Cornhuskers face Eastern Illinois in NCAA baseball tournament opener

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

LINCOLN -- The Nebraska baseball team captured the top seed in the NCAA Lincoln Regional and will open play at 1:05 p.m. Friday against Eastern Illinois at Hawks Field.

No. 2 seed UC Irvine and third-seeded Oral Roberts will also be coming to Hawks Field for the four-team, double-elimination regional this weekend. ORU and UC Irvine will face off on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

The Huskers (40-14-1) will be making their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 10 years when Lincoln Regional play opens on Friday.

Tickets for the Lincoln Regional are available now on Huskers.com, or by calling the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-8BIGRED during normal business hours beginning today.

The Huskers, who learned on Sunday that they were one of 16 regional hosts for the NCAA Tournament, discovered their challengers on the Road to Omaha when the full 64-team field was announced by ESPN on Monday at 11:30 a.m.

Miami claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, while North Carolina captured the No. 2 seed.

Arizona State earned the No. 3 seed, and Florida State reeled in the fourth seed. Cal State Fullerton was tabbed the No. 5 seed, while Rice laid claim to the sixth seed.

LSU captured the No. 7 seed, while SEC regular-season champion Georgia rounded out the top eight national seeds. Two-time defending national champion Oregon State (28-24) did not earn a bid to the tournament.

If the Huskers are able to advance to the Super Regional round, they will face the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional, which includes top-seeded LSU, No. 2 seed Southern Miss, No. 3 seed New Orleans and fourth-seeded Texas Southern.

The eight Super Regional series will be held June 6-9, while the eight winners of those Super Regionals will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, June 14-25.

Nebraska was one of six Big 12 Conference teams to earn spots in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field, and one of three league teams to earn a No. 1 seed and the right to host an NCAA Regional.

Big 12 regular-season champion Texas A&M earned a top seed in the College Station Regional, while Oklahoma State earned a No. 1 seed at the Stillwater Regional.

Big 12 Tournament champion Texas claimed a No. 2 seed at the Houston Regional hosted by top-seeded Rice, while Missouri also earned a No. 2 seed at the Miami Regional with the No. 1 overall seed Hurricanes. Oklahoma managed a No. 3 seed at the Tempe Regional hosted by No. 3 national seed Arizona State.

Eastern Illinois comes to Lincoln after capturing the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Charleston, Ill., school brings a 27-28 overall mark to Nebraska after defeating Southeast Missouri in the OVC championship game to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since winning the league title in 1999.

That season, the Panthers knocked off Arizona in the Waco Regional hosted by Baylor, before being eliminated from the tournament. Head Coach Jim Schmitz led Eastern Illinois to a 13-13 conference mark during regular-season Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Panthers are hitting .281 with 30 homers as a team while averaging six runs scored per game. Panther pitchers own a 4.33 team ERA, while opponents have scored 5.5 runs per contest and hit .253 against Eastern Illinois.

Junior center fielder Brett Nommensen leads the Panther offense by hitting .397 with four homers, four triples and 17 doubles on the year.

The first-team All-OVC selection has scored a team-leading 54 runs, while also stealing a team-best 18 bases.

The only other Panther batting over .300 is sophomore outfielder Curt Restko, who comes to Lincoln with a .305 average. Restko has one homer and 19 RBIs.

Josh Mueller emerged as the ace of the Eastern Illinois pitching staff during the season and earned a spot on the All-OVC Freshman Team. Mueller went 6-7 with a 4.26 ERA on the year.

Mueller struck out 75 and walked 41 in 67.2 innings pitched, while holding opponents to a .218 batting average.

The Huskers will be facing Eastern Illinois for the first time in school history when the two teams meet on Friday.

UC Irvine (38-16) earned the No. 2 seed in the Lincoln Regional. The Huskers own a 1-0 all-time record against the Anteaters, as NU posted a 5-3 win in the only previous meeting on Feb. 22, 1980.

The Anteaters finished in a tie for third in the Big West Conference regular-season standings after shutting out UC Santa Barbara, 2-0, on Sunday, May 25, at the Anteater Ballpark.

UC Irvine finished with a 14-10 conference mark. The Anteaters come to Lincoln as winners of four of their past five games.

On the season, UCI owns an impressive 2.87 team ERA, while carrying a .305 team batting average. The Anteaters are averaging 6.1 runs per game, while holding the opposition to just 3.8 runs per contest.

Ben Orloff leads an extremely balanced UCI offense by hitting .355 with 18 stolen bases. Orloff is one of seven Anteater regulars batting over .300, including Francis Larson who owns team bests with seven homers and 39 RBIs to go along with his .326 average.

Ollie Linton has added a .323 average and a team-leading 36 stolen bases.

Last season, UC Irvine produced one of the best seasons in school history with a 47-17-1 overall record and a 15-6 Big West mark.

The Anteaters advanced to the College World Series by beating Texas in the regional round before sweeping Wichita State in the Super Regional.

At the CWS, UCI opened with a loss to Arizona State, before knocking off both Cal State Fullerton and the Sun Devils. The Anteaters had their season come to an end with a 7-1 loss to 2007 national champion Oregon State.

Third-seeded Oral Roberts owns the best record in the Lincoln Regional field with a 46-12 overall mark.

The Golden Eagles captured their 11th straight conference title by winning the Summit League tournament with a 9-0 win over Southern Utah on Saturday at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa.

ORU comes to Lincoln riding a 12-game winning streak. The Golden Eagles dominated the Summit League All-Tournament Team with seven selections to the squad, including MVP Brian Van Kirk.

He was joined on the unit by Brendan Duff, David Genao, Juan Martinez, Kelly Minissale, Ben Petralli and Jerry Sullivan.

Van Kirk enters the NCAA Tournament hitting .421 with 17 homers, 22 doubles and 72 RBIs on the season.

He headlines a Golden Eagle squad that is batting .330 as a team with 74 home runs and 138 doubles. ORU is averaging 8.6 runs per game, while holding the opposition to 4.8 runs per contest.

As a team, the Golden Eagles carry a 4.22 ERA. Carlos Luna owns a perfect 12-0 record on the season with a 3.15 ERA, while teammate Michael Jarman is 11-2 with a 3.74 ERA.

Nebraska and Oral Roberts have faced each other 34 times in history, with the Golden Eagles carrying a 19-15 advantage in the all-time series.

The two teams have not faced each other since the Huskers swept a three-game series against ORU, April 5-7, 1996.

2008 NCAA Lincoln Regional

May 30-June 2

Hawks Field, Lincoln, Neb.

Friday, May 30

Game 1: #1 Nebraska (40-14-1) vs. #4 Eastern Illinois (27-28), 1:05 p.m.

Game 2: #2 UC Irvine (38-16) vs. #3 Oral Roberts (46-12), 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, May 31

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1:05 p.m.

Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, June 1

Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1:05 p.m.

Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6:05 p.m.

Monday, June 2

Game 7 (If necessary): Same teams as Game 6, 1:05 p.m.

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