Baseball Weekend Preview: Baylor Bears

The Nebraska baseball team (4-6) will travel to Texas for the second time in as many weekends as they'll take on former conference rival, No. 21 Baylor Bears (9-2), in a three-game series down in Waco. This was a series that was originally scheduled to be played at Haymarket Park but weather forced the series to be moved farther south.

The Huskers are coming off of an impressive weekend at the Frisco Classic, where the team went 1-1 on the weekend, defeating No. 3 Texas Tech while also showing off some impressive batting in a close loss to Sam Houston State.

This series against the Bears will continue the third straight weekend Nebraska will be playing a top-25 team, giving the Huskers the No. 9 strength of schedule in the nation, according to WarrenNolan.com. The good news about the tough schedule, however, is that the team is benefitting from the upset loss to a very good Texas Tech team and the Huskers are currently ranked No. 21 in RPI rankings heading into the weekend.

Head coach Darin Erstad said Baylor's experience has been one of the main things the team has focused on this week. "[They're] super experienced. They've got their whole lineup back," Erstad said. "They're very tough at home, their offensive numbers are very impressive and it's going to be a very challenging series. It's nothing we haven't seen already."

Following the series against Baylor, the Huskers are scheduled for a three-game series at home against New Mexico State. However, the weather in Lincoln may play a factor in getting this series changed.

Friday, 6:35 p.m.: RHP Matt Waldron (1-0, 2.77 ERA) vs. Hayden Kettler (2-1, 2.65 ERA)

Saturday, 3:05 p.m.: LHP Nate Fisher (1-1, 5.25 ERA) vs. Paul Dickens (1-0, 4.85 ERA)

Sunday, 12:05 p.m.: LHP Connor Curry (1-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. TBD

***All games can be listened to live on the Husker Sports Network. Games No. 1 and 2 may be streamed on the Baylor Baseball Facebook Live page while game No. 3 can be viewed on Fox Sports Southwest Plus

Rise of Freshman Gomes: Following the Huskers split of games down in Frisco this weekend, freshman Colby Gomes earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. Gomes was critical to the win against No. 3 Texas Tech, providing the go-ahead RBI for the Huskers in the top of the seventh inning to give Nebraska the 2-1 lead. On top of that, Gomes came on to pitch in the ninth, striking out two batters and not allowing Texas Tech to score any more runs, preserving the first top-5 victory for the baseball team since 2014.

Pitchers look to continue hot start: The Nebraska pitchers have been on a roll as of late, providing some spark to go along with a couple of hot bats in the lineup. Against Sam Houston State, senior pitcher Nate Fisher went 4.0 IP allowing six hits but only letting two Bearkats cross home to give the Husker batters a fighting chance. On Friday against Texas Tech, the Nebraska pitchers struck out 13 Red Raider batters, the highest mark for Texas Tech all year, with starting pitcher Matt Waldron accounting for seven of the 13. The pitching staff will look to continue their success on the mound with two of the teams hottest pitchers set to take the mound in Waco.

Nicer weather a welcome sight: With temperatures struggling to make it above freezing the last couple of weeks here in Lincoln, the weather down in Texas will be a nice change of pace for the team. The temperatures for the three games are all slated to be in the mid- to upper-70s with the only chance of weather affecting the games coming in the form of morning thunderstorms on Saturday and afternoon showers on Sunday. With the game against North Dakota State getting postponed and the fate of the series against New Mexico State in jeopardy, it's important to get as many games in as possible this time of year.

***Baylor is currently ranked No. 21 in the nation after coming out of the gates 8-0. The Bears dropped two contests in a row to Texas A&M and Rice but quickly bounced back with a win against Texas State.

***Last Season, the Bears went 37-21 on the year on their way to winning the Big 12 tournament and earning a place in the NCAA tournament where they finished 1-2 in the Stanford regional.

***Baylor leads the all-time series against Nebraska 34-27-1 with a record of 22-8-1 when games were played in Waco. The last meeting between the two teams came back in 2011 when the two were still in the same conference where the Huskers went 1-2 on the weekend.

***Junior infielder and Preseason All-American Davis Wendzel is currently hitting .465 with seven doubles, two home runs accounting for 13 runs batted in and another 14 runs scored. Look for Wendzel to bat in the third spot for the Bears which is where the junior has been batting the entire season.

***In his fourth season as Baylor head coach, Steve Rodriguez holds a 104-75 record along with making the NCAA tournament the last two seasons.