Loebarth

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? 

I'm ok with the Rutger's pitcher getting the award. 9 innings is at least 3 more batters faced and also something most coaches don't like to do. So give the Rutgers pitcher the award. The South Alabama week was a little harder to swallow but Iowa had a doubleheader that Saturday and having that pitcher throw 6 scoreless allowing only 1 hit (i think) was a huge advantage for them. Still, I'd have given the award to Sears so in this game I totally agree.

Edit: Just checked the awards out the week of the south bama game. Rhett Stokes was the "Player of the Week" so maybe that's another reason Brett wasn't awarded.

5 minutes ago, Xmas32 said:

https://huskers.com/news/2024/03/26/tuesdays-game-at-no-23-k-state-canceled

 

PPD. Stand down everyone haha

Canceled not postponed.. that sucks.. but seriously, why risk injury. I think its a good decision. Going to be a long boring week without our midweek baseball fix.. Grrr!!!

Agree with you @Xmas32 we should soon hear but starting late won't help. According to the local weather station, Manhattan's high today is supposed to be between 3-4pm. Temps are supposed to rapidly drop after sundown as they'll have a clear sky. Wind factor would be better for sure though and I assume that is what your referring too when "warmer later". Good Point!!

Seat Geek might be doable though the sidelines would be kind of crowded. That field is 120 x 75 (yards) but does look to have some 10 -15 yards extra per side.

The game will be played. Maybe start at 4:00 instead of 6:00. Yep, icy cold (did i spell icy right? stupid spell check) and wind at 15-20 early but tapering off some by game time. Nebraska needs this road game to get their routine and prepare for the weekend. Less than ideal conditions but you stay focused on the goal and come prepared. Going to be a good one tonight. Fingers crossed we come out on top!!

GBR!!!

K State has Texas this weekend. That's huge for us I think. 1. It might result in trying to stretch arms, likely not but... everyone hates Texa$$. 2. Hopefully, they will be looking forward and come in over confident. 

Bolt & Company need to win this game. I'll argue this 1 game is more important overall than a series win over Northwestern because if we can win this game and the home game it's a series sweep of which, one win is on the road. (rpi boost). Yes, losing a series to Northwestern would be horrendous in both rpi and conference standings so as I type this I know the Northwestern series is more important, still, beating K State in Manhattan would be a very respectable win. 

Hmm... Wichita State's not playing at home today. Maybe meet N. Mexico halfway and play a double tomorrow and try (hope for) a Sunday game. 

Looking at the accuweather hourly, feel like is 32° 

Rules Book on Weather:

Fitness of Field SECTION 2� a� The coach and the director of athletics (or representative) of the host institution shall decide whether a game shall not be started because of unsatisfactory conditions of weather or playing field, except for the second game of a doubleheader� b� Should bad weather or unfit conditions prevail during a game, the umpirein-chief may consult with the game administrator to determine suspension, resumption or termination of play� In the case of lightning, the game administrator and umpire-in-chief shall follow lightning guidelines in the appendix section� c� The umpire-in-chief of the first game shall be the sole judge as to whether playing conditions permit the start of a second game of a doubleheader�

Umm... StatsBroadcast Lineup showing Brett Sears starting... Is Christo not feeling well or is Childress playing hop skip today?

and... HUGE UGH!!! Matt Anderson is the plate ump again 

16 minutes ago, funhusker said:

What do you do for a living?  That sounds ridiculous!  Unless you deal drugs for the  Crips.

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