Husker BaseballLincoln, NE - The Huskers (17-3-1, 5-0-1)  played to a 8-8 tie after 11 innings because of Oklahoma’s travel rules.   The Huskers missed a sure double play ball in the top of the 9th, but were still just 1 strike away from a 6-3 victory over the Sooners before a two-run single brought them within 1.  The Sooners took the lead just two pitches later when Aaron Baker parked a 1-0 pitch over the fence in the right.

The Huskers wouldn’t go down easy though, Senior Mitch Abeita homered to lead off the 9th and a few batters later, Dan Johnston hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Nick Sullivan to tie the game.

The Sooners again threatened in the 10th, when Mike Nesseth threw what looked to be another sure double play ball into center field.  However, the Freshman managed to get the next three batters to get out of the jam.

Early on, the Sooners jumped to a 2-1 lead after just 1 inning.  They extended that lead to 3-1 after the top half of the 5th inning. In the bottom of that frame, the Huskers battled back scoring 3 runs.  The first came from a bases loaded single from nick Sullivan and then Bryce Nimmo followed two batters later with a 2-run single of his own.  Sullivan and Nimmo extended that lead in the 7th with a sac-fly and RBI single respectively.

The tie spoiled a decent outing from Junior Aaron Pribanic.  Aaron pitched 7.2 innings and gave up just 3 runs and was in line for the win before the debacle in the 9th.

The Huskers take the field next on Tuesday when they face Northern Colorado for the 3rd time this year.  The game is slotted for a 6:35pm first pitch.  Junior Dan Jennings will most likely get the start with Eric Bird going on Wednesday for the 1:35 pm game.  The Huskers then travel to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns for a 3 game set.



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Husker BaseballLincoln, NE - As kids we’ve all pretended we’re at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the game on the line.  Last night, Senior Craig Corriston didn’t have to pretend.  Since Corriston hadn’t hit a home run in about 11 months and there was a strong wind blowing in from left field it seemed quite unlikely that Corriston would be able to hit one out there.  Sure enough as soon as the 2-0 pitch left the bat, all 3,616 in attendance knew the game was over and the Huskers (16-3, 4-0) would win 4-2.

From the mound Johnny Dorn might have earned the nickname of “Houdini” with his inate ability to escape seemingly every threat by OU.  It certainly wasn’t his most dominant performance, as he gave up 9 hits over 7.1 innings, struck out a season low 3, and allowed runners in scoring position in 6 of those 7 innings.  The key to his success?  The Sooners finished the day a measly 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

After Dorn got into a little trouble in the 7th, Zach Herr came in and shut the Sooners down.  His 1.2 innings of scoreless work allowed him to earn his second win of the year.

Nick Sullivan also helped power the Husker offense.  Not only did his 9th inning single allow Corriston to come to the plate, but he tied the game in the bottom of the 7th with a pair of RBIs of his own on a bases-loaded single. 

The win keeps the Huskers undefeated in the conference at 4-0.  They will try to keep that unbeaten record tomorrow as the Huskers take on the Sooners at Haymarket Park at 2:05 pm.



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Husker BaseballLincoln, 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.



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Husker BaseballManhattan, 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.



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HuskersLincoln, 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.



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