May 30, 2008

Nebraska Game Notes

• With the victory, Nebraska improved to 41-14-1 on the season and 29-3-1 at Hawks Field. The Huskers also improved to 31-23 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 14-5 mark at Hawks Field (19-5 overall at home including games played at Buck Beltzer).

• Jake Opitz recorded his first career multi-home run game, launching a two-run shot in the first and a solo blast in the seventh. His multi-homer effort was the first by a Husker this season. With his two homers, Opitz moved into a tie with Mitch Abeita for the team lead with 10 homers this season. Opitz hit 10 home runs in his first three seasons combined. The two homers were also Opitz's team-leading 26th and 27th extra-base hits of the season. He has seven homers in his last 17 games.

• Opitz finished 2-for-4 in the game, extending his career-long hitting streak to 12 games. During the hitting streak, Opitz is batting .429 (21-for-49) with four homers, nine RBIs and 13 walks. He has also reached base safely in 24 of the last 25 games.

• Mitch Abeita reached base in each of his five plate appearances on Friday and has now reached base safely in 53 of 54 games this season. Abeita recorded three singles while drawing a pair of walks and increasing his team-leading total to 42.

• Tyler Farst hit his second career home run and his first at Hawks Field in the victory.

• Craig Corriston's eighth-inning homer was his fifth of the season and his first since homering at Baylor on April 27.

• Nebraska hit a season-high four home runs as a team on Friday, producing its fourth multi-home run game of the season.

• Every Nebraska starter had at least one hit, while eight players scored at least one run and six produced an RBI.

• The Huskers scored in seven of their eight innings on Friday. Nebraska has now scored in 14 of its last 17 innings at Hawks Field.

• Nebraska scored at least nine runs for the third straight home game.

• Nebraska scored first in Friday's game, marking the first time in the last seven home games that the Huskers scored first at Hawks Field.

• Nebraska has trailed in six straight home games, rallying to win five of those contests. Overall, the Huskers fell behind at home for the 10th time in their last 11 home games (8-2 record in those 10 contests).

• Bryce Nimmo tied his career high with two stolen bases, marking his third game this season - and seventh of his career - with two stolen bases. Entering Friday's game, Nimmo had not stolen a base since swiping two bases against Kansas State on March 15, a streak totaling 39 straight games.

• Dan Jennings had allowed just two home runs in 76.0 innings this season (and only two total home runs in 104.2 career innings) before surrendering two homers in a span of three batters over the third and fourth innings on Friday against Eastern Illinois.

• Jennings lasted just 3.2 innings, marking the shortest start of his career. The left-hander was also tagged for a career-high five earned runs.

• Nebraska has given up at least 10 hits in eight of its last 11 games.

• The average time of Nebraska's last five home games is 4:02.

Eastern Illinois Game Notes

• With the loss, Eastern Illinois fell to 27-29 on the season and dropped to 4-19 on the road. The Panthers also fell to 1-3 all-time in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The loss snapped a season-high five-game winning streak for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Champions.

• Eastern Illinois scored at least seven runs for the fourth straight game.

• Eastern Illinois lost for the first time in 10 games this season when scoring 10 or more runs, while the Panthers fell to 0-10 when allowing the opponent to score at least 10 runs.

• Brett Nommensen went 3-for-5 in Friday's game, marking his team-leading 23rd multi-hit game of the season. His three hits gave him 80 for the season, making him just the third player in school history to record 80 hits in a season.

• Nommensen's three hits extended his career-best hitting streak to 11 games. During that stretch, he has produced eight multi-hit efforts.

• Jordan Tokarz finished 2-for-5 in the game, increasing his season at-bat total to 227. Tokarz moved into second place on the Eastern Illinois single-season chart with his five at bats and he needs just four at bats on Saturday to tie Chris Uhle's school-record 231 at bats in 2003.

• Zach Skidmore hit his fifth home run of the season, marking his first home run in 12 games dating back to May 6.

• Jordan Kreke hit his third home run of the season and his first since April 13, snapping a streak of 24 games without a home run.

• Alex Gee capped a terrific performance with his three-run homer in the ninth inning, his third homer of the season. Gee finished the game 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, three RBIs and three runs scored. His two base on balls tied his season high.

• Eastern Illinois produced timely hits on Friday, scoring seven of its 10 runs with two outs. On the game, the Panthers batted .438 (7-of-16) with two outs.