NU Notes: Huskers to Host Missouri State in WNIT
Lincoln – Nebraska became the eighth Big Ten Conference women's basketball program to earn a postseason bid this year when it was chosen to participate in the 64-team Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), it was announced late Sunday night by the event organizer, Triple Crown Sports. Nebraska earned the Big Ten's automatic qualification into the WNIT as the highest conference finisher in the regular season that was not selected for the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskers will begin their latest postseason run at home, playing host to Missouri State at 6 p.m. (CT) Wednesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. Tickets are available through the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at Huskers.com.
It will be Nebraska's fourth meeting all time with Missouri State and the first between the two schools since Dec. 8, 1993. The Lady Bears enter the WNIT with a 20-11 record after finishing fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season standings. Missouri State is led by second-team All-MVC second-team selection Aniya Thomas, who was also a member of the MVC All-Defensive Team and All-Newcomer Team. Kennedy Taylor added third-team All-MVC honors and joined Thomas on the league's All-Newcomer Team, while Jade Masogayo was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year for Head Coach Beth Cunningham.
With a victory, Nebraska would advance to a second-round matchup against either Northern Iowa or Colorado State during a window from March 18-21, with the date, time and location of that second-round game to be determined.
Nebraska is making its seventh WNIT appearance since the current tournament format began in 1998, and earns its first trip since 2021, when the Huskers reached the round of 16 in a modified 32-team event necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nebraska also competed in the 1992 National Women's Invitation Tournament (NWIT), finishing fourth that season.
This year's WNIT berth marks the 19th postseason appearance in the past 25 seasons for the Huskers, as well as their third consecutive postseason bid.
The WNIT third round (Super 16) will be played March 22-24, followed by the quarterfinals (Great Eight) from March 25-27 and the semifinals (Fab Four) from March 28-29. The WNIT championship game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. (CT) on April 1 and will be televised live on CBS Sports Network. All WNIT games are played on the campus of one of the participating schools.
Evans Named Big Ten Player of the Week
Junior Cole Evans has been named the Big Ten Baseball's Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
The Grand Island, Neb., native hit .818 (9-for-11) with three doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and four runs in three games against Northern Colorado and Illinois State, while recording a 1.636 slugging percentage and .833 on-base percentage.
Evans went 3-for-4 with a double, two homers, three RBI and a pair of runs scored in a 14-3 seven-inning win against Northern Colorado.
The junior opened the Illinois State series with a 2-for-3 day, before going 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and two runs in the second game against the Redbirds.
Huskers Set for Tuesday Tilt With Mavericks
NEBRASKA vs. OMAHA
March 14, 2023
Hawks Field | Lincoln, Neb.
Tuesday, March 14 – 6:05 p.m. CT
Pitching: RHP Michael Garza (1-1, 1.64 ERA) vs. RHP Charlie Bell (1-1, 6.00 ERA)
TV/Streaming: B1G+
Radio: Huskers Radio Network – Lincoln (1400 AM), Omaha (590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App
Nebraska continues its homestand on Tuesday night, welcoming in-state foe Omaha to Hawks Field.
First pitch between the Huskers and Mavericks is set for 6:05 p.m.
Tuesday night's game can be seen on B1G+, while fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action on the Huskers Radio Network, which can be hard on KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln and KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha. Every game this season can be heard for free on Huskers.com and the Official Nebraska Huskers App for both iOS and android devices.
Nebraska vs. Omaha
• Through 74 all-time meetings, Nebraska holds a dominant 62-12 advantage over Omaha in the all-time series.
• Since Omaha's transition to DI, the Huskers have won 11 of the 14 meetings against the Mavericks..
• The two teams split four games last season, with the Big Red posting a 14-3 run-rule victory in seven innings in their final meeting at Hawks Field in 2022.
NU Offense Among the National Leaders
• Through March 12, the Nebraska offense leads the Big Ten and ranks in the top 20 of four offensive categories.
Category Value B1G NCAA
Batting Average .334 1st 9th
Doubles 41 1st 9th
Doubles/Game 2.93 1st 5th
Slugging Percentage .589 1st 12th
Huskers Homer in 12 Consecutive Games
• After not going yard in the season opener at San Diego, Nebraska reached a streak of 12 consecutive games with a home run, before being held without a homer against Illinois State on Saturday.
• The 12-game streak is the longest in school history since the Big Red homered in 21 straight games in the 1988 season.
• The Huskers totaled 25 homers in the 12-game stretch, including seven gamse of at least two home runs.
Matthews, Caron a Constant on the Base Path
• Brice Matthews and Josh Caron have been a constant on the base paths for the Huskers recently, as both enter Tuesday night's game having reached base safely in 15-plus games.
• Matthews comes into Tuesday's tilt with the Mavericks with a 17-game reached base streak, while Caron has reached base safely in 15 straight games.
Evans Tabbed Big Ten Player of the Week
• Junior Cole Evans was named the Big Ten Baseball's Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
• The Grand Island, Neb., native hit .818 (9-for-11) with three doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and four runs in three games against Northern Colorado and Illinois State.
• On the week, Evans recorded a 1.636 slugging percentage and an .833 on-base percentage.
• Evans went 3-for-4 with a double, two homers, three RBI and a pair of runs scored in a 14-3 seven-inning win against Northern Colorado.
• The junior opened the Illinois State series with a 2-for-3 day, before going 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and two runs in the second game against the Redbirds.
Big Red Nearing 400th Win at Hawks Field
• Playing in their 22nd season at Hawks Field, Nebraska is closing in on its 400th all-time win at the ballpark.
• With the two-game series sweeps over Northern Colorado and Illinois State last week, the Huskers have an all-time record of 397-158-1 in the home ballpark.
• NU hasn't had a losing season at home in each of the last 21 seasons.
Numbers to Know
5 – Through their first 14 games this season, the Huskers have committed just six errors and rank fifth nationally with a .987 fielding percentage.
4 – Shay Schanaman is four strikeouts away from tying Jamie Rodrigue (2000-03) for No. 9 all-time in school history with 200 strikeouts. Schanaman tied Zach Kroenke for 10th-best last weekend.
2 – Junior Brice Matthews is two hits shy of reaching the 100-hit mark in his three years with the Huskers.
12 – The NU offense has produced four or more runs in an inning 12 times through the first 14 games this season. In 2022, the Huskers scored four runs in an inning 20 times throughout the season.
6 – Nebraska is 7-1-1 when scoring at least six runs this season. The Huskers are 57-9-1 under head coach Will Bolt when reaching the six-run mark in the last four seasons.
Weekend Series vs. Nicholls Moved to Manhattan, Kan.
Due to the forecasted weather conditions in the Lincoln area this weekend, Nebraska's baseball series vs. Nicholls has been relocated to Kansas State's Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.
The Huskers and Colonels are set to play one game on Thursday and a doubleheader on Friday at Tointon Family Stadium. Thursday's first pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m., while Friday's doubleheader is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday's doubleheader will include a seven-inning game, followed by a nine-inning game.
Free admission is available for the three games in Manhattan, while fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action on the Huskers Radio Network. Parking will be free of charge in the west lot of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, adjacent to the ballpark.
Fans who had tickets for this weekend's Nicholls' games will be refunded after the conclusion of the season for any game of the series not played at Hawks Field.
College Baseball Notebook: HRs in bunches for Bobcats' Mora
It's going to be hard for Texas State's Chase Mora to top the first month of his college career.
He became the first Division I freshman since 2015 to hit four home runs in a game, and he narrowly missed a fifth in the Bobcats' 19-18 win over North Dakota State on Saturday.
This is the same player who became the first in NCAA history to homer in his first three career plate appearances, doing it against Northwestern on Feb. 18-19.
Mora's big day against NDSU started with a three-run homer in the second inning. He hit a two-run homer in the third and a three-run blast in the fourth. After he flew out deep to left in the sixth, he slugged a solo shot in the eighth for his school record-tying ninth RBI.
“That fourth at-bat I was trying for it, got out of my approach a little bit, got a curveball up and hooked it a little bit and didn't get the result I wanted,” Mora said. "I kind of banged up myself (mentally) and went back to the dugout and flushed it.
“The fifth at-bat I was trying to hunt something middle of the field, got a hanging changeup and hit it over the center field wall.”
Mora's four homers were part of a seven-homer game for Texas State. NDSU also went deep seven times on a warm and windy day at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos.
Florida's JJ Schwarz was the previous freshman to homer four times in a game, against Stetson in 2015.
Mora has been a part-time starter at second base and is batting .391 with seven homers and 17 RBIs in 23 at-bats over nine games.
IN THE POLLS
LSU (15-1) finished a 5-0 week with a three-game sweep of Samford and remains the unanimous No. 1 team in the polls.
In the D1Baseball.com rankings, Tennessee (14-3) lost a midweek game to Boston College but swept Morehead State to earn a one-rung promotion to No. 2. Mississippi is No. 3 after sweeping Purdue.
Baseball America kept Florida (15-3) as its No. 2 team and moved Louisville (14-1) a spot to No. 3.
Louisville is No. 2 and Tennessee is No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll.
THREE NO-HITTERS
Western Kentucky's Devyn Terbrak threw the first individual no-hitter of the season in a 3-0 win over South Dakota State on Sunday.
The five other no-hitters were combined efforts, and two of those occurred this past weekend.
Terbrak struck out a career-high 14 and was aided by some key defensive plays while pitching the Hilltoppers' first no-hitter since 2009.
“I did it in high school," Terbrak said, “but doing it at a Division I level is crazy.”
Rutgers recorded its first nine-inning no-hitter since 1978 when Jake Marshall went five innings and Ben Gorski went four in a 7-0 win over Georgia Southern on Saturday.
McNeese State's Derrick Cherry worked six innings and Ty Abraham threw two perfect innings in a 10-0, eight-inning win over Prairie View on Saturday.
PRIDE OF THE IVY LEAGUE
Columbia of the Ivy League won two of three games at previously unbeaten Alabama for its first series win over a Southeastern Conference team.
The Lions clinched the series with a 15-3 win Saturday, sending 15 batters to the plate and collecting eight hits in an 11-run fourth inning.
SOARING EAGLES
Boston College (12-2) is out to the best start in program history after taking two of three over former top-10 Virginia Tech. The Eagles were 19-34 and haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 2016, when they opened 11-3.
Jorgenson, Clairmont Ready for NCAA Championships
Gena Jorgenson and Kelsey Clairmont are set to represent Nebraska at the 2023 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The two Huskers will compete March 15-18 in Knoxville, Tenn., at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
Jorgenson, a freshman from Aberdeen, S.D., qualified with a school record-breaking 1650 freestyle time at the Big Ten Championships. The 16:13.54 earned Jorgenson sixth place at the meet, an NCAA B Standard Cut and a spot at the NCAA Championships.
With Jorgenson's mile qualification, she was also invited to compete in the 500 freestyle and 400 IM this week. Her action begins Thursday with 500 freestyle prelims at 9 a.m. (CT). On Friday, Jorgenson will continue with 400 IM prelims at 9 a.m. (CT). The 1,650 freestyle is Jorgenson's final event of the championship meet, scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT).
Clairmont posted a 496.00 on the platform at the 2023 Zone D Diving Championships last week to place eighth and earn a spot at NCAAs. The freshman from Canada competes on Saturday with platform prelims starting at 9 a.m. (CT).
Jorgenson is one of 281 swimmers and Clairmont is one of 41 divers to qualify for the Championship meet.
Live events can be streamed through ESPN+, with tape-delayed coverage available on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, March 29.
Nebraska at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships
Knoxville, Tenn. (Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center)
March 15-18, 2023 (All times central)
Thursday, March 16
500 Free - Prelims (Gena Jorgenson) - 9 a.m.
500 Free - Finals - 5 p.m.
Friday, March 17
400 IM - Prelims (Gena Jorgenson) - 9 a.m.
400 IM - Finals - 5 p.m.
Saturday, March 18
Platform - Prelims (Kelsey Clairmont) - 9 a.m.
1,650 Free - Finals (Gena Jorgenson) - 5 p.m.
Platform - Finals - 5 p.m.
