Nebraska officially learned its postseason fate Monday morning when it was announced that they will travel to Oklahoma City, Okla. for regional play. The regional is being moved from Stillwater to Oklahoma City's Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark due to heavy rains in the area, making the diamond at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium unplayable.
The Huskers will represent the No. 3 seed in the Regional and will begin the tournament by taking on the No. 2 seeded UConn Huskies on Friday at 12:00 PM CT on ESPN3. The Huskers and Huskies are joined by hosts and No. 9 national seed Oklahoma State as well as No. 4 seed Harvard and the two will play their game at 6:00 PM CT later that same day.
Head coach Darin Erstad is excited about the opportunity to get to extend their season and recognizes the big moment this will be for the seniors on the squad. "I'm not going to break it down too much other than I'm glad we're in," Erstad said. "The boys deserve it, they beat some really quality teams this year. I told the seniors, this is three out of four years for our seniors. Matt Waldron starting at Clemson as a freshman and now he's going to be starting in Oklahoma City as a senior, I think that's pretty cool."
Erstad gave the squad the day off on Monday and spent the day with the players in the team clubhouse to find out where they were heading. The skipper said his team is a little fatigued following the Big Ten tournament but is confident in their ability to bounce back. "They're excited but they're tired, that was a long tournament," Erstad explained. "They're going to take today off and go home and get some rest. They'll be excited but right now, you can feel it.
"We'll practice a little bit tomorrow but be very cautious in making sure we get their legs underneath them before we head out of here."
With all the teams now heading into regional play, Erstad says that it now all comes down to who can get hot at the right time. "I don't care what seed you are, I don't care what your stats are, I don't care," Erstad added. "It's all about who gets after it and finds a way to get it done. Win ugly, win great, it doesn't matter. You just got to find a way to make plays and do cool things this time of year, that's what it's all about."
Ahead of the Huskers trip to Oklahoma City, here's a quick breakdown of all the teams Nebraska could potentially face in the NCAA Regional this weekend.
No. 1 Oklahoma State Cowboys
Record: 36-18, 14-9 Big 12
Conference Finish: Big 12 Tournament Champions
RPI: 6
Players to watch: All-conference first teamer Trevor Boone has been a force for the Oklahoma State offense, hitting a conference-leading 19 home runs and leading his team with 49 RBIs. Cowboy pitcher Jensen Elliot has the 11th-best ERA in the conference at 3.86 including eight wins on the year.
Coming off their 33rd league championship in program history, the Cowboys head into regional play just barely missing out on a top 8 national seed. Oklahoma City is one of the hottest teams in the country heading into the tournament, winning 11 of their last 13 games which include a sweep of fellow regional host Oregon State, a series win against Baylor and a Big 12 tournament championship.
As a team, the Cowboys are batting .273 and have a .475 slugging percentage which was good enough for second in the Big 12. Four Cowboy batters are also listed in the top-5 in the conference in home runs On the mound, the Oklahoma State pitching staff was fairly middle of the pack in the conference, finishing with a team-ERA of 4.15 and a K/9 ratio of 8.47.
No. 2 UConn Huskies
Record: 36-23, 12-12 American Athletic
Conference Finish: American Athletic Tournament Runner-up
RPI: 29
Players to watch: Senior Michael Woodworth leads the Huskies in batting average (.319) as well as total hits (72). RHP Jacob Wallace has been virtually unhittable for opponents this season as he boasts a .73 ERA in 37.0 IP along with 15 saves on the year and only three earned runs allowed.
After falling in the American Athletic tournament championship, the UConn Huskies were still able to make their way into the NCAA Tournament off of an at-large bid. This season will mark the Huskies fifth at-large bid to the tournament in school history and it's 21st appearance overall. UConn has struggled a bit as of late, going 6-4 in their last 10 games including a 22-5 loss to tournament team Cincinnati in the conference finals.
One of the more impressive moments for the Huskies this year came in the first series of the season where they took a series against No. 7 national seed Louisville. The Huskies are hitting .267 as a team this year, which puts them at 6th in the American Athletic Conference as well as a third-best ERA of 4.09 in the conference.
No. 4 Harvard Crimson
Record: 27-14, 14-7 Ivy League
Conference Finish: Ivy League Playoff Series Champion
RPI: 100
Players to Watch: Patrick McColl leads his team in batting average (.388), runs (46), hits (66), doubles (16), triples (3), home runs (12) and slugging percentage (.729). Jake Suddleson isn't far off from McColl as he has an average of .377 with 60 hits and a team-leading 51 RBIs
Harvard earned the Ivy League's automatic bid to the tournament when they took a best-of-three series against conference opponent Columbia by scores of 3-1 and 8-6 (11 inn.). It's hard to gauge how this team will do in the regionals given the fact that no team they have faced this year has had a higher RPI than 129 other than Boston College at 55. In fact, the average RPI of teams on the Crimson's schedule is 178.
Harvard's strength this season has come from their pitching staff, where their team-ERA is 4.77, allowing the least amount of hits against conference opponents as well as the lowest opponent batting average at .258. Where the Crimson pitchers struggle is walking batters as they've allowed a league-leading 215 walks in 2019. At the plate, the Crimson are batting .282 with along with 233 RBIs and 42 home runs, which led the Ivy League this season.