Who should take the mound on Friday vs. Purdue?

[Nexus]

I'm unsure at this point? What are your thoughts? We need someone to step up BIG this Friday. We already have home-field advantage in our favor, but we need an ace to pull it off.

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

I'm unsure at this point? What are your thoughts? We need someone to step up BIG this Friday. We already have home-field advantage in our favor, but we need an ace to pull it off.

Brian Duensing!! Shane Komine!!!

[Omaha-Husker]

I say give Keller a shot. Obviously CU and Purdue are different levels though.

[Nexus]

I say give Keller a shot. Obviously CU and Purdue are different levels though.

 

My initial thought was Keller or Lemke, but between those two, I'd lean to Keller at this point.

[hskrfan4life]

True, either way I want a short leash. We can't get behind against Purdue. Either way DE has a week to figure it out.

[HuskerFanChuck]

After his start against Creighton, and giving so many strong innings, I'd say Keller has earned a weekend shot. I'd be inclined to give Keller his Saturday shot, and put Pierce in the Friday slot. He was stout last weekend, and I thought seemed to be decent today. Tough slot in any case, but I'd be looking at those two for the Friday start.

[huskerbronco1997]

whoever is willing to pound the strike zone and not give Purdue the free passes. Purdue has a good enough offense without us giving them free passes. I think Keller or Pierce or both, since whoever starts will need to be on a short leash. Lets just try not to give up runs and the first 2 innings and start off hot. The team should be fired up and I am ready to be at the ballpark with big series on the line with haymarket packed and loud crowd like it used to be, well we arent back yet but winning this series is a step in the right direction.

 

GO BIG RED!

[flatwaterfan]

I would give the ball to Vogt. He gets a lot of grounders and doesn't walk many. 2nd choice is to go back to Lemke on Sunday, Hirsch on Saturday and Pierce on Friday.

[HuskerHacker]

I'll disagree with everyone but only because I think we all forget the magnitude of the games this weekend.

 

Bringing Keller in on Friday to start might open the door for him to melt. Yes he had a very strong outing against the bluejays last week but we know what pressure can do to the best of players. With this in mind, I'd return to Lemke as he's older, more conditioned, seems to walk fewer batters in "big" numbers. Yes he'll walk one but rarely multiple walks per inning. Keep him on a short leash and if you get 3 innings from him, then consider Keller or Vogt for long relief.

 

Pierce has performed well but with pitcher friendly strike zones. We don't know how he'll perform with a strike zone that is like that of last Friday night's and therefore keeping our Saturday/Sunday rotation as is, in my opinion, is the safest direction. How many times have we heard from TO and many other highly successful coaches saying the key is to "not" panic? Stay focused, trust the system and play mistake free.

 

Hawks Field is a special place, the skers know that park, the pitchers know the ball's action, the hitters know the lanes and so, lets lean on tradition, trust the system and play ball the way Erstad, Bolt, Silva and the rest of the staff expects us to play and we'll be fine. Yes the big game atmosphere will be in the air but we know "our" boys have played in it before. What we don't know is whether Purdue has seen a 6K plus crowd chanting the home schools chants in crucial moments of a game. The skers will win this series. I've been saying all season and I've seen nothing to change my opinion. Lemke will start, he'll get three (maybe 4) innings and we'll win this Friday night game. Have faith and trust the ole ballparks hallowed shadows. It's been entirely too long since this ballpark has felt the thrill of a Huge game and because of this it's walls, the bump, the sneaky winds will again awaken and bring us on to victory.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

Too bad it's supposed to be chilly this weekend, I think that will shy a good amount of people away. I will be there though!

[HuskerHacker]

Just finished doing a schedule comparison between the Husker's and boilermaker's and found an interesting little note.

 

Nebraska will by season's end have played 6 "out of conference" series games (3 or 4 games against the same opponent) while Purdue will have only played 3. (To date only two, against Murray St and Wichita St.)

 

The reason I find this to be interesting is simply in the difficulty to sweep a 3 (or 4) game series from a common opponent and wonder what the ball clubs (NU and Purdue) records would be if the scheduled were switched?

 

The common conference opponents are Northwestern, Illinois and tOSU.

 

Purdue swept Northwestern and Illinois while losing one game to Ohio State.

Nebraska on the other hand lost 2 games to Northwestern (still haunted by that) while going 2 - 1 against both Illinois and tOSU.

 

Knowing the above, my question to my fellow posters, do you think its better to play non-conference series or do as Purdue and play more tourney's and solo mid-week games? Does one choice present a better chance at securing a better record?

[hskrfan4life]

I'll disagree with everyone but only because I think we all forget the magnitude of the games this weekend.

 

Bringing Keller in on Friday to start might open the door for him to melt. Yes he had a very strong outing against the bluejays last week but we know what pressure can do to the best of players. With this in mind, I'd return to Lemke as he's older, more conditioned, seems to walk fewer batters in "big" numbers. Yes he'll walk one but rarely multiple walks per inning. Keep him on a short leash and if you get 3 innings from him, then consider Keller or Vogt for long relief.

 

Pierce has performed well but with pitcher friendly strike zones. We don't know how he'll perform with a strike zone that is like that of last Friday night's and therefore keeping our Saturday/Sunday rotation as is, in my opinion, is the safest direction. How many times have we heard from TO and many other highly successful coaches saying the key is to "not" panic? Stay focused, trust the system and play mistake free.

 

Hawks Field is a special place, the skers know that park, the pitchers know the ball's action, the hitters know the lanes and so, lets lean on tradition, trust the system and play ball the way Erstad, Bolt, Silva and the rest of the staff expects us to play and we'll be fine. Yes the big game atmosphere will be in the air but we know "our" boys have played in it before. What we don't know is whether Purdue has seen a 6K plus crowd chanting the home schools chants in crucial moments of a game. The skers will win this series. I've been saying all season and I've seen nothing to change my opinion. Lemke will start, he'll get three (maybe 4) innings and we'll win this Friday night game. Have faith and trust the ole ballparks hallowed shadows. It's been entirely too long since this ballpark has felt the thrill of a Huge game and because of this it's walls, the bump, the sneaky winds will again awaken and bring us on to victory.

I agree with you HH, I will be watching Friday, and be there saturday cheering on our HUSKERS! GO BIG RED! Let's show the Big Ten we came here to win championships not to "just make the NCAA Tournament"!

[Nexus]

So RHP Jon Keller will start for the #Huskers on Friday against Purdue, Darin Erstad said today. 3rd different Fri guy in 3 weeks for NU

 

LINK

[Omaha-Husker]

Go get 'em Keller!

[HuskerHacker]

Darn, so much for my intuition and foresight. Was certain Lemke would get the start and Keller/Vogt would be the long relief.... I must admit though, I trust Erstad's decisions much MUCH more then my own.

 

To quote O-H "Go get 'em Keller!"