Baseball Weekend Preview: Frisco Classic

The Nebraska baseball team (3-5) will spend its' third weekend in a row away from Haymarket Park as they travel to Frisco, Texas to participate in the Frisco Baseball Classic. The Huskers face a tall task this weekend as they'll be facing two teams who appeared in the College World Series just this past summer in No. 3 Texas Tech (6-1) and No. 12 Mississippi State (8-1) along with Sam Houston State (5-2) being scheduled, as well.

The Huskers are coming off of a tough series against Oregon State this past weekend, where they dropped all four games to the Beavers and were outscored 38-9. Nebraska did have some high points from the series against Oregon State, including a career-day from senior pitcher Mike Waldron, but ultimately couldn't capitalize on a few opportunities to be able to sneak away with a win.

Head baseball coach Darin Erstad said that he was hard on his team following the series in Surprise but also says he understands the type of situation that the weather and other circumstances have put them in. "I was pretty hard on them, I thought we backed down a little bit," Erstad said. "It's just tough to really get a feel for where we're exactly at. We just haven't been able to get into our rhythm. We've taken one full pregame batting practice like we would before a game this season, and that was the first game of the year."

Erstad still believes in his team and knows that they have the fight in them but is still waiting to see his team get to that point. "I believe these guys are fighters, I really do," Erstad explained. "But, right now, we're convenient fighters. Sometimes, you're going to have to go toe-to-toe with someone who's bigger and badder than you are and you've got to be able to go get them. We haven't gotten to that point yet but I'm confident we will."

The Huskers open up play in the round-robin tournament on Friday at 7 p.m. against Texas Tech followed by Sam Houston State Saturday at 12 p.m. and Mississippi State Sunday at 11 a.m.

Friday, 7 p.m. vs Texas Tech (Home): RHP Matt Waldron (1-0, 3.38 ERA) vs TBA

Saturday, 12 p.m. vs Sam Houston State (Away): LHP Nate Fisher (1-1, 6.75 ERA) vs Nick Mikolajchak (0-0, 4.50 ERA)

Sunday, 11 a.m. vs Mississippi State (Away): TBA vs TBA

***All games can be streamed on FLOLive.TV with a subscription or listen in on the Husker Sports Network

Palensky's hot start: JUCO transfer Aaron Palensky is one of the hottest hitters on the team right now, riding an eight-game hitting streak into Frisco this weekend. Palensky is currently batting .333 and shares the team high in hits (11), runs scored (7), and doubles (2). Palensky has started in the cleanup spot for the Huskers in every game this season so look for him to continue to be placed in the lineup to try and give the Nebraska offense a spark.

On the road again: With the postponement of the home-opener against UNO on March 7th and the series against Baylor moving down to Waco, the Huskers aren't scheduled to play a game in Haymarket Park until March 13th against North Dakota State. This means that the team will be on the road for the first 14 games of their season, something that hasn't been done since 2001.

Capitalize on opportunities: Nebraska had a tough time last weekend taking advantage with runners on base against Oregon State. In all, 31 runners were left stranded for the Huskers while scoring only nine runs the entire series. If Nebraska expects to beat the likes of Texas Tech and Mississippi St., they'll need to find a way to drive those runs in to put pressure on the opposing teams' bullpen, something that they have struggled to do against quality pitchers thus far.

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are currently on one of their best runs in program history with head coach Tim Tadlock at the helm, having made the NCAA tournament every year but one since 2014 and appearing in three of the last five CWS tournaments in Omaha. Texas Tech has started the season off with an impressive 6-1 record, with their only loss coming in their first game of the year in a 9-4 decision to the Oregon Ducks. Look for preseason All-American Josh Jung to give a boost to the Red Raider offense, batting .333 on the year with three doubles and six RBIs.

Sam Houston State: The defending Southland regular-season champions went 39-20 last year and finished 2018 with a conference record of 24-6. This year, the Bearkats are 5-2 with loses to No. 22 Texas and Virginia Tech. On Wednesday, the Bearkats faced off against No. 18 TCU and they lead the Horned Frogs 10-3 in the bottom of the second before the game was ruled a no-contest due to fog. Look for the Bearkats to push the Nebraska relievers and closers late in the game, as they've scored 26 of their 46 runs this year in the seventh inning or later.

Mississippi State: The only two times the Bulldogs and Huskers have met came all the way back in the 1999 Columbus Regional where Mississippi St. edged out the Huskers in both contests. This year, the Bulldog's are off to an 8-1 start with their only blemish being an extra-inning defeat to Southern Miss. Last year, the Bulldogs finished fifth in the SEC West but still qualified for the CWS, going 2-2 in Omaha.