Lincoln – With three games left in the regular season, the Nebraska baseball team (34-19, 9-12 Big Ten) will start its final Big Ten series of the year on Thursday in Champaign, Ill., against the No. 5 Illinois Fighting Illini (43-6-1, 19-1 Big Ten). The series runs Thursday-Friday-Saturday, with both Thursday and Friday’s games set for 6:05 p.m. Saturday’s regular-season finale is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Both Friday and Saturday’s games will be carried live nationwide on the Big Ten Network.

Nebraska comes into the series eighth in the Big Ten Conference following a 2-1 series loss to Purdue. Nebraska has struggled of late and is 4-6 in its last 10 games and is just 2-7 on the road during Big Ten play this season.

The Illini are at the opposite end of the spectrum, as they enter the weekend on a 24-game winning streak, which ties them with Texas A&M for the longest winning streak in the nation this season. The Illini have swept a school-record six straight Big Ten series heading into Thursday. Illinois last overall loss and lone conference loss this season came on March 29 at Michigan State, 5-2. The Illini enter the weekend with a 1.5 game lead over Iowa for the Big Ten regular season title. The Hawkeyes wrap up the season with a three game series at Rutgers.

The series will be the fourth between the Huskers and Illini since Nebraska joined the Big Ten for the 2012 season. The Huskers have won each of the first three series between the two teams, including a 2-1 series win in Champaign in 2013. Nebraska and Illinois first met in 1897, with Illinois winning 14-9, and the two clubs didn’t meet again until 2012 when Nebraska hosted Illinois for its first ever Big Ten game on March 23, 2012. The Illini won the opener, 11-3, but the Huskers responded with victories in the final two games to win the series.

Following a series loss to Purdue, the Huskers are still in position to reach the 2015 Big Ten Tournament. Nebraska is in search of its fourth straight trip to the postseason tournament, which will be hosted at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minn. Nebraska last qualified for four-straight conference tournaments when they were members of the Big 12, as they made 10 straight tournaments from 1999 to 2008.

Nebraska can lock up a bid to the tournament with one win this weekend at Illinois. If the Huskers win a game, Minnesota can still tie Nebraska in the standing, but the Huskers own the tie breaker over the Gophers since Nebraska won the season series this year.

Without a win this weekend at Illinois, Nebraska can still qualify for the tournament, but would need other teams to lose games as well. If the Huskers are swept this weekend, they would need Minnesota and Penn State to both lose at least one game this weekend to secure a bid. The Gophers host Michigan State, while Penn State finishes the year at Purdue.

Thursday, May 14 (6:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Sinclair (6-6) vs. LHP Duchene (9-1)
TV: None
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: Illinois All Access
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Friday, May 15 (6:02 p.m.)
Probable Starters: LHP Kubat (4-4) vs. RHP Johnson (8-2)
TV: BTN
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN2Go
Radio: Husker Sports Network

Saturday, May 16 (2:02 p.m.)
Probable Starters: RHP Burkamper (5-3) vs. TBA
TV: BTN
Audio Stream: Huskers.com | Video Stream: BTN2Go
Radio: Husker Sports Network

• The Nebraska track and field team heads to East Lansing, Mich., this week for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Competition begins on Friday at 11 a.m. (CT) and runs through Sunday with the final event taking place at 2:45 p.m. (CT). Live results for all the action at Ralph Young Field will be available at Huskers.com. The meet will air tape delayed on the Big Ten Network on May 24 at 10 a.m.

• The Husker men are coming off the Big Ten Men’s Indoor Championship and have won three of the past six outdoor conference championships they’ve competed in, most recently the 2013 Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Overall, the Husker men have won 28 all-time outdoor conference titles, while the women have won 18 all-time outdoor conference titles, the last coming in 2005 in the Big 12.

• The Husker women were second at last year’s Big Ten Outdoor Championships, while the men were third. Husker individuals will be looking to crack the top 48 in the NCAA West Region in their respective events. A top-48 event standing (and top 24 for relays) qualifies for the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas, May 28-30.

• The Husker men expect to score well in the high jump. James White (7-2 1/4, 2.19m) is the conference leader, while Grant Anderson (7-1, 2.16m) is third and Landon Bartel (7-0 1/2, 2.15m) is fourth. White and Bartel finished first and second, respectively, at the indoor meet. Steven Cahoy leads the Big Ten in the pole vault (17-8 1/2, 5.40m), while Ricco Hall (200m), Levi Gipson (400m) and Beau Simmons (pole vault) all enter the meet third in their respective events.

• The Husker women will look to rack up points in the long jump. Jazmin McCoy is the conference leader at 20-2 1/4 (6.15m). Tierra Williams (20-0 1/4, 6.10m) is third and Reka Czuth (19-11 1/2, 6.08m) is fourth. The Huskers also have Kari Heck (19-6 1/4, 5.95m) at eighth in the Big Ten. Marusa Cernjul and Sarah Firestone both lead the Big Ten in their events. Cernjul’s 6-1 1/4 (1.86m) high jump is first the NCAA West Region, while Firestone’s javelin of 178-1 (54.29m) is third in the region.

Men’s 4×400 Repeats at 2nd at NCAA Indoors
The Nebraska men’s 4×400 relay team set another school record on its way to a runner-up finish for the second straight year at the NCAA Track and Field Indoor Championships on March 14 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The result boosted the Husker men to a tie for 13th in the final team standings with 14 points. The finish is the best indoors for the Husker men since a tie for fifth in 2009.

The Huskers blitzed to a 3:04.83 in the final race of the night to trail only Texas A&M’s collegiate record 3:02.86 in the same heat. Jake Bender, Cody Rush, Levi Gipson and Drew Wiseman’s time of 3:04.83 topped last year’s record race of 3:05.69 by almost a full second. The Husker men’s 4×400 has now earned a top-eight finish at each of the past three NCAA Indoor Championships, joining Arkansas as the only other school to do so.

With eight All-America honors, the Huskers now have 628 all-time.

2015 Indoor First-Team All-Americans
Bender, Rush, Gipson, Wiseman (4×400, 2nd)
James White (High Jump, T-4th)
Oladapo Akinmoladun (60m hurdles, 7th)

2015 Indoor Second-Team All-Americans
Ellie Ewere (Triple Jump, 9th)
Steven Cahoy (Pole Vault, 12th)
Cody Rush (400m, 13th)
Marusa Cernjul (High Jump, 14th)
Ricco Hall (200m, 15th)

Husker Men Win B1G Indoor Title
The Husker men took home their first Big Ten Track and Field Indoor Championship on Feb. 28, running away with the trophy with 127 points at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The Husker men won an indoor conference championship for the first time since 2007 in the Big 12. It’s the second overall Big Ten title for the Husker men, as they won the 2013 outdoor title. Oladapo Akinmoladun (60m hurdles) and James White (high jump) won individual B1G titles. A total of 11 Huskers earned All-Big Ten Indoor honors.

2015 All-B1G Indoor First Team
Oladapo Akinmoladun (60m hurdles)
James White (High Jump)

2015 All-B1G Indoor Second Team
Landon Bartel (High Jump)
Steven Cahoy (Pole Vault)
Caleb Cowling (Long Jump)
Ricco Hall (200m)
Men’s 4×400 (Hall, Gipson, Bender, Rush)
Marusa Cernjul (High Jump)
Brittany Johnson (200m)

Pepin Adds to Legacy
The Husker men’s B1G Championship gave head coach Gary Pepin his 30th career indoor team championship and 70th career overall conference title in his 35th year at the helm. Pepin was named Big Ten Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year, his 25th conference coach of the year since 1997 (when the Huskers started competing in the Big 12). He was also the Midwest Region Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year, his ninth region coach of the year award.

B1G Athletes of the Week
The Huskers have picked up four Big Ten Track & Field Athletes of the Week in 2015:

Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Marusa Cernjul (Jan. 26) (HJ – 6-1 1/4, 1.86m)
Sarah Firestone (April 8) (Jav – 178-1, 54.29m)
Marusa Cernjul (April 15) (HJ – 6-1 1/4, 1.86m)

Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Will Lohman (April 8) (HT – 214-7, 65.42m)

Welk Shines in the Classroom
Senior John Welk has already won two NCAA Elite 89 awards, and added Nebraska Male Student-Athlete of the Year to his resume on April 12. Welk is the fifth consecutive Nebraska Male Student-Athlete of the Year from the Husker track and field squad. Coach Pepin’s men’s and women’s programs have combined for 13 of the 50 all-time awards at Nebraska’s annual banquet.

Home-Grown Talent
Fans of track and field in the state of Nebraska will see a lot of familiar faces this season as 54 of the Huskers’ 130 athletes are Nebraska natives. Overall, the team is represented by 25 states and 11 countries.

Husker Men Hold Nation’s Longest Dual Streak
The Husker men’s team has won 14 consecutive dual/tri/quad meets dating back to 2001, the longest streak in the NCAA per DailyRelay.com. In that span, the Huskers have defeated 35 opponents.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska athletic department will save about $1.4 million in contract buyout pay to Bo Pelini with the former football coach’s hiring at Youngstown State.

According to the revised payment schedule released by the athletic department Tuesday, Pelini will receive $128,009 a month from Nebraska through February 2019. That’s $21,991 less than the $150,000 a month he was owed before Youngstown hired him in December, shortly after his firing at Nebraska.

Pelini was paid $3.1 million in his final year at Nebraska. He signed a four-year contract at Youngstown for $213,894 a year.

The original total buyout of $7.9 million was reduced to $6.54 million. The Omaha World-Herald first reported the revised figures.

Lincoln – The Nebraska baseball team (34-19, 9-12 Big Ten) had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but couldn’t complete a comeback in a 9-6 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers (17-34, 4-17 Big Ten) in the final home game of the season at Hawks Field. After winning the series opener on Saturday, the Huskers dropped the finale two games of series to Purdue.

The Huskers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth following a two-run homer from Scott Schreiber, but the Boilermakers answered with eight runs in the top of the sixth to take a 9-2 lead. Nebraska scored the game’s final four runs with two each in the eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to get the final three runs it need to extend the game.

The Huskers sit eighth in the Big Ten standings with three games left in the regular season. Nebraska can clinch a bid to the Big Ten Tournament with a win at Illinois next weekend.

Just like the first two games of the series, Purdue took the first lead of the game. NU starter Derek Burkamper started the game with a strikeout before giving up back-to-back singles. Burkamper then punched out clean-up hitter Kyle Johnson and was in position to escape unscathed, but Brandon Krieg delivered a two-out RBI single that gave the Boilermakers a 1-0 lead.

After giving up the first-inning run, Burkamper kept the Boilermakers off the board over the next four innings and the NU offense finally gave him some run support in the bottom of the fifth.

With just one hit through the first four innings, the Huskers notched three hits in the fifth, including a pair with two outs. Jake Schleppenbach got the inning started with a one-out single, but Purdue starter Brett Haan responded with a fly out off the bat of Luis Alvarado. Schleppenbach got himself into scoring position by stealing second and then tied the game when he scored on a RBI single by Jake Placzek. The lineup turned over and Ryan Boldt worked a walk before Blake Headley put the Huskers in front, 2-1, with a RBI single. Haan put an end to the rally with a 4-3 groundout from Ben Miller.

The Huskers didn’t hold the lead long though. Burkamper had retired eight-straight Boilermakers before Johnson led off the top of the sixth with his second home run of the series. With a 2-2 count, Johnson cleared the left-field wall to tie the game 2-2. Krieg followed with a single and then Jack Picchiotti hit what looked to be a double-play ball, but Krieg was going on the pitch and with Placzek covering second base the ball bounced into the outfield for a single to put runners on the corners with no out. The Huskers turned the ball over to reliever Jeff Chesnut, who was welcomed by a RBI single from Brett Carlson that gave Purdue a 3-2 lead. Justin Gubsner then laid down a sacrifice bunt and Alec Olund walked to load the bases with one out. Leadoff hitter Harry Shipley drove in the third run of the inning with a single and the Huskers again went to the pen, bringing in Garett King. The Boilermakers kept the offense rolling with a single, a walk and another single that pushed the lead to 7-2. King then had a shot to get out of the inning with a ground ball, but Krieg beat out the double-play ball and Purdue took a 8-2 lead. Jake Meyers became the fourth Husker pitcher of the inning and was welcomed by an RBI single from Picchiotti. Meyers ended the inning with a fly ball off the bat of Carlson, but not before Purdue took a 9-2 lead with eight runs on eight hits, including seven singles.

The Huskers got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth when Austin Darby notched a two-out single and Schreiber followed with his third home run of the season to cut Purdue’s lead to 9-4.

After NU’s first two batters were retired in the ninth, Boldt and Headley each worked two-out walks and Miller drove in a run. Headley then scored on a wild pitch and Taylor Fish drew a walk to bring Darby to the plate as the game-tying run. Darby got ahead 3-0 in the count, but Kyle Van Hoeck came back with two straight strikes to load the count. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat Darby grounded out to first and the Boilermaker’s picked up their first Big Ten series win of the season.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Huskers will leave Lincoln on Wednesday for Champaign, Ill. The Huskers and Illini open a three-game series on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. Friday’s game is set for 6:05 p.m. and Sunday’s finale is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Both Saturday and Sunday’s games will be carried live on BTN.

Lincoln – Nebraska guard Terran Petteway will begin embarking on his professional journey this week, as the NBA Combine takes place in Chicago.

Petteway, who graduated from Nebraska on Saturday, is one of 62 players invited to this week’s combine, and one of 39 underclassmen who will participate in the event which runs from Tuesday to Sunday.

The event includes medical testing, interviews with NBA teams as well as on-court sessions on Thursday and Friday which include five-on-five games, shooting drills, strength and agility testing.

Petteway was a two-time All-Big Ten performer for the Huskers during his career, as he finished his career 20th on NU’s career scoring list with 1,143 points in two season.

As a junior, he topped the Huskers and ranked fourth in the Big Ten in scoring at 18.2 points per game, while also placing among the Big Ten leaders in 3-pointers (2.2, eighth), assists (2.8, 14th) and steals (1.1, 15th) per game. In all, he was in double figures in 29 of 31 games, including 13 games with at least 20 points.

As a sophomore, he led the Huskers to 19 wins in the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998, averaging a Big Ten-leading 18.1 points per game along with 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest. Petteway was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection and was also a first-team all-district pick by the NABC (coaches) and U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He had a pair of 30-point efforts in 2013-14, including a career-high 35 point effort against Minnesota.

The 2015 NBA Draft takes place on Thursday, June 25, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It will be televised nationally by ESPN.

A strong finish has earned the Nebraska softball team an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers were one of 32 teams to earn an at-large bid when the 64-team field was announced live on ESPNU Sunday night.

Nebraska is headed to Baton Rouge, La., for one of the nation’s toughest regionals, which features three teams who have been ranked in the top 20 this season. The Huskers will face No. 24 Arizona State on Friday. LSU, the No. 5 national seed who spent several weeks as the nation’s top-ranked team, hosts the regional at Tiger Park. The eighth-ranked Tigers will face Texas Southern in the first round. Outside of Texas Southern, each of the other three teams in the Baton Rouge Regional have made it to the Women’s College World Series in the past three seasons.

LSU, Arizona State and Nebraska all earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, while Texas Southern earned an automatic bid after winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament. LSU (44-11) finished fourth in the SEC Conference, which features seven of the top 14 teams in the NFCA coaches’ poll. The Tigers have also defeated Nebraska this season. Arizona State ended the regular season with a 34-20 record, and the Sun Devils finished fourth in the Pac-12 Conference, which has six teams ranked in the top 25. Texas Southern (25-21) won its second straight SWAC Tournament to qualify for its second consecutive NCAA Tournament.

An NCAA Tournament berth perhaps seemed unlikely just one month ago, when Nebraska’s record stood at 20-18 and the Huskers came in at No. 62 in the first NCAA RPI rankings. Nebraska climbed more than 20 spots in the RPI rankings by winning won 14 of its last 17 games, including a run to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament, where Nebraska fell to No. 3 national seed Michigan. The Huskers will bring a 34-21 record into the NCAA Tournament after finishing in third place in the Big Ten Conference.

Head Coach Rhonda Revelle is taking her alma mater to the NCAA Tournament for the 19th time in the past 21 seasons. Revelle, who owns the fifth-most NCAA Tournament appearances of any active Division I coach, is looking forward to the Huskers’ second straight trip to Columbia.

“I’m very proud of this team. This group continued to work together every day to get better, and they truly earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the way they performed in the last month of the season,” Revelle said. “We’ve had some success in the postseason the last few years and our goal is to continue to represent Nebraska to the best of our ability.

“I truly believe we are playing our best softball right now, but we know this team can perform at an even higher level. We are heading to a regional with outstanding programs, and we expect that the strong competition we will face this weekend will bring out the best in this team.”

The Huskers are making their 23rd all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, which ranks 10th in NCAA history. Nebraska has won back-to-back NCAA Regional titles, one of 11 teams nationally who have advanced to NCAA Super Regional play each of the last two seasons. Overall, the Huskers have won eight regional titles, one super regional crown and advanced to the Women’s College World Series seven times.

NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Schedule

Friday, May 15

Nebraska vs. Arizona State, 3:30 p.m. (Game 1)

Texas Southern at LSU, 6 p.m. (Game 2)

Saturday, May 16

Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, TBA (Game 3)

Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, TBA (Game 4)

Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser, TBA (Game 5)

Sunday, May 17

Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, TBA (Game 6)

Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (if first loss), TBA

Lincoln – Following a three-hour and 20-minute rain delay for first pitch on Sunday afternoon, Nebraska (34-18, 9-11 Big Ten) and Purdue (16-34, 3-17 Big Ten) started the second game of their three-game series. After notching nine runs on 13 hits in the series opener, the NU offense went cold on Sunday, as it was limited to one run on four hits in a 2-1 defeat.

Senior Kyle Kubat made his 41^st career start on and struck out a career-high tying nine over 7.2 innings, but fell to 4-4 on the year. Since posting his 19^th career win against Michigan on March 21, Kubat has been in search of win No. 20 over his past seven starts. In the seven starts, Nebraska’s offense has scored an average of 2.0 runs per game. Kubat is now tied with Zach Kroneke, Josh Bullock and John Lepley for fifth place on the Nebraska career starts list.

Purdue’s Gavin Downs allowed one run on four hits over 7.0 innings. The junior right hander let his defense work behind him with only two walks and two strikeouts. Matt Frawley worked a pair of no-hit scoreless innings of relief behind Downs for his first save of the season.

The Huskers had the tying run on base to start the bottom of the ninth when Tanner Lubach was hit-by-pitch. Frawley came back and struck out Austin Darby looking before ending the game with a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Austin Christensen.

Just like in the opener on Saturday, the Boilermakers took the first lead of the game. Kyle Johnson started the second with a triple to center field and quickly scored when Brett Carlson followed with a single. Kubat limited the damage with a double-play ball and a 6-3 groundout.

Downs retired the first six Huskers he faced before Christian Cox started the bottom of the third with a single up the middle. The senior left fielder took second on a wild pitch by Downs and moved to third on a groundout off the bat of Jake Schleppenbach. Nebraska’s No. 9 hitter, Jake Placzek, stepped in with one down and drove in Cox with a RBI single that evened the game, 1-1.

The Boilermakers quickly jumped back in front with a run on two hits in the fourth. Kyle Wood roped a one-out double and Kubat was in position to strand him at second, but Carlson picked up his second RBI of the game with a single to center field that put Purdue ahead, 2-1.

Nebraska has a runner on in the fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth innings, but was never able to tie the game.

The Huskers will play their final regular-season game of the year at Hawks Field tomorrow afternoon when they conclude their series against the Boilermakers at 1:05 p.m.

Columbus, Ohio – The Nebraska softball team fell one win short of a Big Ten Tournament title Saturday night, falling to third-ranked Michigan, 6-1, in the championship game at Buckeye Field.

The top-seeded Wolverines swept the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, improving to 51-6 on the year. Nebraska, which fell one win short of an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, dropped to 34-21 on the season. The Huskers will learn their postseason fate on Sunday night, when the 2015 NCAA Tournament field is announced.

Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. A leadoff walk and a bunt single where the Huskers failed to cover first base set the stage for an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the frame, senior Steph Pasquale hit a fly ball to deep center, but Sierra Lawrence made a leaping grab to rob Pasquale of extra bases. Senior Kylee Muir then reached on a Wolverine error but Nebraska could not capitalize on the miscue.

Michigan stretched its lead to 6-0 with a four-run fifth inning that was highlighted by a three-run homer from two-time All-American Sierra Romero.

That was more than enough cushion for Wolverine starter Hailey Wagner, who held Nebraska to one run on three hits. The All-American left-hander improved to 21-2. The Wolverines outscored their opponents 31-2 during their three-game path to the title.

Despite allowing six runs, Nebraska received solid pitching outings from sophomore Cassie McClure and freshman Kaylan Jablonski. Michigan was not only held below its season average in runs, but the Wolverines were held without a hit in four of their seven innings. McClure and Jablonski also combined to retire Michigan in order four times.

McClure allowed two runs on only two hits in 2.0 innings in her first career start against a ranked opponent. Jablonski surrendered four runs (three earned) on four hits in 5.0 innings in her postseason debut.

Offensively for Nebraska finished with three hits. Junior Alicia Armstrong singled in the fourth to record the Huskers’ first hit. Then in the seventh, senior Steph Pasquale doubled before McClure lined an RBI single down the left field line to plate freshman pinch runner Taylor Otte with the Huskers’ lone run.

Classmate Kiki Stoke was the only other Husker to earn her way on base, as she was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning and then stole second to give Nebraska its first runner in scoring position on the night. Stokes has been hit by a school-record 17 pitches this season.

Nebraska will travel home on Sunday morning before gathering Sunday evening to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show.

Note: Senior Steph Pasquale and junior Kiki Stokes were named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team.

Lincoln – After having over three inches of standing water on Hawks Field Thursday morning, the Nebraska baseball team (34-17, 9-10 Big Ten) didn’t think it’d be able to host their final home series of the year this weekend against the Purdue Boilermakers (15-34, 2-17 Big Ten). The facility staff worked its magic to get the field ready and the Huskers opened the series at home on Saturday with a 9-6 victory. Nebraska is now tied with Indiana for seventh place in the Big Ten.

Nebraska’s offense pounded out 13 hits off Purdue pitching, as five Huskers had multiple hits on the day. Ryan Boldt led the way with a 3-for-5 performance, his 23^rd multi-hit game of the year and his ninth three-hit game on the season. Boldt has now recorded multiple hits in eight-straight games.

Seniors Austin Darby and Tanner Lubach each added a pair of hits, with Darby recording his second home run of the season in the fifth after Lubach led off the frame with a single.

Josh Roeder closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 15^th save of the season. Roeder needs one more save this year to match Brett Jensen’s 2005 single-season record of 16 saves.

After Purdue took a 1-0 lead in the first on an unearned run that scored following a pair of NU errors, the Huskers took over with four runs in the second. Darby led off the frame with a walk and then the Huskers reeled off three straight singles. Jake Placzek followed with a sacrifice fly, Boldt delivered NU’s fourth hit of the inning and Blake Headley added a sacrifice fly to give NU a three-run cushion.

Purdue cut Nebraska’s lead to one with a run in both the fourth and fifth, but Darby gave NU’s pitching staff some breathing room with his two-run shot into the visitor’s bullpen in right field in the bottom of the fifth.

The Boilermakers threatened again in the seventh with one run and had the tying runs on base, but Colton Howell took the mound and retired Brandon Krieg with one pitch to end the rally. The Huskers pushed three runs across in the bottom of the frame on just one hit, a two-out double by Jake Schleppenbach that scored Darby. Schleppenbach then scored on a two-out error by left fielder Brett Carlson, who dropped a fly ball off the bat of Placzek.

Facing a 9-4 deficit in the eighth, the Boilermakers kept fighting and scored two runs, but had no chance against Roeder in the ninth. The senior struck out the first two batters he faced and ended the game with a fly out to Darby in right field.

The Huskers and Boilermakers continue their three-game series tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. The Huskers will honor their seven seniors prior to the game.

 

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) – Jim Caldwell’s first season as coach of the Detroit Lions was largely a success, with the team making the playoffs for only the second time in the past 15 years.

If there was an area of disappointment, it was probably the running game. The Lions struggled to move the ball consistently on the ground, and that was part of the reason the offense as a whole went through some underwhelming stretches.

“We’re working at it,” Caldwell said. “You can give it lip service all you want, but we also have added personnel to kind of help us do that. So we intend to get better, and we must.”

Two players the Lions added to help their running game were on hand Friday, the first day of the team’s rookie minicamp. In the draft last week, Detroit picked offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson in the first round and running back Ameer Abdullah in the second. Both newcomers have a chance to help the Lions in areas where the team fell short last year.

“My first impression was just, ‘Wow, this is NFL football,’” Tomlinson said. “Go out there and show the coaches what you can do.”

The Lions went 11-6 last season, but they averaged 88.9 yards rushing, ranking 28th in the league. Reggie Bush had only 76 carries, and Joique Bell averaged just 3.9 yards per attempt.

Detroit cut Bush this offseason, meaning there was room for another back to complement Bell. Abdullah was the choice, taken with the 54th pick in the draft after a stellar career at Nebraska.

In addition to Abdullah and Tomlinson, the Lions also drafted fullback Michael Burton in the fifth round and offensive lineman Corey Robinson in the seventh. The message was clear: Detroit wants to be a more powerful team up front on offense.

That could mean better protection for quarterback Matthew Stafford, but it’s the running game that may benefit even more from Detroit’s offseason moves. The Lions also traded for veteran offensive lineman Manny Ramirez.

Stafford improved his completion percentage a bit last season, but his total of 4,257 yards passing was the lowest of his career over a full season. He was sacked a career-high 45 times, and the lack of a strong running game didn’t help matters.

“It’s a quarterback’s best friend – plain and simple,” Caldwell said. “It takes some of the pressure off of him. Just in terms of our situation last year – we run the ball a little bit better, that gives us a chance to win a couple more ballgames. A couple more ballgames is the difference between 11-5 and 13-3.”

Abdullah rushed for over 1,600 yards in each of his final two seasons at Nebraska, while Tomlinson performed well enough at Duke to become that program’s first player drafted in the first round since 1987.

Now they begin the process of trying to impress new coaches and learn a new team’s system. Adaptability is key as players work their way into better condition.

“No matter what you do, until you get back to playing football, you’re never in top football shape,” Abdullah said. “I did a pretty good job in the offseason, training pretty hard, so I felt pretty good today. Obviously, your legs get a little tired.”

The 5-foot-11 Bell has shouldered an increased workload over the last three seasons, rushing for a career-high 860 yards in 2014. So Detroit doesn’t need someone else to come in and be an immediate star in the backfield. The Lions just need another back who can give the team an additional option. That, along with a better performance from the offensive line, could make a big difference.

“I’d like to be able to add a real strong running game,” Caldwell said. “Our running game was sporadic. There were some times, it was really good, and then there were some times, it wasn’t good enough. We’ve just got to get it where it’s consistent.”