College Park, Md. – Due to rain today in College Park, Md., Nebraska baseball’s series opener against Maryland has been postponed to tomorrow. The two teams will now play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. (CT).
As of now, the games tomorrow will not be on TV or streamed online. Greg Sharpe and Lane Grindle will have the call of both games on the Husker Sports Network.
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball and its teams will conduct an Autism Awareness campaign this season.
Each club selected a home game as part of the effort, which will be joined by the advocacy organization Austism Speaks.
Some teams will have designated “quiet zones,” the commissioner’s office said Thursday, designed to be a sensory-friendly environment. The campaign will include ceremonial first pitches, national anthems, “God Bless America” and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
Lincoln – The No. 18 Nebraska baseball team (23-7, 3-0 Big Ten) will play its first Big Ten road series of the season this weekend three-games against the No. 17 Maryland Terrapins (19-7, 4-2 Big Ten) in College Park, Md. Friday night’s series opener will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
The series opens at 6:05 p.m. (CT) on Friday night and will be carried nationally on the Big Ten Network. The teams are then scheduled to play at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday before wrapping on the series on Sunday at 11:05 a.m. Sunday’s finale will also be show on BTN, but will be broadcast on tape delay at 2 p.m. Fans can watch Sunday’s game live on BTN2Go.
The Terrapins were the preseason favorite to win the conference by the league’s coaches, while the Huskers were picked second. The Huskers enter the weekend atop the conference standings with a 3-0 conference record, while Maryland is in a four-way tie for third place with a 4-2 league record.
Nebraska is 9-1 over its last 10 games and has posted a 18-3 record since the start of March. Maryland enters the weekend a perfect 7-0 at Bob Smith Stadium this season, including a series sweep of Minnesota in its first ever Big Ten series two weeks ago. The former ACC member was on the road in Ann Arbor, Mich., last weekend and dropped a series against Michigan, 2-1.
Friday night will see a showdown between two of the league’s top pitchers in Nebraska senior Chance Sinclair and Maryland sophomore Mike Shawaryn. Sinclair is 7-0 all-time in nine Big Ten starts and has won each of his last three starts entering Friday. A freshman All-American by multiple publications last season, Shawaryn is 6-0 this season in seven starts with a 2.11 ERA. The Carneys Point, N.J., product has struck out 54 and walked just seven over 47.0 innings of work.
Saturday’s 1:05 p.m. meeting with be between a pair of lefties, with senior Kyle Kubat scheduled to start for Nebraska against Maryland sophomore Tayler Stiles. Kubat will be in search of his 20th career win and is coming off of consecutive starts where he totaled nine strikeouts. Stiles is a 6-2 native of Bowie, Md., and is 2-2 on the year with a 3.81 ERA. In 26.0 innings he has allowed 26 hits, walked five and struck out 25.
After starting sophomores in the first two games, the Terrapins are scheduled to throw senior right hander Bobby Ruse on Sunday against Nebraska sophomore Derek Burkamper. Burkamper is 4-1 on the season and has won each of his past three starts. The Muscatine, Iowa, native is coming off a career-long 8.1 innings outing against Texas, where he also struck out a career-high six batters. Ruse set a Maryland single-season record last year with 31 appearances, including four starts. This year he has made three starts in eight appearances and has a 4-1 record with a 5.19 ERA. In 26.0 innings he has struck out 25, while walking eight.
Papillion, Neb. – Freshman Scott Schreiber found the perfect time for the first home run of his Husker career, as the Menasha, Wis., native broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th inning with a two-out solo home into the left field seats at Werner Park. Senior Josh Roeder took the mound in the bottom of the 10th and struck out the side to notch his ninth save of the season.
The No. 18 Huskers are now 23-7 on the year following the 3-2 win over the Omaha Mavericks.
The Mavs scored first on the night and after the Huskers tied the game 1-1 in the fifth, UNO retook the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the frame. NU tied the game again, 2-2, in the seventh and after neither team scored in the eighth or ninth, Schreiber delivered the biggest hit of his young Husker career.
After the Huskers stranded a pair of singles to start the game, the Mavs struck first on the night with a run in the bottom of the first. Alex Schultz led off the frame with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Clayton Taylor. Nebraska starter Zack Engelken lasted just 0.1 of an inning after giving up a double and two walks to three of UNO’s first four batters.
Fellow freshman Jake Meyers took over for Engelken in the first with one out and a pair of runners on base, the Omaha Westside got two straight ground balls to limit the damage to one run. Meyers went on to throw a season-high 4.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits with a season-high four strikeouts.
Following a one-out single by Austin Christensen in the second, Omaha starter Shane Meltz hit a groove and retired 10 straight Huskers before Jake Placzek lined a single to left field with one out in the fifth. Meltz came back and got Ryan Boldt for the second out of the inning, but Placzek moved to second on the play. Jake Schleppenbach stepped up and drove a RBI single to right field that tied the game, 1-1. Meltz then walked Blake Headley before retiring Ben Miller to end the top of the fifth.
Meyers came out and retired the first two UNO batters he faced in the bottom of the fifth, but then Schultz came calling with a solo home run that just snuck over the left-field wall. Cole Gruber followed with a double, and the Huskers turned the ball to Jake Hohensee, who retired Taylor to end the fifth, but not before the Mavs regained the lead, 2-1.
The Huskers kept battling and tied the game in the seventh when Boldt led off with a single and scored all the way from first on a double by Schleppenbach. The Mavs then took back the momentum when Headley flew out to center, Schleppenbach tagged on the play and tried to take third, but was cut down on a perfect throw by Schultz. UNO reliever Corey Binger retired Ben Miller to end the inning with the game tied, 2-2.
Luis Alvarado led off the top of the eighth with second single of the night and was later in scoring position when he stole second base. The Huskers were unable to come up with a hit though and he was stranded at second at the end of the inning.
The Mavs then had a shot to score in the bottom of the eighth after Alex Mortensen hit a one-out double and NU reliever Max Knutson hit Daniel Jewitt. The HBP ended up helping the Huskers, as Knutson got a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
The Huskers had the go-ahead run on base in the top of the ninth when Boldt reached on an error by third baseman Justin Threlkeld and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Schleppenbach. NU would strand its 11th runner of the night though, as UNO reliever Zach Williamsen retired Headley and Miller in order.
Omaha then had its chance to end the game in the ninth when Threlkend led off with a single and was in scoring position with one out following a bunt. Knutson struck out pinch hitter Adam Caniglia looking and then had to face Schultz, who was 3-for-4 on the night with a home run and two doubles. NU’s sophomore lefty won the battle and sent the game to extras with a 4-3 groundout.
The Huskers will be back in conference action this weekend with a three-game series against the Maryland Terrapins in College Park, Md. The Huskers and Terps open their series on Friday at 6:05 p.m. (CT), continue it on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. and wrap up the series on Sunday at 11:05 a.m. Friday’s game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network, and Sunday’s game will be shown on tape delay at 2 p.m.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have sent veteran reliever Rex Brothers and outfielder Brandon Barnes to the minors.
The moves Wednesday mean 39-year-old reliever Rafael Betancourt has made the opening-day roster in his comeback from elbow reconstruction surgery. Infielder Rafael Ynoa and left-hander Christian Friedrich also made the club.
The Rockies also sent outfielder Matt McBride and right-hander Scott Oberg to minor league camp.
The 27-year-old Brothers had a 1.74 ERA and 19 saves for Colorado in 2013. But the 2009 first-round pick followed a poor end to last season with an inconsistent spring.
Barnes hit .257 in 132 games with the Rockies last year. Manager Walt Weiss said they wanted to carry an extra infielder.
Betancourt was Colorado’s closer until he was injured in 2013.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Colorado Rockies reliever John Axford’s 2-year-old son is improving following a rattlesnake bite.
Jameson Axford remained hospitalized Wednesday, but Axford said his son was able to sleep through the night as he deals with pain. Doctors have saved his right foot, but there is fear one of his toes may need to be amputated.
Axford said his son was bitten twice last week in the yard of the house his family is renting in Scottsdale for spring training. Jameson needed extensive treatment because of the amount of venom found.
Axford returned to the team Tuesday. He’s set to pitch Saturday and manager Walt Weiss said he could still break with the team for the start of the regular season.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Home runs are up 39 percent in Division I baseball compared with the first half of the 2014 season, an indication the introduction of the flat-seam ball is having the desired effect.
According to the NCAA midseason statistical report Wednesday, the per-team home-run rate has gone from 0.36 a game to 0.50.
Fifty teams have hit 20 or more home runs. Eighteen teams had hit that many at this point a year ago. Forty-three players have seven or more homers, compared with 19 players who had that many through March 2014.
College baseball switched from a raised-seam ball to a flat-seam ball this season with the hope it would help inject more offense into the game. Research showed a flat-seam ball was not affected as much by wind resistance.
Lincoln – In front of 7,319 fans, the largest crowd ever for a regular-season game between Nebraska and Creighton in Lincoln, the No. 18 Nebraska baseball team concluded its 16-game homestand on Tuesday night with a 5-1 win over the Creighton Bluejays, who entered the game on a seven-game winnings streak. The Huskers are now 22-7 on the year and finished the homestand with a 15-1 record. The last time the Huskers notched 22 wins before the month of April was 2005, when NU entered April with a 22-3 record.
The crowd of 7,319 was the 24th largest crowd in Hawks Field history and the largest crowd for Nebraska-Creighton game in Lincoln since 2005, when 8,304 fans watched the two teams play in the NCAA Lincoln Regional Final. It was also the largest crowd for a game at Hawks Field since 2008, when 8,648 fans watched the Huskers play the UC Irvine Anteaters in the NCAA Lincoln Regional.
Freshman Garett King continued Nebraska’s dominance on the mound, as he went a career-high 8.0 innings and issued only two hits to improve to 3-0 on the year. The 6-3 right hander struck out five and didn’t issue a walk for the second straight start. King was perfect through the first four innings, before Harrison Crawford led off the fifth with a triple down the right-field line that just escaped the out-stretched glove of Austin Darby. Crawford scored CU’s lone run of the game when Brett Murray lifted a sacrifice fly into center field.
Following the triple, King went on to retire 12 of the final 13 Jays he faced, before junior Jeff Chesnut took the mound in the ninth and retired the Jays in order to finish the win.
The Huskers now has a 2.32 ERA on the year, and a blistering 1.98 ERA in games at Hawks Field. In 16 games at home, the Husker arms piled up 122 strikeouts to 34 walks.
La Vista, Neb., native Jake Placzek led the NU offensive attack with another great game against the Jays, going 3-for-5, including a double and his first career triple. In four career games against Creighton, Placzek is hitting .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles, one triple and six RBIs. Last season, Placzek delivered a walk-off single in a 5-4 extra-innings win in Lincoln and later in the year came through with a two-RBI single in the eighth inning that drove in the eventual game-winning runs in a 4-2 win at TD Ameritrade Park.
Placzek extended NU’s lead to 3-0 in the top of the second with a two-out double and then pushed the lead to 4-0 in the fourth with a triple. The junior then scored on a RBI single by Blake Headley that put the Huskers ahead 5-0.
NU’s first three batters in its lineup, Ryan Boldt-Placzek-Headley, finished the game a combined 8-for-14 with three runs scored and four RBIs.
After playing their last 16 games at home, the Huskers now head east down I-80 tomorrow for a meeting with the Omaha Mavericks at Werner Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The 2-year-old son of Colorado Rockies pitcher John Axford is in stable condition a week after getting bitten twice by a rattlesnake.
Axford has not been with the Rockies since his son went to the hospital for anti-venom treatment last Wednesday. A second round of treatment was needed a few days later due to the excessive amount of venom found.
Doctors have likely saved the foot, though Jameson Axford could still face losing a toe or two, Rockies officials said.
John Axford, who has thrown a couple of bullpen sessions, says he is grateful for the support he’s received.
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have released three-time All-Star shortstop Rafael Furcal, two weeks after he signed a minor league deal.
Furcal didn’t appear in a Cactus League game as he recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in winter ball. Tuesday’s move doesn’t affect the Royals’ big league roster as Furcal was not invited to camp.
The 37-year-old Furcal played nine games last year with Miami after missing all of the 2013 season following elbow reconstruction surgery.
