LINCOLN ‹ Following Tuesday's postponement against Creighton, the Nebraska baseball returns to action this weekend, hosting Texas Tech in a Big 12 series at Hawks Field.
Friday's first pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. with afternoon contests set for both Saturday (2:05 p.m.) and Sunday (1:05 p.m.).
The Huskers continued their strong early-season showing, going into Austin and taking two of three games against No. 13-ranked Texas to remain in first place in the Big 12 Conference race.
The Huskers (21-4-1, 7-1-1 Big 12) moved into the top 10 in two of the major polls this week. Nebraska is ranked as high as ninth by Collegiate Baseball and is 10th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. It is the first time the Huskers have cracked the top 10 of any national poll since Feb. 26, 2007, when they were ranked seventh by Collegiate Baseball.
Nebraska's 21-4-1 start is NU's second-best start this decade, as only the 2005 team's record through 26 games is better than the current start. In fact, the only other team in school history to get off to a better start at this point in the season was the 1983 squad, which won its first 26 games.
Also, Nebraska's 7-1-1 start after the first three weekends of conference action is its second-best start since the inception of the Big 12. The only team that got off to a faster start was the 1999 Huskers, who won eight of their first nine games en route to a 16-9 mark.
NU's .886 winning percentage represented the second-best month in school history, trailing only a perfect 22-0 month in March of 1983. Nebraska's 19 wins in March tied for the ninth-most victories by a Husker team in an month in school history.
Coach Larry Hays (805-461-3 in 22 years at Texas Tech) brings the Red Raiders to Lincoln with a 16-12 record and on a four-game win streak following a mid-week sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
With Wednesday's win over the Islanders, Hays became only the fourth coach in NCAA history to reach 1,500 wins in a career, as he won 795 games at Lubbock Christian before coming to Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders have played a challenging early Big 12 schedule, dropping series to both Texas A&M and Texas before besting second-ranked Missouri last week. Tech is 4-5 in the league with three of those losses coming by one run. Against Missouri, Texas Tech forged ninth-inning comebacks to win the final two games, including a six-run effort on Sunday, capped by a walk-off grand slam from Doug Thennis.
The Red Raiders feature one of the league's best players in outfielder Roger Kieschnick, who spent last summer playing for Team USA. Kieschnick is hitting .313 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs. He paces the league in homers, total bases and slugging percentage while tying for second in RBIs.
Willie Rueda is hitting a team-best .317 and paces the Big 12 with 18 stolen bases in 25 contests. Five starters are hitting over .300 on the season for the Red Raiders.
On the mound, Texas Tech has relied on its depth, with 11 pitchers combining for 16 wins. Chad Bettis and Russ Fornea lead the staff with three wins apiece, while closer Zach Stewart is 2-0 with three saves and a 2.66 ERA in 12 games.
Nebraska leads the all-time series, 22-19 dating back to a pair of games in 1990. The Red Raiders won the series last year with a walk-off homer by Doug Thennis in the series finale. Five of the last 10 games between the two teams have been decided by one run, including two of the three contests in Lubbock last season.
Series notes
Nebraska pitching coach Eric Newman faces his old program this weekend. Newman pitched for the Red Raiders in 1994 before being selected in the fifth round of the MLB Draft. He graduated from the school in 1997
Husker starting pitchers are 14-2 on the season and had won 14 straight decisions before Aaron Pribanic lost in Sunday's series finale at Texas.
Nebraska left-hander Dan Jennings has not allowed a run in his last 18 innings of work dating back to March 18. Jennings is 2-0 with a save and a 0.45 ERA in that stretch.
NU senior second basman Jake Opitz is hitting .375 with a homer, four RBIs and eight walks over his last five games.
NU-Texas Tech
FridayJohnny Dorn, Nebraska (3-0, 2.29 ERA) vs. Nate Karns, Texas Tech (1-4, 9.85 ERA), 6:35 p.m.
SaturdayThad Weber, Nebraska (5-1, 3.20 ERA) vs. AJ Ramos, Texas Tech (1-2, 5.29 ERA), 2:05 p.m.
SundayAaron Pribanic, Nebraska (2-1, 2.41 ERA) vs. Chad Bettis, Texas Tech (3-1, 4.75 ERA), 1:05 p.m.
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