The New Mexico baseball team might seem desperate for a win after going 2-4 in the first two weekends of the season.
Compared to Nebraska, however, the Lobos are doing just fine. The Cornhuskers are 0-7 after being swept at Cal State Fullerton and Texas, with a loss to USC in between.
UNM and Nebraska will meet up this weekend for three games as both clubs look to get their seasons on track.
UPDATE: Friday's game has been cancelled due to impending bad weather. The Saturday and Sunday games will go on as scheduled, weather permitting.
The Huskers were picked for third place in the Big Ten by Baseball America, but so far the results just have not been there.
The pitching match-ups for this weekend will be announced Friday. The original plan had been for junior right-hander Brandon Pierce (0-2, 9.39 ERA), who has struggled in two starts, to take the mound Friday. The Lobos would have countered with their own junior right-hander, A.J. Carman (1-0, 0.82).
Saturday's noon start was originally going to pit Nebraska junior right-hander Chris DeLeon (0-0, 2.53) against UNM junior right-hander Kevin Baumgartner (0-0, 0.84).
Sunday's 11 a.m. series finale was going to feature Lobos senior right-hander Sam Wolff (1-0, 2.79) against Huskers senior right-hander Ryan Hander (0-1, 3.97).
Nebraska has struggled to identify starters at several positions so far. Sophomore Blake Headley (.176) and senior Kash Kalkowski (.182) are still battling at first base. Three different players are still vying for the job at shortstop.
Sophomore catcher Tanner Lubach (.227) has the Huskers' lone home run so far. The top hitters out of the gate have been sophomore second baseman Pat Kelly (.393), senior third baseman Josh Scheffert (.292, 4 RBI), senior left fielder Chad Christensen (.321, 2 RBI) and sophomore right fielder Austin Darby (.292, 3 RBI).
Nebraska is coached by arguably its most famous Major League product, former Angels outfielder Darin Erstad.
The Lobos will finally return home on Tuesday for a two-game series with LaSalle starting at 6 p.m., followed by a four-game, weekend series with UC Riverside starting March 8.
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