• Marlon Lucky and Joe Ganz appear on award watch lists
• Eshaunte Jones appears to be headed to Nebraska
• Want to play NCAA Football 2008 with Grant Wistrom?
• Will Khiry Cooper stay in Lincoln or sign with the Los Angeles Angels?
• Hunter Teafatiller gets third DUI in the last year
• Walter Roese has joined the Nebraska mens basketball staff
• Huskers host regionals this weekend
• What former Husker Trev Alberts thinks about the 2008 team
• Husker hoops recruit Roburt Sallie won’t be making it to Lincoln
• Dorn and Herr save the day
• Huskers Drop 4th Straight to Bears
• Big inning sinks #5 Huskers
• Huskers get commitment #5 as Dontrayevous Robinson pledges
• C.J. Zimmerer gets Nebraska offer and quickly accepts
• Huskers sweep doubleheader with dramatic comebacks

Oklahoma City, OK - The Huskers had given up 46 runs in the last 29 innings.  They’d lost the last 4 games by a combined 30 runs.  They deseperately needed something, a spark, someone to step up and say, “Enough is enough”.  

Tonight, Johnny Dorn was that guy as the Huskers topped the Wildcats 5-2.  Dorn came in and shut down the Wildcats in impressive fashion.  He allow 2 runs, but both were unearned following a Jake Mort error at third.  He got out of rough situation after rough situation, seeming to just will his way out.  He seemed to just want it more than the other team. 

Overall, Johnny allowed 0 earned runs over 6.2 innings while striking out 3.  Zach Herr came in and at first, it looked like the bullpen might let us down again.  With 1 runner on, Zach hit the very first batter with a pitch and then uncorked a wild pitch to move both runners into scoring position.  Zach later managed to strikeout the last batter of the inning, in fact, he struck out 6 out of the 7 outs he recorded.

For the offense, Jake Opitz stole the day.  He had 2 RBIs on a large blast to left center.  Mitch Abeita and Tyler Farst also each drove in a run.

The win was the 40th of the year.  The Huskers next face the Oklahoma State Cowboys tomorrow for a chance to head to the championship game.  The Huskers need Kansas State to beat Baylor in the finale on Saturday to allow the Huskers to advance.

Oklahoma City, OK - The #7 Huskers have had a tough time finding that spark that has made this team so special all year long.  Last weekend the Husker looked competitive for the first 7 innings of a 3 game set in Columbia versus the Tigers.  Then, Johnny Dorn came out of the game and the Huskers have been outscored 46-16 since then.

That includes Wednesday’s 10-4 loss to the underacheiving Baylor Bears.  The team that took pride from it’s pitching has found itself desperately searching for someone who can throw strikes.  The team that averaged 3.17 walks per game before the Mizzouri series has walked 25 in their last 4 games, just over 6 per game.

Wednesday’s game was no exception.  Dan Jennings, who has cooled off of late perhaps due to being a little worn out, walked 5 in 6 innings although he only gave up 3 earned runs in the process.  Zach Herr, who’s been a staple in the bullpen, replaced Jennings and walked the first two batters he faced and left without retiring a single hitter.

Fortunately for the Huskers, Dorn will take the mound again on Friday against lowly Kansas State.  Perhaps Dorn stop the issue before the flood gates open.  Great pitchers are known for breaking losing streaks and we’re in the middle of one in what’s probably the worst possible time.  A good solid win the Nebraska way with good pitching, good fielding and solid fundamentals could be just what the doctor ordered, and not a moment too soon.

Lincoln, NE - Both the #9 Aggies and the #5 Huskers (36-9-1, 15-6-1) came into tonight’s game undefeated in extra inning games.  Texas A&M has had a magical run of 15 straight conference wins, 9 of which were come from behind including a 6-run comeback in the bottom of the 9th a few weeks ago.  Both teams have had that special something that allows them to find a way to win, so it’s not suprising both teams remained deadlocked for so long.  The Aggies used a double in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded on 3 infield singles to take the final 6-3 lead.

The Huskers used some real magic to push the game into the extra frames.  Trailing 2-1 since the 2nd inning, Jake Mort laced a triple to left in the 7th to open the inning.  It looked grim, however, when 2 outs were recorded and Jake was still sitting at third.  Mort would finally tie up the game on a wild pitch with Craig Corriston at the plate.

Even though Texas A&M struck right back with a run of their own, the Huskers wouldn’t go quietly.  In bottom of the 9th inning with 1 out, it was Jake Mort again who tied it up for the Huskers when he scored on a Craig Corriston groundout to short. 

The pitching for the Huskers was again, spectacular.  Dorn pitched a solid 8 innings, giving up just 2 earned runs (and 1 unearned) while scattering 5 hits and striking out 6. Mike Nesseth came in and pitched a hitless 9th, but the performance of the night went to Zach Herr.  Herr came in for the 10th and pitched 4 solid innings, didn’t allow a single baserunner and struck out 6.

Dan Jennings was saddled with the loss, although he pitched very well even though his stat line doesn’t show it.  In the fateful 16th, he allowed 3 infield singles, two of which probably could have been outs.  Then, with the bases loaded and 1 out, he got a strikeout and Big XII leading hitter Dan Carter to popout behind the catcher, but Abeita didn’t play it well and it fell harmlessly to the turf.  And, as often happens in baseball, Carter exploits that second chance with a bases-clearing double to right center to give the Aggies their final lead.

At the plate, few Huskers had a great night, although Mort had 2 hits and scored all 3 runs for the Huskers.  The biggest issue was the Huskers inability to drive runs in.  They left over 15 runners on the basepaths (sorry I lost count, I think it’s closer to 18).  

The two teams will try to squeeze in a game Saturday between the bouts of rain at 2:05pm.

Lincoln, NE - The Huskers (36-8-1, 15-5-1) took two games from Louisiana-Lafayette winning 4-3 in both games.  The wins mark the 4th consecutive victory for the Huskers and is the 250th victory for Head Coach Mike Anderson. 

Game 1 - The first game was a continuation of a unfortunate pattern, Johnny Dorn pitches a great game yet doesn’t walk away with a victory.  Johnny pitched for 7.2 innings, scattered 5 hits, struck out 11 and gave up 3 earned runs.   However, when he left the game, the scored was knotted at 3. 

Dorn ran into a little trouble with 2 outs in the 7th when Zach Herr came in and struckout the last batter to end the inning.  In the bottom of the frame, Cody Neer knocked in the go ahead run to put Herr in position to earn the win.  Herr came out for the ninth and after a leadoff popout, he struck out the final two batters to seal the win.  With the win, Herr moved to 3-0 on the year.

Cody Neer powered the Husker offense in game one with a 2 for 4 day and 2 RBIs.  Ben Kline, Mitch Abeita, and Nick Sullivan also added 2 hits apiece to help lead the charge.

Game 2 - The nightcap was a 14 inning thriller that ended with Mitch Abeita hitting an RBI grounder up the middle to score Jake Mort from 2nd in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 14th.

The MVP of the game might be Mike Nesseth though.  Mike came in to relieve Dan Jennings in the 9th and threw 3 innings, not allowing a single hit and striking out 6.  He helped keep the Rajin Cajuns at bay until the Huskers could put up a run and walk away with a victory.  Erik Bird came in to relieve Nesseth and pitched two scoreless innings to earn his 3rd win.

Aaron Pribanic got the start ahead of Thad Weber who couldn’t be with the team so he could be present for the birth of his first child.  Pribanic went 6 innings and gave up just 2 earned runs in a nice bounce back from a few rough starts in recent weeks.

Dan Johnston, Jake Opitz, Mitch Abeita and Bryce Nimmo all chipped in 2 hits apiece.   Mort drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 14th and stole 2nd before Abeita drilled the ball up the middle to score Mort for the game winner. 

The Huskers used a dramatic 2-run 9th inning to tie it and send it into extra innings.  They scored both runs with 2 outs, including the 2nd on an error by the 3rd baseman to tie it up.

The Huskers take the week off for finals week before Texas A&M Aggies come to town in what is turning out to be the showdown for the Big XII title.  The Aggies enter the series having won 15 straight Big XII games, a league record.  They lead the league in about every offensive category and are just behind the Huskers in pitching.  It will be the 2nd time this year that Haymarket has played host to two Top 10 nationally ranked teams.  The first time was when Nebraska played Wichita State, who was then #5 in the country.

The Aggies are ranked as high as #6 (and as low as #10) coming into this week.  The first pitch is set for 6:35 pm on Friday night with Johnny Dorn getting the start.  Hopefully, we can see Johnny pitch well AND pickup a win in one game.

Waco, TX - The Huskers (31-7-1, 14-4-1) haven’t had very much luck in Waco for a long time.  Before today the Huskers were an abysmal 1-12 in Waco, easily their worst record at any Big XII destination.  The first game threatened to continue that aweful trend, when Baylor hit a dramatic 2-run home run of reliever Dan Jennings to tie the game with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th.  However, DJ Belfonte knocked in 2 go ahead runs for the 2nd time late in the game for the 6-4 win in the first half of the double header.

In an all to common trend, Johnny Dorn was excellent, but still failed to get the decision.  He pitched 7 innings, gave up just 4 hits and walked 3 while striking out 7.  He allowed 2 runs to score, both in the Baylor 5th, the only inning where he seem to face any trouble.  Dorn was in position to earn the win, when DJ Belfonte knocked in two runs in the 8th just before Dorn was lifted.

The Huskers took the early lead in the 2nd inning when Craig Corriston launched a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall.  After the Bears took the 2-1 lead in the 5th, Corriston singled home a run to tie it up again.

After the dramatic comeback in the 9th by the Bears, DJ Belfonte did it again, grounding a single up the middle in the 10th scoring Jake Opitz and Nick Sullivan for the final advantage.

Mike Nesseth earned the win, who came in to relieve Dan Jennings in the 9th and Zach Herr earned his 4th save allowing just 1 hit in the 10th.

The Huskers and Bears finish up the double header in the nightcap as the Huskers try to get their first ever series win in Waco.

Lincoln, NE - The Huskers (29-7-1, 13-4-1) couldn’t get much going against Creighton starter Greg Hellhake.  They managed just 4 hits and 0 runs in his 5 innings.  When Creighton went to the bullpen in the 6th, the Huskers took advantage and scored all their runs in a 4-3 victory in that frame.

Jake Mort opened the frame with a base hit up the middle and moved up to 2nd on a wild pitch.  Two batters later, Senior Catcher Mitch Abeita singled to left, scoring Mort to tie up the game at 1 apiece.  Even though Nick Sullivan popped out on the next play, the Huskers weren’t done.  After and Abeita steal, Creighton intentionally walked Craig Corriston to setup the force out.   Unfortunately, Creighton’s Jeremy Hauer couldn’t find his control, walking DJ Belfonte. 

Creighton brought in T.J. Roemmich who plunked Freshman left fielder Dan Johnston to give the Huskers their first and final lead.  After another pitching change, freshman Ben Kline singled home Belfonte and Corriston to extend the lead to 4-1.

It was a good thing for the Huskers too, because the next inning, Junior Nick Nordgren parked a 1-0 Erik Anderson pitch in the left-center berms to trim the lead to one.

On the mound, the Huskers got yet another excellent outing from Junior Dan Jennings.  Although his 30-inning scoreless streak ended in the 4th, he pitched 6 solid innings, walked 1, and gave up just 3 hits while striking out 5.  Zach Herr and Mike Nesseth combined to closeout the game with Nesseth earning his 4th save of the year.

The Huskers and Bluejays both make the 50-mile trek up I-80 for tomorrow night’s game as the two teams make up for the weather postponed contest on April 1st.  First pitch is set for 6:35pm and the Huskers send Erik Bird to the mound, fresh off his brilliant performance against top 10 Wichita State Shockers last week.

Lincoln, NE - Senior catcher Mitch Abeita hit one home run all last year.  Today Abeita hit his 7th home run of the year, a grand slam in the 4th inning that gave the Huskers (28-6-1, 13-3-1) a 4-2 lead.  The 8-6 win over the Jayhawks gave Nebraska the series win, their 5th Big XII series win out of 6 tries.

Senior Thad Weber picked up his 7th win of the year (7-2), although it was not his best outing of the year, giving up 4 runs over 5 innings and struck out 7.  Zach Herr picked up his 3rd save of the year with a solid 1.2 innings of scoreless work to finally shut down the Jayhawks. 

8,697 fans watched as the Huskers loaded the bases with just one single by Bryce Nimmo, a misplayed bunt from Jake Mort and a walk to Jake Opitz.  Then Abeita drilled the 2-1 pitch over the left field wall for the grand slam and the 4-2 lead.

The Jayhawks would tie it again in the next inning, but the Huskers would grab the lead right back.  Ben Kline opened the inning with a single. On a brilliant call bike Coach Anderson, Kline took off on the pitch while Nimmo faked the bunt and leaned across the plate and slapped a ground ball right back where the shortstop covering 2nd orginally was.  Ben Kline hustled around 2nd and just beat the throw to third while Nimmo smartly took 2nd when he saw the throw was to third.  Two batters later, Opitz would ground out to the 1st baseball and score Kline from third, giving the Huskers back the lead for good.

In the next inning, the Huskers would add a couple more.  Corriston was hit by the pitch to open the frame and then brought home on a DJ Belfonte double to right center.  DJ would eventually come around to score on a Bryce Nimmo single to 2nd base where he just beat out the throw to give the Huskers a 7-4 advantage.

The Jayhawks would pull back within 1 off of a double in the 7th and a solo home run in the 8th that would chase reliver Mike Nesseth to bring the score to 7-6.  But the Huskers would add an insurance run in the 8th when Jake Opitz hit an infield single just past a running 3rd baseman and score Kline who doubled 3 batters earlier.

Zach Herr walked the leadoff batter in the 9th, but put the next three down in order to earn the save and the Husker victory.

The win kept the Huskers just a half game out of first place in the Big XII behind Texas A&M who beat Baylor 11-1 on Saturday.  The Huskers will go for the sweep tomorrow at Hawks Field at 1:05 pm.  The game will be televised on NET sports across the state of Nebraska.

Lincoln, NE - In their freshman years, Erik Bird and Zach Herr were one of the best bullpen combinations in the country.    In 2006 The two combined for a 2.14 ERA, giving up just 5 earned runs over 21 innings pitched on the year.  Tonight was something of a flashback as the two combined for a complete game 3-0 shutout of the #5 Wichita State Shockers (27-6).

The win moves the Huskers to 26-6-1 and helped the Huskers bounce back from a difficult weekend in Stillwater where the Huskers went 1-2, including a 19-2 pasting from the Cowboy’s on Saturday.

The Huskers got some early offense with four consecutive singles from Jake Mort, Jake Opitz, Mitch Abeita, and Nick Sullivan.  Mort and Opitz singled to set the table for back to back RBis by Abeita and Sullivan.

The 2-0 lead was all Bird needed as he went 6 2/3 innings, gave up just 3 hits and struck out 4.  Herr came in and struck out 4 in 2 1/3 innings to close out the game for the save.

Next up for the Huskers, the Jayhawks visit Lincoln for a 3:35 matchup, pushed back so fans can attend both the spring game and the baseball game. 

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.