Loebarth

The ERA leader below (DeVooght) is a situational pitcher mostly. He typically throws 2 innings on the day of his starts and then it's turned over to the bullpen. Christo of late has kind of been that as well all be it he's been getting 4+ innings. He throws hard, has a pitching motion that torque's his elbow a lot as well. (Not releasing from the high point of his arm motion) So, putting in the Sunday spot keeps him extremely relevant in the team's success while also allows them to rest his arm more for the long haul. The Ohio State arm is scary at 1.15 until you look into his starts. (Link Here) Sunday, April 7 – 12:05 PM CT Pitching: Ohio State, RHP Gavin DeVooght (2-1, 1.15 ERA)

Surprised that Christo is throwing the Sunday matchup. I know he's struggled a little but admittedly, I am a little shocked. Good Move or Bad? Childress knows his pitchers so I trust in his leadership decisions.

That is a well thought out and even better articulated response. Thank you!! Personally, I felt like the game plan going in was to swing with power to get the ball in the air and let the wind carry it out. (Hence swing twice at balls in the dirt early and struggling the entire game with the slider.) I do think Husker fans tend to not give Creighton credit. Creighton this year is a very solid ballclub that just might stand in the way of us hosting. We have 2 more midweek games to get the head to head. I'm sooo hoping we are successful. As for the predicted.. As hopeful as I am that we can win the final 2 against the bluebabies it's double for eating crow on my predictions. I desperately want Nebraska to host. So I obviously prefer having to eat crow. I've said I expect us to drop at least 1 game this weekend. I still feel that way but if we just win each and every series that should get the conference regular season title but Illinois is going to be a contender.. They have by far the easiest remaining schedule and to host we have to be a conference regular season champion. Sadly, we don't play Illinois this year.

That is a correct assumption. Part of the reason why I suffered the weather and the humiliation live and in person. Last night's performance was the absolute worst display of hitting i think i've ever seen. It's like the husker's have never seen a slider or a change up. Maybe with the wind at their backs the idea was to hit bombs so they were swinging wildly and all the wild the bluebabies fans were cheering them on.

I'm curious, hindsight being 20/20.. Do you still favor Nebraska knowing how unpredictable Christo has been and the wild swings our hitters do? Nebraska has talent but that talent isn't showing up consistently. Truth is, they could easily only have 2 losses but they could just as easily have 4 or more losses and they get 2 more chances against the bluebabies. Hopefully they can win the next two. Sadly, I expect a weekend loss for this exact reason. No scary bats, to many wild swings and a loose defense (2 more errors tonight). I believe we are a post season team but we are not currently playing like a regional host team. To host we need to win the conference and have 40 plus wins. We will also have to win the Creighton series because both Nebraska & Creighton won't host and Creighton could easily run away with the Big East. Nebraska needs to figure out their sticks or they won't finish in the top 3 of the B1G. (Illinois, Iowa and M State will challenge for that honor.) I sat in the stands and puked inwardly at cheers with every wild swings. So no, right now I'm finding it hard to be positive!!

Could be a very explosive game tonight. Forecasted winds are Gusts +20 mph from the Northwest. Currently at 19mph from the Northwest.. Wind might shorten the outfield but for sure will effect the pitchers. Why can't this game be played in perfect weather every time.. Guess I'll be wearing my heavy husker jacket instead of my favorite Huskers mesh, full button jersey.. Ugh... and sitting amongst all that blue (dang it Huskerboard, add in a vomit Emoji please)

The BTN+ broadcast of Nebraska home games is really good. Truth is, you can watch every game (home & away) on BTN+ but sometimes, like the previous series, you have to tolerate horrendous play by play. (Northwestern used college students and they were really crappy)

Awesome Video but then any and all Husker Vision videos rock!! Thanks @Mavric for posting this!!

Illinois has 1 series left (at Maryland) and 1 mid-week game (Indiana State a regional winner last year) left in which the odds makers would wouldn't favor them. The Nolan prediction has them losing the Northwestern series also. They don't face either Nebraska or Michigan or Michigan State. They're 3 most difficult conference foes are Maryland (road series), Ohio State (home) and Iowa (home). Don't sleep on Illinois. Tomorrow they play a better than average Illinois State game and then a series against Minnesota on the road. They will likely go 3-1 but could easily go 4-0 (tomorrow's game is a tough matchup).. By season's end, Illinois could very easily have the regular season title by drawing this years easiest schedule. Next year this luxury of a "soft" schedule just won't exist with USC, UCLA, Washington & Oregon joining. Also, instead of playing 24 conference games, its not official yet but it expected the B1G will be moving to 30 conference games.. 2025 could be very interesting. Fun Fun things to come and maybe, just maybe the B1G will finally be a top level baseball conference. Now, can someone please get FOX sports to start broadcasting games.

@FrankWheeler We'll know how wrong I am come 7 days from now. I hope I'm wrong. My prediction: D1BASEBALL Poll ranked 23 but won't be following the weeks games. Creighton will be a loss by 3 or more runs. Nebraska won't get through this weekend unscathed. Anyone want to join me in this week's predictions? To many walks. To many errors. To many missed scoring opportunities. It's early, hopefully they make me eat crow. Especially this week as living in Omaha I've grown very disgusted with the snobs that wear the blue. So much that my second favorite team in any sport is whomever is playing the bluebabys. So, please PLEASE make me EAT crow. It will make my week!!!

Kendall is a Husker Hater. On 1620 a couple years ago he said he is not a fan of either Creighton or Nebraska in the CWS. Said every time one of those schools is in the attendance as a whole suffers. Hence why neither Nebraska or Creighton will never be a highly ranked team in D1's poll. Sadly, that is the poll most everyone, including ESPN, promotes. It's also the poll that never publishes who the voters are and how they voted.

It was a good win. They played clean on defense and what seems to be the norm, they did just enough offensively to win and with Oklahoma getting swept by Lamar this weekend enough to be ranked. Getting ranked is not a good thing for this team. Yes, I think Northwestern will surprise a couple teams in conference play but Nebraska is not playing like a top 25 team. They are giving up late inning runs, the fielding % is lacking and the team is winning shakingly. (All Huskers fans this weekend found ourselves begging for the win in all 3 games.) There is loads of reason for optimism though. This team just grinds. The pitching staff is deeper than projected and Bolt is allowing the base coaches to coach. The small ball play has been better than advertised. All of that is on the Staff and Players. Buckle Up folks, it's getting more real with each game. Tuesday's game against a red hot, very good Creighton team will be the Huskers best test to date Congrats to BIG RED, the team and the fans!! Let's keep it going. Very tough week ahead!!!!

D1BASEBALL Page 1 baby!! Thank you Mr. Sorenson

To many walks and again another costly error. They need to clean those up. That said this team is getting timely hitting. Hopefully that continues. (Old cliche but "good teams generate their own good fortune") I was pleased to see Christo come back. Childress though has him on a short leash for now. Success breeds confidence and hopefully Christo's confidence starts growing. They still lack that scary bat but they keep their heads to the grindstone and trust in one another. That is team and that is why I'm excited for them (the players) and this staff. Huge win, first conference series win of the season and on the road to boot. Now, how about the brooms baby!! Well Done men! GBR!!!

lol, yep, i catch his youtube vidoes as well, dude always has a great way of describing the play. I would have never thought about posting him though... Thank You!! @BigRedBuster

Purdue @ Ohio State: Game 2, Starts out with an out (1 away), a walk, a stolen base, wild pitch advance to 3rd, an out (2 away), a walk (runners on the corners 2 outs), Purdue then try's to steal home by sending the runner from 1st and is thrown out 2b to catcher. (Out of the inning). Almost everyone in today's game is angry about that but me, as a traditionalist of the game, I love it. How do you feel? Now, whats even more interesting.. OSU batting, first batter, thrown out at first (1 away), hit batter (runner on 1st), strike out (2 away), single (2 away, runners on the corners) what do you do? Same scenario as purdue with the 5 hole hitter at the plate? OSU trusted the hitter to find a hole and he doubles driving in 2 runs. My questions; 1. Purdue on the road, was the double steal a reasonable play early game? 2. If you were managing, would you be more likely to try the double steal or trust the 5 hole hitter? (Batter has a .315 average on the year)

As we know everyone follows their favorite sports differently and so I personally would like to know what websites people like to follow to track their teams/players/conferences. A couple that I enjoy are obvious ones: D1Baseball (though Kendall can P*!s me off) The leading poll and probably most SEC biased forum in existence but they do cover the sport nationally. Just wish they'd publish who the voters in the polls are and how they voted. Warren Nolan Baseball To me, this is the go to for team comparisons and both team & conference stats. I've always enjoyed the ELO as well and find it to be a more trusting measure of team ranking. (Sadly, Huskers are currently only 24) Now there are others I could share but I'd much prefer (and I'm certain other forum users would as well) to hear from others. Please post why you enjoy the sites you list. Feel free to include podcast site links as well. Many of us (me) can't get enough baseball so even podcasts from outside of B1G country are interesting.

Hopefully this is the last cold weather series. Tomorrow's game is going to be a game much like last Saturday's according to Chicago's weather forecast. Need to win today. One game at a time, One day at at time, One Play at a time. Keep on winning Huskers!! GBR!!!

Currently, at 18-5, Nebraska is only a paper tiger. The defense is (and can be) questionable at times and in fact way too often. (2 errors again in yesterday's outing). The starting pitching after Sears is still a guessing game. Christo, at least currently, is showing he still allows his head to affect is arm when he's not getting calls he "thinks" he should. Bolt & Childress still haven't settled on a rotation #3 and #4 starter. (Though MW seems to be a solid #4) Offensively, yes the huskers are winning the score board battle but the bats aren't consistent enough. Halfway through the season and outside of Silva and maybe Walsh, there's not a consistent real threat in the line up. At least not one the opposing pitchers fear facing with runners on in a close game. Bats are needed to win conference championships and currently this team hasn't shown it has enough hitters to win down the stretch. If the hitting and fielding doesn't improve Nebraska will end the season in 4th place at best. I think Bolt and Company's game management has stolen a couple games. (Last night vs Northwestern for one) Nebraska, if they continue relying so heavily on the bullpen to win, will drop games in which they are more talented. They were lucky last night as they allowed Northwestern to load the bases with no outs in both the 8th & 9th innings. They got away with it against NW but against teams like Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State, those teams will chew up and spit out runs. So, imo, until Nebraska can awaken the bats (if they can) and yes, one can argue that peaking too soon is also bad and get consistent starting pitching from the #2 & #3 spots.. They (Nebraska) are simply a paper tiger.

Awesome play by play @HANC, Thank You!! Agree with you, hero of the game is KP without question.. Radio call forecasting a doubleheader tomorrow so check early. Need to win at least 1. I think NW will throwing everything they have in game 2.

Giving Mason the start Sunday. I think Bolt & Company (mostly Childress) like Mason's era (1.67) and strike outs to walks (25 - 2 respectively).. Saturday it seems is when Northwestern is throwing their ACE arm. I'm confident Christo will be up to the challenge. Hoping to have a 3 game sweep here but as I said all last year. Win the series, just win the series and in the end, you win the league.

I didn't realize it but Rutgers is traveling to Michigan State this weekend so they'll (Rutgers) be tested early. Michigan State lost 2 of 3 to Maryland on the road last weekend but could have easily won the series with a favorable bounce here or bounce there. This will be Rutgers biggest test of the year so far. Not so much in talent but because it's a conference road game. State is mostly a defensive team but has some pop too hitting .297 as a team with 24 HR's and a SLG% at .413.. Should be a good series for Husker fans to keep an eye on and like Northwestern, Michigan State's ballpark is not lighted so all early games.

As Nebraska is about to begin conference play I thought I'd go to the B1G website and compare the teams. There are clearly 2 leaders in stat comparisons. Offensive Stats: Can you say Rutgers? Rutgers is the leader in offense and folks, it's not even close. The Huskers sit mostly in the middle here but having played the schedule they have that is somewhat expected but Rutgers though their schedule isn't as impressive, still they have done what they must and offensively, done it well. Defense Stats: Defensive stats begins and ends with Nebraska and like Rutgers offensive stat comparison, the defensive stats lead is also not close. (Though the separation in offensive stats is more glaring) Huskers Team ERA has an impressive lead but the Fielding % is only middle of the pack. The Huskers also lead in SBA% (stolen base attempts Pitcher to Catcher) as well. To be honest, if stats mean anything early (we know they often don't) then and well.. the conference is a two pony race with Maryland & Ohio State vying for the consolations. This Rutgers team is hitting the crap out of the ball right now. We'll see if those bats continue to be as hot once conference play begins. Sadly for the Huskers, the Rutgers series is played in Piscataway, N.J. Buckle Up Baby, conference play begins tomorrow

Michigan State loaded the bases in the top of the first, Michigan changes pitchers and gets a popup for out 1 and double play to end the inning. Huge let down for MSU fans and players. Also, with all the MAC schools around (and couple other D1 programs) why the MSU vs Michigan midweek game?