Mar. 2, 2011
 
First home game is a win.
 
Lincoln, Neb — Nebraska (6-3) reached double digits for the fourth time this season and Josh Scheffert went 3-for-5 with a home run as the Huskers won their 33rd consecutive home opener with a 13-1 victory over Nebraska-Kearney (4-3) Wednesday afternoon.

Scheffert homered for the second time this season as part of a three-run fourth inning that helped NU open a 4-0 lead. The Huskers scored three runs in four of their eight at-bats, while Kurt Farmer started the scoring for the Big Red with an RBI single in the third inning to extend his hit streak to eight games. That scored Chad Christensen for the first run of the game, as Christensen finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

The Huskers pounded out 13 hits, marking the sixth time this season NU has had at least 11 hits in a game.

While opening the 10th season at Hawks Field, Nebraska put together its largest margin of victory in a home opener since 2002 when the Huskers opened the ballpark with a 23-1 win over the Lopers. Nebraska now turns its attention to the upcoming weekend as it hosts No. 5 UCLA, beginning Friday at 1:35 p.m. Head Coach Mike Anderson spoke about improvements his team needs to make heading into one of the toughest tests of the season.

"We have to be more aggressive on the bath paths, we have to bunt," said head coach Mike Anderson. "We've got to control the ball a little bit better, and we have to pitch to a point where we know with three or four runs, we're going to win the baseball game. We're still trying to learn that, and we have to do it on the offensive side and we have to do it on the defensive side. There are still quite a few things we have to learn."

Matt Freeman started on the mound for NU and threw three shutout innings while giving up two hits to move to 2-0 on the season. The Huskers used five pitchers on the day, with Tyler King, Zach Hirsch and Dylan Vogt also not giving up any runs. The Lopers scored their lone run on a Jason Trulin RBI single in the seventh inning.

Scheffert's home run, which was hit against the wind, narrowly cleared the left field wall. It was the first round-tripper for the Lincoln native since the season opener Feb. 18, while also highlighting his first three-hit day of the season. Christensen's three-hit game was his third of 2011, while Kash Kalkowski (2-for-3), and Cody Asche (2-for-4) also had multi-hit performances.

Christensen and Kalkowski each singled in the fourth to help NU build its early 4-0 lead, while Kalkowski's RBI single in the fifth ended another three-run inning to give the Huskers a 7-0 advantage. Asche was the offensive leader in the late innings, as he had back-to-back doubles in the seventh and eighth and scored two of his three runs in those innings. Asche, who had 12 doubles all of last season, already has 10 in 2011.

Cory Burleson drove in a team-high three runs as part of a 1-for-2 day, including a seventh inning double that scored Asche and Scheffert. Bryan Peters, Khiry Cooper and Pat Hirschberg also tallied a hit in the win, with Hirschberg's RBI single in the seventh marking his first career hit.

Nebraska has now begun its eight-game homestand that will run through March 15. The Huskers' next six games will be against ranked teams. UCLA (5-2) is ranked as high as fifth (Baseball America, USA Today/ESPN Coaches), while Fresno State has climbed as high as 21st (Collegiate Baseball).

"We're thrilled we're playing at home," Anderson said. "It's a good test. I always like playing some of the best teams in the country. We have UCLA, we've got Fresno State. What it's going to do is it's going to help us prepare ourselves to get ready for conference play. Lord knows, I want to win baseball games, but we're getting prepared for what we need to do."

The Huskers face 2010 NCAA runner-up UCLA this weekend with three afternoon matchups on Friday (1:35 p.m.), Saturday (2:05 p.m.) and Sunday (1:05 p.m.). For tickets, log on to Huskers.com

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.