• Nebraska dominates Kansas State 56-28
• Husker Bball Opens Season with Win
• Huskers set to take on Kansas State
• Bo Pelini hands out some Blackshirts to the defense
• Cody Glenn has been suspended indefinitely
• 2008 Basketball Preview
• NebSports.Com welcomes two basketball bloggers!
• Suh and Helu lead the Huskers past the Jayhawks 45-35
• Huskers look to get back on track against Kansas
• Nebraska and Kansas set for PPV - NU/K-State possibly
• Huskers are crushed by the Sooners 62-28
• Nebraska and Oklahoma ready to renew rivalry
• Nebraska pulls out 32-20 victory over Baylor
• Brandon Rigoni vs Mark Manning Youtube Video
• Nebraska is ready for the Baylor Bears

Lincoln, NE - On a chilly 37 degree day with light rain, the Huskers (5-2) finished off the 4 game sweep of visiting UC Riverside (2-7).  The Husker bats didn’t mind the cold as they pounded out 14 hits and 13 runs to send UC Riverside home with a 13-1 defeat. 

The 13 runs was more than enough for JC transfer Aaron Pribanic who was making his first ever Division I start.  Pribanic tossed a complete game, 5 hitter (shortened) where he also struck out 5.

The hitting was highlighted by senior 2nd baseman Jake Opitz who was 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs to lead the Huskers. Jake Mort, Cody Neer, and Bryce Nimmo also contributed 2 RBIs a piece.

The win completes the four game sweep of the Highlanders and marks the first weekend-series sweep by the Huskers since sweeping a 3 game set over Texas Tech in April 2006 and the first four game weekend sweep since sweeping South Dakota State in March of 2005.

The Huskers next take the field on Tuesday at 1:35 pm in Lincoln vs in-state opponent UNK.

Lincoln, NE - You would think that a guy who’s 2nd on the alltime career win list going into his senior year with a program like NU would already be pretty decent, but what we’ve seen out of the Senior right hander so far this year is something even better.  Although he didn’t factor in the decision, his 7 inning 9 strikeout performance kept Riverside at bay while the Husker offense scraped together enough runs to win a 3-2 prototypical Friday pitcher’s deul over UC-Riverside.

Dorn’s only mistake today (of the season really) was in the second inning when he surrendered a two run blast to UC Riverside’s Ben Price that gave the Highlander’s the early 2-0 lead.

For Johnny, the first three years of his career would best be described as consitent, but not overpowering stuff.  This year we’re seeing something different.  He’s much more agressive, getting ahead of batters in early counts and mixing up his pitches in a way that is baffling batters.   He’s only allowed 2 earned runs in 13 innings work for a measly 1.38 ERA while striking out 16.  The 11 strikeouts per 9 innings he’s averaging this year far better than the 6.9 we saw last year.  The Huskers will certainly need him to step up and be the leader on this young pitching staff this year.

The Huskers used Mitch Abeita and Jeff Tezak solo home runs to even the score at 2 in the 2nd and 4th inning respectively off starter Stephen Penney.

With the score still knotted at 2, the Huskers appeared to be in serious trouble in the top of the 8th when back to back leadoff walks and a fielders choice infield single loaded the bases with no outs.  Junior Zach Herr and juco sophomore Erik Anderson struck out three consecutive batters to end the threat.

The very next inning, Ben Kline led off with a double down the line in left and came around to score on a wild pitch for the go ahead run.  The freshman from Omaha Central made some spectacular defensive stops in Palo Alto last week and this week he comes through with the bat.

Erik Anderson allowed a leadoff single in the 9th and a groundout moved the runner to 2nd, but struck out the final two hitters to end the game.

The defensive play of the game came in the Top of the 5th when DJ Belfonte dove in foul territory to end the inning and slid into the temporary fences put up around a swamp like area on the field.

The two teams face off in a double header on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 12:05pm.  The second game is slated to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.