Huskers Unveil Challenging 2008 Schedule

An impressive home schedule, 27 games against NCAA Tournament teams and a season-opening trip to national power Stanford highlight the 2008 Nebraska baseball schedule released Thursday.

The Huskers, who reached the title game of an NCAA Regional for the sixth time in the last eight seasons in 2007, will be tested against a slate that features five teams – Arkansas, Texas, Wichita State, Texas A&M and Missouri – which were No. 1 seeds in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

According to Head Coach Mike Anderson, the Huskers’ non-conference schedule, which also features NCAA qualifiers UC Riverside, Louisiana-Lafayette and Creighton, will prepare Nebraska for the rigors of Big 12 action. Anderson credited the Huskers’ tough non-conference slate in 2007 as a key reason the Big Red reached postseason play for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.

“We’re going to challenge ourselves again with this schedule,” Anderson said. “We understand that, but it was worth it to get our team ready for the postseason.”

“Last year was an example where playing a tough schedule paid off in getting into the NCAA Tournament,” Anderson said. “Because of the tough non-conference schedule we played and the wins against good teams outside of the Big 12, it not only helped us prepare for the conference, but also helped us in the NCAA Regional.”

The 55-game regular-season schedule includes 32 home games, including a four-game series with NCAA qualifier UC Riverside to open the home schedule on Feb. 29. Other marquee non-conference tilts include a two-game series with SEC power Arkansas (March 18-19), a three-game series against Louisiana-Lafayette (May 2-4) and single games against Wichita State (April 15) and Creighton (April 22).

The Huskers open the 2008 season at Stanford’s Sunken Diamond for a four-game series with the Cardinal Feb. 22-24. It marks the Huskers’ first trip to Stanford since the 2000 Super Regional. One week later, the Huskers will open the home campaign with another familiar foe, as UC Riverside visits Hawks Field for a four-game series. The Huskers took on the Highlanders, who won the Big West Conference title in 2007, at the Tempe Regional last June. The four-game set begins a 10-game homestand prior to the Huskers’ Big 12 opener at Kansas State on March 14.

Following the series at K-State, Nebraska begins a seven-game homestand with a bang, as Arkansas makes its first-ever visit to Hawks Field for a two-game series on March 18-19. The week continues with a key Big 12 Conference series against Oklahoma and two games against Northern Colorado. The Huskers wrap up the month with a series at defending Big 12 regular-season champion Texas.

The month of April is heavy into conference action, as NU hosts Texas Tech (April 4-6) and Kansas (April 18-20) and travels to Oklahoma State (April 11-13) and Baylor (April 25-27). The Huskers will play several midweek contests including the first two games of a three-game series with Creighton (April 1 and April 22) as well as matchups with Iowa (April 8), Wichita State (April 15) and two games against Western Illinois (April 29-30) which begin NU’s final homestand of the year.

The Huskers will spend the first two weekends of May at Hawks Field, hosting Louisiana-Lafayette (May 2-4) and Big 12 Tournament champion Texas A&M (May 9-11) in the final home weekend of the regular-season. NU wraps up its three-game series with Creighton in the annual game at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium on Tuesday, May 13, before closing conference play at Missouri on May 16-18.

Postseason play begins with the annual Big 12 Tournament at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City from May 21-25 before NCAA Regionals (May 30-June 2), NCAA Super Regionals (June 6-9) and the College World Series (June 14-25) at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Press Release

For the full Schedule

Stanford Releases 2008 schedule!

Mark Marquess has put together a very impressive schedule for the 2008 season. It includes home games against big 12 foe Nebraska at the Sunken Diamond as well as CS Fullerton visiting a week later. Then they go on the road to Austin Texas to play against a very talented ball club in University of Texas. Coach Mark Marquess has been at the helm of Stanford Baseball for 32 years. Coach Marquess has always put together a very High Quality product at Stanford and this year will be no different. Look for Stanford to make some noise this year in Pac 10 play as they get closer to Regional tournament time. For the full article click here.

Aggie Baseball Announces 2008 Schedule

The defending Big 12 Champion Texas A&M baseball team will play 39 home games in 2008, including 20 straight to start the year, head coach Rob Childress announced Monday.

Half of the Aggies' games in 2008 will be played against teams who made the NCAA Tournament in 2007, including Ohio State, Arkansas, Rutgers, Oklahoma State, Rice, Baylor, Missouri, TCU, Sam Houston State, Nebraska and Texas. All but seven of A&M's opponents return to the diamond off winning seasons.

Texas A&M Release.

Complete Schedule

NCAA suspends three Nebraska players

The NCAA has suspended three Nebraska baseball players after trading baseball bats for store credits. Andy Gerch took the biggest hit as he will be suspended for the first 12 games of the 2008 season while Craig Corriston will be missing the first six games. The NCAA has also suspended Jeff Lanning for six games as he has recently transferred to New Orleans for next season. Mike Anderson said that the players could face discipline from the university also. The full article is available from the AP here.

Doyle leads YD to Game 1 victory over Falmouth

FROM CCBL RELEASE
SOUTH YARMOUTH, Mass.- The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox were in control of game one of the Cape Cod Baseball League Championship Series from the first batter all the way to the end. After both teams swept their divisional series, the Red Sox kept their momentum going while taking the wind out of Falmouth’s sails winning 8-2.

Game two of the Championship series will be played at Guv. Fuller Field in Falmouth at 7 PM August 13 as the Red Sox will be looking to win their third title in four years. Tonight’s crowd of 4.335 is expected to matched tomorrow in what could be the last game of the 2007 season.

Falmouth starter Shooter Hunt (Tulane) was chased from the game after pitching just 2 1/3 innings giving up four runs on four hits. Hunt started the game by relinquishing a homer to the first batter he faced, Grant Green (Southern California) who also blasted a solo shot in the fifth inning off of reliever Preston Claiborne (Tulane).

The second year starter for Falmouth, who also allowed Buster Posey (Florida State) to score on a sacrifice fly by Gordon Beckham (Georgia) in the first, left the game in the third after giving up a single to Jason Castro (Stanford) and a walk to leftfielder Aaron Luna (Rice) to start the inning. Preston Claiborne, Hunt’s college teammate, came in and gave up a walk to load the bases, but the Red Sox could not cash in on the opportunity as Claiborne struck out Collin Cowgill (Kentucky) and induced a ground ball out from Joey Railley (University of San Francisco) to end the threat.

The Red Sox scored twice in the second off of Hunt thanks to an RBI double by second baseman Railley that drove in Cowgill and a ground ball by the tall middle infielder turned first baseman Green that plated Railley to go up 4-0. Green moved to first base for the postseason after an elbow injury to Sean Ochinko (LSU) in the last game of the regular season left a hole in the lineup for Y-D.

For Yarmouth-Dennis Terry Doyle (Boston College), the 2006 Co-Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, collected the win giving up just two runs on four hits. He struck out seven Commodores, walking three and racking up four wild pitches in his last Cape League start in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Two of those wild pitches led to a Falmouth run as second baseman David Adams (Virginia) took both third and home on pitches that hit the dirt in front of the plate and got by Buster Posey (Florida State). The 6 foot 2 inch 205 pound power hitter, who led the Commodores with 51 hits on the season, reached second base on a double that just missed leaving the park bouncing off the left field fence in front of the score board at Red Wilson Field.

Adam’s scored the second Falmouth run in the sixth inning after reaching on a single, stealing second base, advancing to third on another Doyle wild pitch and coming home on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Phil Carey (Winthrop).

The Red Sox collected three insurance runs in the eighth of off reliever Erik Bird (Nebraska). Green collected his fourth RBI of the night, and Posey and right fielder Matt Long (Santa Clara) each drove in one run putting the final tally at eight for the Red Sox.

DJ Mauldin (Cal Poly State) shut down the Falmouth Commodores to close out the game, pitching 2 2/3 shutout innings to keep Doyle’s seventh win of the season in tact.
For Doyle, there couldn’t be a better way to finish his Cape League career than with back-to-back championships.

“It would be great (to win again), last year was a lot of fun but to be able to go back to back, which nobody’s done in a while, would be great. I mean, everybody likes winning,” said Doyle.

Photo is courtesy of Codball

2008 Arkansas Schedule

Hognation.net which is a fan site for Arkansas Razorbacks fans has posted the 2008 schedule. The Razorbacks open up on February 22nd when they host Wright State for a three game set. They will also take part in the Aggie Baseball Classic where they will play Louisiana Tech, Texas A&M, and Ohio State. The other highlights on the schedule is a two game sets at Arizona State and at Nebraska. These tough out of conference games should prepare the Razorbacks well for the tough SEC.

Full Schedule

Tempe Regional Day 3 Recap

Nebraska 11 UC-Riverside 1

The Huskers stayed alive with an 11-1 victory over UC-Riverside in an elimination game on Sunday. Johnny Dorn pitched a gem by letting up one run on five hits while striking out twelve batters. Nebraska advanced to face Arizona State in the Regional Final.

Nebraska Game Recap
UC-Riverside Game Recap

Arizona State 19 Nebraska 7

ASU took care of the Huskers 19-7 after the Nebraska pitching staff fell apart from having to come through the loser's bracket. Arizona State advances to the Super Regionals to face Ole Miss.

ASU Game Recap
Nebraska Game Recap

Tempe Regional Day 2 Recap

Nebraska 6 Monmouth 5

Nebraska survived a late rally from Monmouth to win the elimination game from Monmouth on Saturday evening. Nebraska scored five runs in the seventh inning which was highlighted by a big two run double from Jake Opitz. Monmouth ends the season with a 36-24-1 record while Nebraska advances to play UC-Riverside on Sunday.

Nebraska Recap
Monmouth Recap

ASU 9 UC-Riverside 2

Mike Leach pitched a complete game while giving up two runs as the Sun Devils picked up a 9-2 victory over UC-Riverside. Petey Paramore led the Sun Devils offense by going 3-4 with 2 RBI as the Sun Devils advance in the winner's bracket to take on the winner of the UC-Riverside vs Nebraska elimination game tomorrow.

ASU Recap
UC-Riverside Recap

Tempe Regional Day 1 Recap

UC-Riverside 10 Nebraska 5

The Highlanders picked up a solid 10-5 victory over Nebraska. They were led by Jaime Pedroza who went 2-4 with four RBI including a home run. UC-Riverside will take on Arizona State on Saturday while Nebraska battles Monmouth.

UC-Riverside Recap
Nebraska Recap

Arizona State 5 Monmouth 3

Kiel Roling went 2-3 with three runs scored as the Sun Devils defeated Monmouth 5-3. ASU will take on UC-Riverside and Monmouth will play Nebraska.

ASU Recap
Monmouth Recap

Tempe Regional

Arizona State will be hosting the NCAA Regional this upcoming weekend at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. They will be joined by UC-Riverside, Nebraska, and Monmouth.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils (43-13) have one of the best offenses in the country with a team batting average of .349. They have 11 players who are batting over .300 on the year. Brett Wallace leads the team in average at .426 including 15 homers and 73 RBI. Josh Satow has become the ace of the staff as he has an 11-3 record with a 2.23 ERA. They open the tournament at 7 pm PDT against Monmouth.

Arizona State Tourney Notes

UC-Riverside

The UC-Riverside (37-19) Baseball squad is led by one of the top pitchers in the country in James Simmons. He leads the team with a 10-3 record and a 2.32 ERA. He recently was named the Big West pitcher of the year. The offense is led by Joey Gonzales who is hitting .360 on the season. They will open up against Nebraska at 2 pm PDT.

UC-Riverside Tourney Notes

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers (30-25) are in the midst of a rebuilding year. They are led by Jeff Tedak who leads the team with a .331 average. The Huskers will be without starting catcher Mitch Abeita who is out for the Regionals with a broken leg. The Husker pitching staff is headlined by Tony Watson who is 6-4 with a 3.94 ERA. Nebraska opens up against UC-Riverside at 2pm PDT.

Nebraska Tourney Notes

Monmouth

Monmouth (36-22-1) enters this weekend as the automatic bid out of the Northeast Conference after defeating Central Connecticut State in the championship game 7-1 in which the CBB attended. The full article is available by clicking here. They are led by Kyle Messineo who is hitting .346 on the season and leads the team in stolen bases with an outstanding 41 on the season. Ryan Buch and Brad Brach both went 9-2 on the year to lead the pitching staff. Monmouth opens against Arizona State at 7 pm PDT.

Monmouth Tourney Notes

The CBB predicts that Arizona State will win the Regional fairly easily.

Six Big 12 Schools Earn Places in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship!

Texas (44-15) earns a top seed in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Baylor, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M also hold spots in the 64-team bracket.

Big 12.com

Texas (44-15), which was selected to host an NCAA regional for the 23rd time, was named the No. 1 seed for the regional in Round Rock. The Longhorns will be joined by No. 2 seed UC Irvine (40-15-1), No. 3 seed Wake Forest (33-27) and No. 4 seed Brown (27-19).

TexasSports.com

The Texas A&M baseball team will host Louisiana-Lafayette, Ohio State, and Le Moyne in the NCAA College Station Regional this weekend the NCAA announced on Monday

Texas A&M

The University of Missouri has been chosen as one of 16 schools to play host to NCAA Baseball Regional action, as announced today by the NCAA. The 11th-ranked Tiger baseball team, which finished second in the Big 12 Conference this season and sports a 40-16 overall record, will play host to a four-team, double-elimination tournament June 1st-4th at Taylor Stadium, with the winner advancing to a Super Regional site to be determined.

The 64-team field was announced on Monday. Joining the Tigers in the Columbia Regional will be Miami, Louisville and Kent State. Mizzou is the No. 1 seed in the regional and will face Kent State at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Miami and Louisville will play at 1 p.m.
Missouri Tigers

Baylor's baseball team received its 14^th invitation to the NCAA Tournament, the Division I Tournament Selection Committee announced Monday morning. The Bears are the No. 3 seed at the Houston Regional, hosted by Rice University at Reckling Park. Baylor faces second-seeded and 16^th-ranked TCU in the first round Friday, June 1, at 2 p.m. CDT.

Baylor Bears

The Nebraska baseball team will make its eighth NCAA Regional appearance in the last nine years this week, as the Huskers will travel to Arizona for the NCAA Tempe Regional.

The Huskers (30-25), who finished fourth in the Big 12, will take on Big West Conference champion UC Riverside (37-19) in Friday’s first match-up at 4 p.m. (central) from Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.

Arizona State (43-13) is the region’s top seed and the No. 5 National Seed in the NCAA Tournament. They will take on Northeast Conference champion Monmouth (36-22-1) at 9 p.m. (central).

Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Oklahoma State Cowboys were awarded a No. 3 seed in the 2007 NCAA Fayetteville Regional in Fayetteville, Ark., it was announced Monday.

OSU finished third in the Big 12 Conference regular-season standings and will bring a 38-19 overall record into the the tournament. Joining the Cowboys in Fayetteville are host and top-seeded Arkansas, who owns a 41-19 record and is also the No. 7 national seed, along with second-seeded Creighton (44-14) and fourth-seeded Albany (29-27).

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Texas takes advantage of Husker miscues

Joseph Krebs put together his longest start of the season to lead No. 5 Texas to a 6-2 win over Nebraska in Big 12 Conference baseball action at Haymarket Park on Sunday evening. With the win, Texas has won all six conference series on the year.

Krebs (5-0) picked up the victory with his longest career outing. He allowed just two unearned runs in the first inning. For the game, Krebs scattered four hits and four walks while striking out three over 6.1 innings. Boone finished the game with 2.2 innings of one-hit relief. He struck out three of the eight batters he faced.

For the second consecutive game, Texas (33-12, 14-4) pounced early with two runs in the top of the first inning. With one out, Chance Wheeless tripled to the wall in right centerfield and Kyle Russell followed with his 23rd home run of the season, a shot over the wall in left centerfield. With the dinger, Russell moved into 10th place on the Big 12 Conference single season home run list.

Nebraska (23-17, 8-10) responded with a pair of error-aided runs in the bottom of the first to tie the score at 2-2. With one out, Jeff Tezak reached on a fielding error by UT shortstop Michael Demperio. A fielder’s choice by put Andrew Brown in Tezak’s place at first. Jake Opitz drew a walk and another error by Demperio on a grounder by Craig Corriston loaded the bases, setting up a two-run single up the middle by Andy Gerch.

Texas regained the lead in the top of the fourth. Nick Peoples hit a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Preston Clark. Travis Tucker hit an infield single to put runners at first and second. Jordan Danks followed with a single to leftfield, plating Peoples. Wheeless kept the rally alive with a single to leftfield driving in Tucker. Russell hit a double to rightfield pushing Danks across. The Longhorns’ fourth run of the inning scored on a fielding error by Nebraska’s first baseman.

Matt Foust (1-2) was saddled with the loss for Nebraska. Foust allowed six runs, five earned on six hits over 1.2 innings.

Russell led UT’s attack, going 3-for-5 with one double, one home run and three RBI. Wheeless went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, one triple and one RBI.

Texas returns to action on Tuesday with a 6:05 p.m. contest against UT Pan American at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Nebraska Recap
Husker Extra
Texas.scout.com

Texas takes Game 2

Despite gusting winds, a hostile crowd, a bad start and a high pitch count, Longhorns pitcher Adrian Alaniz stayed the same.

Same pitches.

Same focus.

Same result.

Alaniz won his 10th game of the season Saturday, shaking off a rough start to pitch 7 2/3 innings as Texas beat Nebraska 8-4 at Haymarket Park, evening the three-game Big 12 series.

Alaniz (10-2) gave up four runs on seven hits and threw 60 pitches in the first three innings. He looked ready to fall apart.

Instead, he turned everything around, pitching the next five innings without giving up a hit and finished with 10 strikeouts, tying a career high.

"It's just working from inning to inning, from pitch to pitch," Alaniz said. "You don't want to look to the future or to the next inning. It's just staying within the game, within the process. And I was able to do that."

It was what the Longhorns (32-12 overall, 13-4 Big 12) needed after Nebraska (23-16, 8-9) shut out Texas 7-0 on Friday.

"It was about responding," Texas coach Augie Garrido said. "About how the players were going to respond to last night's domination. They did a good job."

The Longhorns, who took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Kyle Russell's 22nd home run of the season, responded to a 4-2 deficit in the fourth inning. Preston Clark singled in Nick Peoples to cut the lead to 4-3, and with runners on second and third with two outs, the unlikeliest of Longhorns came through.

Shortstop Michael Demperio, who spent the first part of the season nursing a shoulder injury, singled up the middle to give the Horns a 5-4 lead.

"It's a bonus," Garrido said of Demperio's offense. "He's in there because with (Travis Tucker), we have the widest range on defense up the middle."

Demperio realized the importance of the situation before it happened.

"I looked at the scoreboard right before I went up there and thought, 'Oh, man, there are two runners in scoring position,' " Demperio said. "I knew what I was looking for, and I got it."

Texas added two more runs in the fifth inning as Russell (3 for 4) singled and went to second on an error, before scoring on Russell Moldenhauer's double. Peoples singled to center to score Moldenhauer and give the Horns a 7-4 lead.

"I thought five or six runs would win the game today," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. "We knew Alaniz was going to be tough. He started getting his slider over on the first and second pitch, and that made things real tough for us."

Alaniz' effort allowed Randy Boone to pick up his 10th save of the season, as Boone pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings.

Texas Recap

Husker Extra

Nebraska Recap

Texas.scout.com

Texas blanked by Nebraska, 7-0!

When Texas catcher Preston Clark went out to visit starter James Russell in the fourth inning, he hoped to keep things under control.

With two away in the inning, Russell had a 2-0 count to Nebraska's Ryan Wehrle with runners on first and third.

The meeting didn't work out so well.

Wehrle launched the next pitch from Russell over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, giving the Cornhuskers a 5-0 lead.

"I knew he was going to come in with a fastball, so I was just waiting for it," said Wehrle, who was 4 for 5 with four RBIs.

That was how it went Friday for the Longhorns, who lost 7-0 at Haymarket Park.

It was easily the most lopsided showing of the season for Texas. Coach Augie Garrido was ejected, the Longhorns couldn't touch Nebraska's Tony Watson, and their pitching couldn't keep them close to the Cornhuskers (23-15, 8-8 Big 12) in the opener of a three-game series.

Watson threw a complete-game, two-hit shutout without walking a batter.

It was the first time since at least 1998 that Texas had fewer than three hits in a game.

"He was pretty impressive. That's the best-pitched game against us of the season," Garrido said. "On the other side of it, it was the total package. We didn't put the ball in play with any degree of difficulty. Most of the balls we hit were mishit."

Watson is 2-0 with a 0.64 earned-run average in three starts this season at Haymarket Park and has pitched 14 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings against Texas (31-12, 12-4).

"They were aggressive tonight, and I don't think my pitch count was all that high," said Watson, who threw 96 pitches. "If it's low like that, they're obviously swinging at pitches early in the count."

Texas was shut out for the first time since April 23, 2006, when the Cornhuskers beat the Longhorns 6-0.

"It was the perfect storm, that's pretty much how you can sum it up," Clark said. "They hit some good pitches, and (Watson) did a good job of mixing speeds and hitting his spots."

For his part, Garrido didn't have to witness the whole game, in which Russell gave up six runs and 11 hits in five innings. The Texas coach was ejected in the sixth for arguing that umpire Dave Aschwege missed a call at first base, where he ruled that Travis Tucker's foot never touched the base to force out Mitch Abieta, who had bunted.

"I didn't like the fact that (Aschwege) was so aggressive with me," said Garrido, who came out of the dugout to argue the call. "He got right in my face. He said I got in his, but I didn't.

"I'm right on the call. Ask the TV guys," said Garrido, who watched the rest of the game from the CSTV truck outside the stadium.

No matter who was right, Garrido knew Texas must right the ship, having lost two straight games for just the second time this season.

"It's about responding," Garrido said. "How do you respond to this? If we accept this as a challenge, maybe we can take this to another level."

Note: The Longhorns wore maroon Virginia Tech ballcaps to show their support for those associated with the university, which is trying to recover after a 23-year-old student killed 32 people Monday before committing suicide.

The idea to wear the hats came from Texas men's athletic director DeLoss Dodds, a spokesman said. The Longhorns planned to wear the hats only Friday, the same day Virginia Tech played in its first sporting event since the tragedy, a home baseball game against Miami.

Texas Recap

Texas.scout.com

Nebraska Recap

Nebraska Huskers update

Mike Anderson of Nebraska is preparing for the upcoming season with his Husker baseball program. The Lincoln Journal Star checked in on them and talk about how the reduction in scholarships in the college baseball world has led to student-athletes who get partial scholarships. The Husker program spread the scholarship money between about 30 players which comes out to each scholarship athlete having .40 of a scholarship. The full article is available here.