2024 Season Notes

[Loebarth]

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.

[HANC]

5 hours ago, Loebarth said:

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.

I hear ya…. I just know that the staff felt that he got screwed after SA and they also felt as if he could have easily been named it after Grand Canyon. Just basing it off of the remarks that I have heard, followed by his best outing so far, I just had to express my biased opinion. I wasn’t trying to say anyone didn’t deserve it. The Rutgers kid pitched a fantastic game

[Loebarth]

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

 

[Loebarth]

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.

[Mavric]

 

[Loebarth]

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. 

[Mavric]

 

[Loebarth]

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.

[FrankWheeler]

On 3/30/2024 at 9:55 AM, Loebarth said:

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. 

Maybe I should be posting in the ‘bump when drunk’ page instead but what are you talking about?  
 

I’m tipsy so happy Easter everybody!  I hope yours was as well spent and as happy as mine. (This post took a lot of effort between the alcohol and the pop up adds!)

 

Nebraska’s strength of schedule (I spelled that out it with the help of auto correct) is 40, they are 20-5.  
 

Maryland’s schedule is 80, Rutgers is 137, Ohio State is 55, Northwestern is 48…we have a better record than all of them.  Ohio state is 12-12…Northwestern, whom we just swept, is 10-15 and we are the paper tiger? 
 

I don’t think you are giving this team enough credit.  Enjoy this s***!!!!  GBR!!!

 

***edit due to too much vino***

 

[Loebarth]

@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!!!

 

[caveman99]

16 hours ago, Loebarth said:

@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!!!

 

Creighton hasn’t played anyone yet, their SOS is 156. Baseball is funny so perhaps Creighton beats the Sker’s tomorrow, but I don’t get the anxiety about playing them. The Huskers have played a decent schedule so far and racked up a 20-5 record in doing so, they have shown they are a pretty good team. Whether they are a really good team or not is TBD, but a single mid-week game against Creighton, win or lose, won’t give us that answer either. If we were playing Creighton in a 3 game weekend set, I would favor the Huskers right now. 

[Loebarth]

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. 

[Loebarth]

On 4/1/2024 at 2:53 PM, caveman99 said:

 If we were playing Creighton in a 3 game weekend set, I would favor the Huskers right now. 

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!!

[caveman99]

On 4/3/2024 at 12:42 AM, Loebarth said:

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!!

Yes I still feel the same. First baseball is a funny game, and nothing is guaranteed and on Tuesday it felt like the Huskers were pressing at the plate against Creighton and they failed to do what they have done all season long so far in generating runs. Mid-week college baseball games are often crap shoots to begin with as the caliber of arms is much lower than in the weekends, look at how bad Creighton looked last night against North Dakota State, hanging on to win 8-7. On Tuesday Central Arkansas beat a ranked Miss St. team and Tarleton State almost beat perennial power Dallas Baptist losing 7-8. Yesterday Maryland almost lost to UMBC winning 13-12.

 

I would love to see NU and Creighton match up in a weekend series, it would be a fun one. The Huskers are halfway through the season with 27 left to play and they are already at 20 wins against a pretty decent schedule, 33rd overall SoS per Warren Nolan, and have a predicted final record of 43-13. This guaranteed nothing, but the Huskers have done enough over the first half of a good schedule to earn my confidence in them being a pretty good team. Just how good is still TBD, but a single mid-week game doesn’t change that. 

[Loebarth]

8 minutes ago, caveman99 said:

Yes I still feel the same. First baseball is a funny game, and nothing is guaranteed and on Tuesday it felt like the Huskers were pressing at the plate against Creighton and they failed to do what they have done all season long so far in generating runs. Mid-week college baseball games are often crap shoots to begin with as the caliber of arms is much lower than in the weekends, look at how bad Creighton looked last night against North Dakota State, hanging on to win 8-7. On Tuesday Central Arkansas beat a ranked Miss St. team and Tarleton State almost beat perennial power Dallas Baptist losing 7-8. Yesterday Maryland almost lost to UMBC winning 13-12.

 

I would love to see NU and Creighton match up in a weekend series, it would be a fun one. The Huskers are halfway through the season with 27 left to play and they are already at 20 wins against a pretty decent schedule, 33rd overall SoS per Warren Nolan, and have a predicted final record of 43-13. This guaranteed nothing, but the Huskers have done enough over the first half of a good schedule to earn my confidence in them being a pretty good team. Just how good is still TBD, but a single mid-week game doesn’t change that. 

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.