Nebraska reliever Jeff Chestnut (Shotgun Spratling)

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Weekend Preview: April 2-5

This Week:

• Big Ten Focus: Premium pitching and defense lifts Nebraska to prominence (Aaron Fitt)

• Big Ten Focus: Surprising Iowa is a rising commodity (Kendall Rogers)

• Duke’s mission to end its regional drought takes a massive blow (Aaron Fitt)

• Five teams that need series wins (Kendall Rogers)

• National nuggets (Kendall Rogers)

The Re-established Big Name: Nebraska

By Aaron Fitt

Anyone who watched Darin Erstad during his playing career should not be surprised by his coaching philosophy. The consummate hard-nosed, blue-collar grinder, Erstad was famous for running into walls and playing the game at full speed every single day. His focus on the little details was unwavering.

Darin Erstad (Nebraska)

Erstad isn’t the type to get caught up in big-picture talk. You’re not going to get Erstad, Nebraska’s head coach, to talk up the importance of a big weekend series, like this week’s Big Ten showdown at No. 17 Maryland. You can try — but he just isn’t interested in talking about stakes, or even talking about his opponent.

“I couldn’t care less who we’re playing,” Erstad said. “I’m totally focused on what we’re doing. Fans get excited about that, great. I don’t even think about who we’re playing. I’m more concerned about how we go about our business. I know that’s a coach’s line, but I truly do feel that way.”

The Cornhuskers buy into that mentality, and it is a big reason for their success. They don’t ever get caught looking ahead. Before Nebraska could turn its attention to Maryland, it had to win a road game at Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday. That was their 16th victory in their last 17 games, a stretch that included a dominating sweep of Texas last weekend, vaulting them back into the rankings at No. 18. Nebraska and Maryland were the two Big Ten teams that opened the year in the preseason Top 25, and both teams have largely lived up to that billing in the first half of the season. Nebraska heads into this weekend 23-7 overall, 3-0 in the Big Ten. Maryland is 19-7, 4-2.

The Cornhuskers opened the year with a series loss at UNLV, then won three of four at BYU the next weekend, but Erstad said the light really came on for this team in Week Three at Loyola Marymount, where the ’Huskers won two of three.

“We still were kind of shaky with BYU, but we have a veteran group, and I think they wanted to have such a great senior year that a lot of them were trying way too hard early on,” Erstad said. “Finally they said, ‘All right, let’s just go out there and have fun.’ And they settled in and starting doing what they do.”

The Cornhuskers lost a pair of tough low-scoring battles the next weekend in Houston against two teams currently ranked in the top five (LSU and Texas A&M), but since then they have been dominant, especially on the mound. During their current 16-1 stretch, Nebraska has allowed three or fewer runs in all 16 wins. In fact, they have allowed four or more runs just four times all season, and more than five runs just once.

The formula is pretty simple: Nebraska pitches and defends at elite levels. Through Tuesday, the Cornhuskers ranked eighth nationally in ERA (2.32) and second in fielding percentage (.983). The staff pounds the strike zone, ranking 13th nationally in fewest walks allowed per nine innings and sixth in WHIP.

“They have command of their pitches,” Erstad said of his arms. “We’re not going to overpower you and blow your doors off, but they can pitch, and they can locate. When you’ve got command of three or four pitches, it turns into the cat-and-mouse game. Coach (Ted) Silva does a great job of setting up hitters.”

No. 1 starter Chance Sinclair fits that mold perfectly. He works in the upper 80s with his fastball, has very good feel for his changeup and can mix in a good breaking ball. He held Texas to a run on just two hits over 7.2 innings last week.

Chance Sinclair and the Huskers had much to smile about Friday night. (Nebraska)

“He’s got mentality. The bigger the situation, the more quality his pitches become,” Erstad said. “The better the team we play is, the better he pitches. He just thrives in that environment.”

Maryland’s Mike Shawaryn is wired similarly, so that series-opening matchup on Friday should be a good one. Senior lefthander Kyle Kubat (4-0, 1.33 in 47.1 IP) has actually been Nebraska’s best pitcher statistically, and he turned in a signature performance last week, spinning eight innings of three-hit, shutout ball without issuing a walk. He wound up getting a no-decision in that game, as Nebraska won 1-0 in 15 innings. Relievers Jake Hohensee, Colton Howell and Jeff Chesnut combined to limit Texas to one hit the rest of the way, showing off Nebraska’s superb strength in the bullpen.

Each of Nebraska’s core four relievers — Hohensee, Howell, Chesnut and closer Josh Roeder — have different styles, offering hitters different looks. Chesnut is a classic sinker/slider pitcher who relentlessly hammers the zone, as evidenced by his 14-2 strikeout-walk mark in 21.2 innings, helping him go 4-0, 0.83 in 15 appearances. Hohensee (0.87 ERA in 10.1 IP) has come back slowly from a forearm strain that sidelined him early in the season, but his ability to command four pitches makes him a trustworthy swingman who can start or relieve.

Howell and Roeder are different breeds, aggressive power pitchers who can blow hitters away with velocity. Erstad said Howell (1.06 ERA, 17 IP) sits 90-94 and touches 96 with a fastball that has good angle, and he excels at working up and down in the zone. He also features a quality low to mid-80s slider to help him put hitters away. Roeder (3.48 ERA, nine saves in 10.1 IP) stands out for his ability to locate his 88-93 fastball and his competitiveness. He has 27 saves over the last two and a half years, and his experience in tight situations gives the team confidence. “He just fits that mold of a closer,” Erstad said.

Nebraska RHP Derek Burkamper delivers to the plate. (Shotgun Spratling)

Nebraska also has an emerging talent in Sunday starter Derek Burkamper (4-1, 2.87), who arrived on campus as a big-name recruit and is really coming into his own as a sophomore. He held Texas to two runs over 8 1/3 innings last week, effectively mixing an 88-92 fastball that touches 94 with good angle, a solid breaking ball and a changeup that Silva has helped him develop this year.

“He’s always had really good stuff, it just boils down to his ability to command it,” Erstad said. “He’s grown up before your eyes. There are so many things that go into being a student-athlete. He had some learning to do last year and even this year, but he’s worked hard, done a great job of time management and all the different places he gets pulled. Without a doubt, in the short time I’ve coached, the most joy I’ve gotten out of it is watching guys like Derek figure it out.”

Offensively, Nebraska isn’t a juggernaut, but it is generating enough offense to win a lot of games behind that stellar pitching staff, and of course the defense has been superb. Talented sophomores Ryan Boldt (.339/.438/.422) and Ben Miller (.325/.365/.404) have led the way for the offense, while key veterans Austin Darby and Tanner Lubach got off to very slow starts but are starting to find their strides. When they do, the ’Huskers will be even more dangerous.

“Some of our guys got off to pretty slow starts, but everybody’s getting back in the rhythm of things,” Erstad said. “We haven’t had any super-human efforts. It’s been collectively nine guys in the lineup really grinding out at-bats. Even when we’ve struggled offensively, we’re still getting baserunners and scoring just enough. The exciting thing for our standpoint is I don’t think we’ve been swinging the bats close to as well as we can. But regardless if we’re swinging the bat well or not, we really just don’t give away too many at-bats.”

In that respect, they definitely take after their coach.

The Rising Commodity: Iowa

By Kendall Rogers

Night and day would be the best way to describe second-year Iowa head coach Rick Heller’s coaching life now as compared to his first season with the University of Iowa.

Though Heller was considered a very good hire for the Hawkeyes on the national stage after turning Indiana State into an NCAA tournament team, the addition didn’t create much lasting buzz inside the state of Iowa. And let’s face it, who could blame media in the state? After all, this is an Iowa program with a whopping three NCAA postseason appearances, the last coming in 1990.

The Heller-led Hawkeyes gained some traction last season by tallying 30 wins, but a losing record in the Big Ten Conference kept them from really making a big splash on the national stage.

But, boy, is everything now much different. The Hawkeyes really have changed their fortunes. They are 18-7, and most notably got a home series sweep over Indiana last weekend, putting them on the national map. And as for Heller, his life has changed, too. Typically, he was just worried about taking care of his duties as a head coach. But now, media around the state want a chance to talk with one of the Midwest’s hottest coaches, at one of the region’s rising programs.

Iowa RHP Blake Hickman has developed into a more well-rounded pitcher. (Iowa)

It’s uncharted waters for the Hawkeyes, but Heller will take the suddenly hectic lifestyle. It’s a sign of progress.

“It’s been funny. It seems like the past couple of days, it’s been hard to get any work done with the number of phone calls I’m getting wanting to know about our team,” Heller said. “I’ve got a lot of people wanting me to come on this and that radio show, and some television appearances. It’s unique because this program hasn’t had that in a while.

“Last weekend’s series against Indiana was fun. We unveiled a few facilities upgrades and we had some good, energetic crowds. We also had quite a bit of media out to see us, even media from Des Moines.”

Expectations for this Iowa team were rather tempered entering the season. The Big Ten was expected to be much improved and had the potential to be historically strong, and the Hawkeyes weren’t expected to be near the top of that hierarchy, picked to finish ninth in the league.

But Heller was still very optimistic coming into the season despite being thrown some curveballs in the offseason. For instance, the Hawkeyes were under the impression talented starting pitcher Sasha Keubel would return for another season, and pretty much counted on that when it came to roster spots. Keubel, though, surprised many by signing with the Cardinals as a 31st-round selection last summer. Suddenly, the Hawkeyes were without their most consistent starting pitcher, and also had to replace departed shortstop Jake Yacinich, the team’s leading hitter by a wide margin, and someone who caused havoc on the basepaths and recorded 25 stolen bases last season.

“The big question was shortstop. Yacinich was really good there last year, and was our three-hole hitter as well. We just needed someone to fill that void. Losing Sasha is something I thought might be devastating for us,” Heller said. “But in the end, I’m not real surprised that we’re playing like this. When the season started, I really thought this could be a 15-16 league win type of club. We thought we’d be playing some teams in nonconference that would help our RPI, and we’ve managed to win a lot of those games.

“I knew we had a lot of seniors coming back, and they wanted to take things a step further for this program,” he continued. “I figured if guys like Blake (Hickman) could continue to emerge, we’d have a chance. But in the end, for our group, I always tell them that no one expected us to have success, at least not like this. I just want our guys to continue playing hard, and as long as we do that and don’t get too wrapped up in the hoopla, we’ll keep pushing forward.”

The Hawkeyes are a much different club, statistically speaking, than they were last season. Iowa finished the 2014 campaign with a .296 batting average and 4.34 ERA. But this year? The Hawkeyes have flipped the script, hitting just .273. They still have productive hitters such as veteran Eric Toole (.353/.445/.441), but the team defense and the pitching staff clearly leads the way. The Hawkeyes rank fifth nationally in fielding percentage and ERA.

Iowa is enjoying consistently good contributions from starting pitchers Tyler Peyton, Hickman and Calvin Mathews. Peyton made waves last weekend by tossing a complete game gem against Indiana, and is showing much improved stuff, sitting low 90s with his fastball as opposed to the 87-88 mph he sat last season, while he possesses a good changeup and a sometimes swing-and-miss slider. Hickman, a 6-foot-5, 210-pounder, is the club’s elite prospect and is a power arm coming into his own. Hickman (2.77 ERA, 39 IP) could miss a few more bats, but is still showing premium stuff at times, sitting low-to-mid 90s with his fastball, showing a good changeup and an improved breaking ball. Then there’s Mathews, a hard-nosed junior, who’s playing through shoulder issues because he didn’t want to sit out his junior season.

“Tyler’s command and velocity from last season to this year is much better. We kind of thought he might do that after getting into our weight program, but it’s good to see. He’s bigger, stronger and in terrific shape. He’s also cleaned up some stuff mechanically,” Heller said. “The big thing with Blake is that his command has gotten much better, and he’s locating his big-time fastball. His location hadn’t been the best at times in the past, but it’s much better now.”

The Hawkeyes also are enjoying good contributions from their bullpen, led by senior righthander Nick Hibbing, who sits in the low 90s with his fastball and has a good changeup and curveball, while junior-college transfer and lefthander Ryan Erickson is drawing attention from scouts in the region. Erickson approached Heller and the Hawkeyes about joining the team after Keubel decided to sign, and has been a pleasant surprise, sitting 90-91 mph with his fastball, along with a hard low-80s slider. He also has the ability to throw a very good changeup at times.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of Iowa’s season transpires. The Hawkeyes have an RPI of No. 19, and though it’s still early to be a slam-dunk postseason team, everything is trending the right direction. Iowa, though, played its first six weeks on the road, and will play the next two weekends at Purdue and Maryland, a difficult road trip that certainly will put their toughness to the test. In all, the Hawkeyes will have spent eight of their first nine weeks on the road.

Home, away or neutral site, Iowa baseball is relevant again.

Injuries undermine Duke’s mission

By Aaron Fitt

Entering the season, Michael Matuella talked about how much it would mean to him to be part of the team that finally ended Duke’s 54-year NCAA tournament drought. The Blue Devils had a real shot to do it last year, when they went 16-14 in the ACC, but their RPI fell outside of at-large range and they fell just short of making the ACC title game.

Losing key pitchers Trent Swart and James Marvel to Tommy John surgery for all of the 2015 season was a setback, but still the Devils were optimistic that they had a shot to make a regional run this year, with Matuella — the nation’s top-ranked college prospect entering the season — at the head of a strong weekend rotation that also included Andrew Istler and Bailey Clark. After beating Liberty on April 24, Duke was 19-6 overall and No. 22 in the RPI; the first six weeks couldn’t have gone a whole lot better.

And then disaster struck.

The Blue Devils had to play a road series against Boston College, which was moved to Delaware, where the weather was still cold last weekend. The Eagles swept the series, as Matuella (4.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K) struggled Friday in low-40s temperatures. A week earlier against Pittsburgh, Matuella had his best outing of the season, and he appeared close to getting back to 100 percent after dealing with a forearm strain early in the season.

“Up through the end of the Pitt start, he had really felt great. He had progressed each week, his pitch count had progressed,” Duke coach Chris Pollard said. “The initial flexor tendon strain that he had coming out of the Cal weekend (in Week One) was really healing up. We wound up taking him out of the BC game at 92 pitches, he was slated to go 95. We were on a track that if he felt good after BC, basically all the restrictions would be taken off him, he’d just go out and pitch. And he never felt right in that BC game. It was cold and windy, he never really loosened up, and he just felt worse as it went on. He never felt a pop or any one thing where you said, ‘Wow, that’s it.’ It was in the same general area where he had the flexor strain before, so we thought the cold weather brought that strain back in his forearm.”

Duke righthander Michael Matuella (Aaron Fitt)

Instead, Matuella and the Devils learned on Monday that he had a tear in his UCL that would require season-ending Tommy John surgery.

“So we were kind of punched between the eyes on Monday,” Pollard said. “It’s a tough blow. Right now, I’m more disappointed for Michael than I am for our program. He’s worked so hard and committed so much for this program, and done it in such a positive way, been a recognized leader by his teammates. I’m disappointed for him. But, what I will say is, from what I know from talking with the doctors, the tear is in a spot where they feel very comfortable it’s going to be a very, very straightforward procedure. There’s no complicating factors, no other stuff in there. His prospects for making a full and complete recovery are very good. That’s the main thing.”

Certainly, the injury will hurt Matuella’s draft stock, because as Frankie Piliere wrote yesterday, he has a shorter track record than last year’s two first-rounders who had Tommy John before the draft, Jeff Hoffman and Erick Fedde. Matuella had more to prove, and he will now be deprived of the chance to prove it.

But Matuella should be able to come back strong and put together a successful pro career, and there is little doubt that some team will take a gamble on his upside and make a serious run at signing him out of the draft this year.

Whether Duke will be able to come back strong in 2015 is much less certain. Clark missed his start last week with tendinitis in his flexor tendon, but he is slated to return to the rotation this weekend at Miami, though he’ll be on a limited pitch count. Veteran reliever Nick Hendrix, a key lefthander in the bullpen, is out for the rest of the season after suffering a fractured skull when a foul ball hit him in the head while he was in the dugout on March 18. And fourth-year junior righty Conner Stevens, another key piece of the bullpen, has missed the last two weeks with shoulder inflammation and remains out indefinitely.

Throw in the injuries to Marvel and Swart, and Pollard has to feel snake-bitten.

“We’ve had more than our run (of injuries),” Pollard said. “I went 15 years as a head coach — five years at Pfeiffer, eight years at Appalachian State, my first year at Duke and most of my second year at Duke — and had never had one Tommy John in 15 years. And we’ve had three in a year. You see all these guys dropping like flies, and it makes me wonder if there’s freakin’ something in the water. We haven’t modified our program. We monitor pitch counts more closely now than we ever did back then, our weight training is more refined, side sessions — it’s not a matter of we’re overusing these guys and we need to do something different. It defies logic. I can’t put my finger on it.”

It’s particularly hard to build enough depth at a private school to overcome a rash of injuries like this, so the reality is Duke’s quest to end its regional drought is in serious jeopardy.

“We went from feeling really good about ourselves a week ago … We’re reeling a little bit,” Pollard said.

But the season isn’t over, and the Blue Devils need to find a way to regroup and move on, starting with a very difficult assignment on the road in Coral Gables this weekend.

Five Teams Needing Wins



By Kendall Rogers

1. Texas — It’s definitely not time for the Longhorns to push the panic button, but the past week has been a real blur for UT coach Augie Garrido. The Longhorns hit the road last weekend and were swept by Nebraska, scoring just three runs in the series, and they followed that up with a midweek loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi — at home, mind you. Texas hits the road this weekend to face Oklahoma State, and desperately needs the offense to step up. The ‘Horns are hitting .250 as a team after the Nebraska series.

2. Eastern Illinois — There’s no team in the country that needs a win more than the Panthers. Why? Well, the Panthers are 0-21, 0-9 in Ohio Valley Conference play entering the weekend series at Tennessee Tech. And here are a few figures to chew on: EIU is hitting .214 as a team, while opponents are hitting its pitching staff at a .331 clip. Speaking of the pitching staff, EIU has an 8.60 ERA, while opponents are sporting a 3.08 ERA against its offense. It’s been a disastrous season, but maybe the Panthers can turn it around this weekend against a Tennessee Tech team that carries its own eight-game losing streak into the weekend.

3. Mississippi State — Just a note to the Bulldogs: You don’t want to be on this list again next week. The Bulldogs made this list last week and followed that up with a home series loss to Auburn, where they scored just one run in three games. As a matter of fact, the Bulldogs scored just one run last week all together. The good news? MSU scored seven runs in a midweek loss at South Alabama. The Bulldogs desperately need to right the ship at home this weekend (3-6 in the SEC) against South Carolina before hitting the road to face Texas A&M, then having Florida at home. Through nine conference games, the Bulldogs have a .240 batting average and 5.47 ERA.

4. Notre Dame — It’s safe to say the Fighting Irish need some conference wins. The Irish were one of the nation’s hot topics a few weeks ago after taking a road series from Clemson. However, they’ve struggled against much better competition since — and at home — losing six straight contests to Louisville and Virginia the past two weekends. Notre Dame’s offense must step up this weekend against Pittsburgh, as the unit is hitting just .213 through 12 ACC games.

5. UNLV — We thought the Rebels might have a chance to make some noise before the season, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious it might not be their year, though there’s still time to turn things around, beginning on the road this weekend against rival Nevada. UNLV has lost four straight contests and is now 12-15 overall, 2-10 in the Mountain West entering the series against the Wolf Pack. UNLV hasn’t had a great recipe for success thus far, hitting .242 as a team with an ERA over five.

National Nuggets



• It could be a little touch and go for California at times as it navigates a rigorous Pac-12 schedule. The Golden Bears have a pair of solid starting pitchers in young Jeff Bain and Ryan Mason, but continue to be without talented righthander Daulton Jefferies, who’s out of commission for now because of tendinitis. Jefferies was off to a very good start for the Golden Bears. In addition to showing fastball velocity in the low-to-mid 90s, the righty had a 2.45 ER Ain 25.2 innings, along with 29 strikeouts and eight walks. Fortunately for Cal, it is at home the next two weekends with Washington State and Stanford coming to Berkeley.

• Vanderbilt made some tough injury news official earlier this week, as sophomore righthander Hayden Stone (a third-team preseason All-American at closer) announced on Twitter that he would be missing the rest of the season after having Tommy John surgery. The Commodores had been waiting for a second and final opinion on the matter, and the result obviously wasn’t what Stone was looking for. Stone blossomed as a freshman last season, showcasing one of the more devastating sliders in college baseball. But because of the injury, he had appeared in just three games and logged 4.2 innings this season.

Set to undergo Tommy John Surgery tomorrow morning in Pensacola, FL. Staying positive and moving forward – things could be worse. — Hayden Stone (@Stone_VU32) April 2, 2015

• The NCAA released its midseason report on the new balls, and the results aren’t mind-blowing, but certainly trend in a positive direction. For instance, home runs are up 39 percent year over year from 0.36 per game to 0.50, while team batting averages are only up 0.37 percent, essentially none. Scoring per game is up 5.25 percent, team ERAs are up 1.66 percent and there have been 10.5 percent more strikeouts at this point than at this point last year. The reason for that, as we’ve chronicled in the past, is pitchers get better feel of the ball, hence a bit more run on their two-seam fastballs, in particular.

You can see the rest of the NCAA’s midseason report from our friends at NCAA.com, here.