikeouts over 2.2 innings of work to earn his first save of the year.

Despite Thad Weber’s rocky inning, the Husker pitching continues to be the suprise story for the Huskers.  The Bears have managed just 14 hits through 27 innings this weekend.  Plus, the Husker bullpen hasn’t allowed a run over the last 22 innings dating back to February 24th.

The Huskers play the series finale on Monday at 1:35 pm.  The Huskers send Junior JC transfer Aaron Pribanic (1-0, 1.86 ERA) to the hill against Senior Dan Kazell (0-0, 9.35 ERA) for Northern Colorado.

Lincoln, NE - The young season is barely over 2 weeks old and already there doesn’t seem to be enough to say about Senior right-handed pitcher Johnny Dorn.   Dorn led the Huskers (7-2) to a clear 12-2 victory over Northern Colorado (5-5) with an impressive career-high 13 strikeouts in 7 innings including striking out the first 7 batters.  Even though the Bears managed to scratch two runs off of him (1 unearned), Dorn was really in control all day.  The Bears managed just 3 hits off the Senior, none before the 5th inning.

For the offense, the Huskers used 2 big innings to put the game away early.   In the five-run 2nd inning, Bryce Nimmo, Cody Neer, Nick Sullivan, Ben Kline, DJ Belfonte and Jake Mort rattled off 6 consecutive base hits to give Johnny more than enough runs to put the game at 4-0.  Opitz added a sacrifice fly to cap the scoring at 5. 

On the day, Senior Bryce Nimmo led the way with a 3 for 4, 2 RBI, 2 Run day.  Freshman Ben Kline also added a 2 for 3 day with an RBI and 2 runs scored to increase his average to .310 for the season. 

But the real story of the day was on the mound.  Dorn has always been a solid pitcher for Nebraska and is 2nd on the career win (33) list behind Shane Komine (41) so it should be no suprise that Johnny’s pitching well, but never in his career has he been this dominant.  

Consider these numbers:

• 13.05 Ks/9 this year vs 6.87 a year ago  (71 all last year in 16 starts vs 29 in 3 this year)
• 5.23 ERA vs a miniscule 1.35 this year
• .149 Opponents Batting Average this year vs .270 Last Year

It’s way to early to draw any real conclusions, but what we’ve seen so far has made it tough to contain the excitement.  It should be exciting to watch as the young Huskers have showed a lot of promise early on.

On Sunday the two teams match up again at 12:05 pm for a double header.  The first game features Junior Dan Jennings (1-0, 2.79 ERA) vs former Nebraska pitcher Jon Klausing.  Klausing has impressed thus far for the Bears with a 1-0 record and a 1.50 ERA.

The two teams wrap up the series with a Monday afternoon game at 1:35 pm.  The series was pushed back 1 day in hopes to catch warmer temperatures for the game.