Video streaming of all three games this weekend will be available live on HuskersNside, a subscription website operated by the NU Athletic Department and Omaha-based New Media Networks. Saturday?s broadcasts will be carried live on the Pinnacle Sports Network and will be available on Huskers.com, with Jim Rose and Gary Sharp calling all the action. Saturday?s broadcast is the first of 42 scheduled regular-season broadcasts that will be on the Pinnacle Sports Network.

The Huskers enter the home opener on a roll, winning five straight to improve to 7-2 on the season. The start is the Huskers? best since opening the 1992 season with a 9-1 mark, as Nebraska is ranked as high as 12th in this week?s national polls. The Huskers swept through the opposition at the Dairy Queen Baseball Classic over the weekend, going 3-0, including convincing victories over No. 14 Notre Dame and seventh-ranked Wake Forest. Nebraska has won its past 24 home openers, dating back to a 15-6 loss to St. Cloud State back in 1978.

The Huskers, who are beginning a four-game homestand that includes a matchup with Nebraska-Kearney on March 11, welcomes a familiar foe to the Hawks Field diamond, as Wisconsin-Milwaukee will make its third appearance in Lincoln over the past 11 months. NU won all three meetings in 2002, including a 7-2 win over the Panthers in the opening round of the NCAA Regional. UWM, which is 0-2 on the season, has been plagued by poor weather, losing its last five games to inclement weather, including a series at Creighton last weekend.

Leading Off
? - Senior All-American Jeff Leise has four career leadoff homers, including his first of 2003 against No. 14 Notre Dame on Feb. 28.
? - Husker pitchers are enjoying a nearly 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, striking out 69 and walking just 18 hitters this spring. During one stretch over the past two weeks (Feb. 22-March 1), NU pitchers went 27.2 innings without issuing a free pass. The Huskers lead the Big 12 by averaging a league-low 2.03 walks per nine innings.
? - Nebraska has had 10 or more hits in each game during its current five-game winning streak, raising the team batting average from .256 to .327 in that stretch, an average that is third in the Big 12. The Huskers hit .362 during the weekend, including a season-high 17 hits in the win over Minnesota.
? - The Huskers have used nine different lineups through the first nine games of the season. The only players who have been in the same spot for each game are center fielder Jeff Leise in the leadoff spot and shortstop Joe Simokaitis in the ninth spot.
?- One trend that has carried over from the 2002 season is getting off to a fast start, as the Huskers have scored at least one run in the first inning in five of their first nine contests. Last season, Nebraska tallied at least one run in the first inning of 39 of 68 games (57 percent).
? - The Huskers have swiped 23 of 29 bases in nine games, while 13 different players have at least one stolen base. The Huskers stole a total of just 73 bases all of last year, ending a three-year stretch of at least 120 stolen bases per season.
? - Including this week?s polls, the Huskers have been ranked in at least one of the national polls for the past 53 weeks, dating back to April of 2000.
? - Nebraska has now scored in 274 straight games, dating back to an 8-0 shutout loss at Texas on May 3, 1998. The streak is the eighth longest in NCAA history, while NU broke the conference record of 269 set by Oklahoma State from 1985 to 1989 against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 22.
? -The Huskers have scored runs in bunches, totaling at least three runs in an inning on 11 occasions, including a season-best seven runs in the eighth inning at Louisiana Tech on Feb. 22, and five each against Wake Forest (second inning) and Minnesota (second inning) last weekend.
? - NU plays 14 of its first 18 games away from Hawks Field, including matchups with nationally ranked Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Texas A&M and Rice.
? - The Big 12 has seven of its 10 teams (Nebraska, Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Kansas and Oklahoma) ranked in at least one of the three national polls.
? - Nebraska is scheduled to play games in four major or minor league ballparks this season. The list includes the Dell Diamond (AA Round Rock Express), the Metrodome (Minnesota Twins), Rosenblatt Stadium (AAA Omaha Royals) and the SBC Bricktown Ballpark (AAA Oklahoma Redhawks), which will host the 2003 Big 12 Tournament. In addition, the Huskers? home park - Hawks Field at Haymarket Park - will host the Omaha Royals on May 19, marking the second straight year the facility has hosted a AAA game.
?- Nebraska is one of five teams nationally, and the only Big 12 team, to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Regional in each of the past three seasons, joining Stanford, Florida State, Southern California and LSU.
? -The Husker baseball program has enjoyed stability over the years, as first-year Coach Mike Anderson is only the program?s fifth skipper since World War II.

Weekend Rotation
Junior Aaron Marsden will take the hill in Friday?s home opener against the Panthers. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound left-hander comes off his best outing of the year, throwing eight innings of one-run ball in the Huskers? 7-1 win over No. 14 Notre Dame. Marsden, who is rated 69th on Baseball America?s list of the top-100 college prospects for the 2003 MLB Draft, is 1-0 on the season with a 2.37 ERA in three starts this spring. Against the Fighting Irish, he struck out a career-high 10 batters and scattered five hits in picking up his first win since the 2002 Big 12 Tournament opener against Baylor last May 22. In each of his three outings, he has left the game with the lead, but has only one decision for his efforts. He has made one career appearance against UWM, allowing a pair of runs on three hits in 2.1 innings when the teams met in the opening round of the NCAA Regional. The outing was the shortest start of the junior?s Husker career. Last season, he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors, going 8-1 with a 2.70 ERA in his first season as a Husker. The Grand Forks, N.D., native made 20 appearances, including 13 starts, and threw 100.0 innings in 2002. Over the summer, he pitched in the Northwoods League, going 8-2 with a league-low 1.60 ERA and was chosen as the league?s best overall prospect. He also earned second-team Summer All-America honors from Baseball America.

Brian Duensing (pronounced DONE-zing) will shoot for his fourth win in as many starts on Saturday afternoon. The southpaw enters the series with a 3-0 record and a 1.31 ERA in 21 innings of work. The Omaha, Neb., native was selected as the Big 12?s Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday after his complete-game shutout of seventh-ranked Wake Forest on March 1. In that outing, he allowed five hits and struck out a career-best nine Demon Deacons. Duensing begins the week second in the Big 12 in wins and third in ERA, while holding hitters to a .159 average. He pitched six innings in each of his previous starts, earning wins against UT-Pan American, where he took a no-hitter into the sixth, and at Louisiana Tech, where he tied his previous best with eight strikeouts and allowed only two hits. Duensing is 2-0 with a 0.66 career ERA in two appearances against the Panthers, throwing 6.2 innings of scoreless relief in the regional to earn the win in relief of Marsden. In 2002, Duensing earned Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball, going 6-2 with a 4.73 ERA. He struck out 60 in 78 innings, while holding opponents to a .270 batting average. Duensing was one of NU?s best pitchers down the stretch, earning a spot on the NCAA Lincoln Regional all-tournament team with 6.2 innings of shutout ball against UW-Milwaukee. Duensing allowed five runs on six hits in 1.2 innings of relief against Wake Forest in his collegiate debut on Feb. 17, 2002.

Quinton Robertson makes his Hawks Field debut in the series finale. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander from Richland, Miss., is 2-0 with a 4.22 ERA in three appearances, covering a total of 10.2 innings. He comes off his longest outing as a Husker, throwing six innings of one-run ball in NU?s 15-2 win over Minnesota last Sunday. In that performance, he scattered two hits and struck out three in his first collegiate start. A 17th-round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 2001, Robertson spent the previous two seasons at Texarkana College, going a combined 15-3 with a 3.18 ERA. Last season, he was 6-3 with a 2.83 ERA, striking out 31 and walking 10 in 34 innings of work. Robertson was a second-team NJCAA All-American as a freshman, going 9-0 with a 3.45 ERA, helping Texarkana College to the 2001 NJCAA World Series.

Scouting Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Wisconsin-Milwaukee is a program that is familiar to Husker fans, as the two teams have squared off in each of the past four seasons, including at the NCAA Lincoln Regional last spring. The Huskers hold a 13-1 series lead, with UWM picking up a 9-7 win in April of 2000. The win snapped the Huskers? 15-game winning streak.

The Panthers finished 2002 with a 36-20 record and the school?s second straight regional appearance and are picked once again to win the Horizon League title. UWM has only played twice this season, losing a pair of games at Austin Peay on Feb. 21 and has played a total of just 14 innings all season. Last weekend, the Panthers were scheduled to play at Creighton, but the series was called off because of inclement weather.

UWM returns 18 letterwinners, including five everyday starters and three of its top four pitchers from a year ago. Outfielder Dave Pudlowsky paces the returnees after hitting .337 with a pair of homers and 41 RBIs, while David Michna (.296-3-27) and Troy Doerning (.296-0-11) also spearhead the Panther attack. Right-hander Geoff Lefeber is UWM?s top returnee on the mound, after compiling a 6-1 record with a 2.20 ERA in 11 starts, covering a total of 86 innings of work. One of the Panthers? newcomers with Nebraska ties is junior Marcellus Dawson, who played for the Huskers last spring, batting .286 with two RBIs in eight contests before breaking a bone in his wrist last March.

Weekend Rewind
The Huskers enjoyed their most complete weekend of the season, going 3-0 at the Dairy Queen Classic in Minneapolis, Minn., over the weekend. Senior Jeff Leise was selected as the tournament MVP, batting .467 (7-for-15) with two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored, to lead seven Huskers (pitchers Aaron Marsden and Brian Duensing, Matt Hopper, Joe Simokaitis, Brandon Fusilier and Drew Anderson) on the all-tournament team. NU?s efforts in the Metrodome earned the Huskers National Team of the Week honors from College Baseball Insider (www.collegebaseballinsider.com).

Nebraska 7, Notre Dame 1 ? Aaron Marsden struck out a career-high 10 in eight innings, leading No. 16 Nebraska to a 7-1 victory over No. 14 Notre Dame Friday afternoon. Marsden, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound left-hander, scattered five hits and did not walk a batter en route to his first win since last May. Offensively, Jeff Leise went 2-fo-3, including a solo homer to lead off the game and a two-run triple in the second off Notre Dame starter Chris Neisel. Matt Hopper led the Husker attack with three hits, while Brandon Fusilier and Drew Anderson each added a pair of doubles.

Nebraska 7, Wake Forest 0 ? Brian Duensing picked up his third win in as many starts, while No. 16 Nebraska scored five runs in the third inning en route to a 6-0 shutout over seventh-ranked Wake Forest on Saturday. The left-hander from Omaha hurled his first career shutout, striking out nine Demon Deacons to improve to 3-0 on the year. Left fielder Brandon Fusilier led a 13-hit attack, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run double, as NU sent 10 men to the plate in the third.

Nebraska 15, Minnesota 2 - No. 16 Nebraska blitzed Minnesota for six runs in the first two innings and cruised to a 15-2 victory over the host Golden Gophers on Sunday. Senior center fielder Jeff Leise was named the tournament?s most valuable player, going 4-for-6 with four runs scored, tying career bests in both hits and runs, in the win over the Gophers. The Huskers belted out a season-high 17 hits, including three each from Joe Simokaitis, who scored four times and drove in three runs, and Chad Steele, who was making his first career start. Quinton Robertson was the beneficiary of the NU offensive attack, allowing one run in six innings to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Getting Out of the Blocks
The Huskers have opened the Mike Anderson era with an impressive 7-2 mark over the first three weeks of the season. The start is the best since the 1992 squad began the year with an 8-1 mark and the 10th time since 1983 that NU has opened with a seven or more wins through the first nine contests.

NU Looks to Continue Home Success
After tying a school record with 29 home wins last spring, the Huskers begin their second season at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park this weekend against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Huskers finished their inaugural season at Hawks Field with a 29-5 record, including a 9-4 mark against ranked foes. NU had winning streaks of 15 games ? the highest total since winning 24 straight in 1988 ? and 10 games during the season, while the 29 home wins tied the school record set in 1980 (29-1) and 1988 (29-5).

This season 30 games are scheduled at Hawks Field, including a pair of games against defending NCAA champion Texas in mid April, as well as Big 12 series against Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Baylor. Tickets remain for each Husker home game and can be purchased by logging on to Huskers.com or calling the Nebraska Ticket Office at (800) 8-BIGRED.

Back Home in Omaha
Nebraska will visit Omaha?s Rosenblatt Stadium twice during the 2003 regular season, playing host to defending NCAA champion Texas on April 20, before returning for the annual intrastate game against Creighton on May 13.

The game against the Longhorns is believed to be the first Husker home game played outside the city of Lincoln and tickets are available for the matchup between the Big 12?s two heavy hitters by calling the NU Ticket Office at (800) 8-BIG RED.

Despite going winless in two College World Series appearances, Nebraska has gone a perfect 4-0 during regular-season games at Omaha?s Rosenblatt Stadium. A crowd of 18,758 ? the third-largest regular-season crowd in NCAA history ? watched NU?s 9-1 win over Creighton last spring, while the 2000 and 2001 matchup between the teams drew the largest regular-season crowds in college baseball for those seasons.

Husker Trio Garnering Pro Attention
A trio of Husker baseball players were among Baseball America/Prospect Plus ranking of the top-200 college players eligible for the 2003 player draft. Junior left-hander Aaron Marsden was the Huskers? top-rated pro prospect, as he placed 69th on the list. Center fielder Jeff Leise (85th) and first baseman Matt Hopper (180) joined Marsden on the preseason list. All three players had been drafted during their college careers, while Leise was picked in the seventh round of the 2002 MLB Draft, while Marsden (34th, Cleveland) and Hopper (36th, San Francisco) were taken in the 2001 Draft. Over the past five seasons, NU has had nine players drafted in the top-10 rounds.

Leise is the Center (fielder) of Attention
The Huskers have the benefit of one of the nation?s top leadoff hitters in senior All-American Jeff Leise. The Omaha, Neb., native returned for his senior season after being selected in the seventh round by the Anaheim Angels in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft. Leise?s return to NU for his senior season marked the highest selected draftee to return to Nebraska since Gene Stohs was selected in the third round of the 1972 Draft.

Leise, a preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America, got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, going 4-for-22 in his first five contests before breaking out with a four-hit game against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 22. Over the last four games, Leise is batting .550 (11-for-20) with two homers, eight RBIs, seven runs scored and four stolen bases. Last weekend, he was selected as the MVP of the Dairy Queen Baseball Classic, hitting .467 with two homers, two triples, six RBIs and a pair of stolen bases.

Last season, Leise earned first-team All-America honors from the ABCA, batting .371 with 12 homers, 51 RBIs and 25 stolen bases, while committing three errors in 168 total chances in the field. In the classroom, he is just as impressive, as he was selected the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in 2002 with a 3.85 GPA in psychology. He joins junior right-hander Aaron Marsden on Baseball America?s top-100 draft-eligible players list for the upcoming draft.

Hop Puts the Pop in the Heart of the Order
One of the major cataylsts of the Huskers? early season offensive output has been the return of first baseman Matt Hopper to the lineup.

After missing the opening week of the season, Hopper needed only two pitches to make his impact felt, belting his first homer of the year. Against Louisiana Tech, the 6-4, 220-pound first baseman went 6-for-9 (.667) with three homers, six RBIs, seven walks (four intentional) and seven runs scored, finishing the series with an on-base percentage of .812 and a slugging percentage of 1.667. In his first day back, he reached all 10 times in a doubleheader split, driving in five runs to become NU?s all-time RBI leader, breaking the mark of 209 held by Paul Meyers. Last weekend, Hopper continued his early season tear, going 6-for-14 with four runs scored to earn a spot on the all-tournamet team. Against Minnesota last Sunday, Hopper?s homer gave him the school mark for total bases with 449, breaking the mark held by former NU All-American and current Anaheim Angel Darin Erstad, who had 446 total bases from 1993 to 1995.

A two-time All-Big 12 selection and first-team All-American in 2001, Hopper missed all of the fall after off-season shoulder (right) and hand surgeries (left) and has been working out with the team since the start of practice in January. In 2002, Hopper was plagued by injuries, batting .309 with nine homers and 49 RBIs. Originally recruited to Nebraska as a pitcher, Hopper played third base as a redshirt freshman before becoming NU?s DH/first baseman in 2001, backing up fellow All-American Dan Johnson. Hopper shined in his first full season at the position in 2002, committing three errors in 549 attempts for a .995 fielding percentage.

Simokaitis Contines to Simmer
One of the early surprises of 2003 has been the offensive production of shortstop Joe Simokaitis. Already considered one of the best defensive shortstops in Husker history, the St. Louis, Mo., native has become a major contributor at the plate this spring. He enters the UWM series with a .412 average and is second on the squad with 12 RBIs after batting .500 with four RBIs and four runs scored last weekend. He is just four RBIs shy of his entire season total, while his four multi-hit games are half of his 2002 total. Ever since snapping an 0-for-24 slump with three hits in the NCAA Regional title against Southwest Missouri State, Simokaits has hit .426 with a .519 on-base percentage over his last 15 games dating back to the end of the 2002 season. The sophomore is one of only two Huskers to start all nine games this spring, joining All-American Jeff Leise as a regular in the NU lineup.

Cleaning Up on the Opposition
Junior college transfer Brandon Fusilier has led a talented group of newcomers throughout the Husker lineup. The outfielder from Coppell, Texas, is hitting .406 with two homers, while pacing the Huskers in RBIs (17), doubles (four, tied with Bubbs Merrill), multi-hit games (5) and multiple-RBI games (5). Fusilier, who has found a spot batting fourth in the Husker lineup, has a pair of four RBI games (vs. Cal on 2/16 and at Louisiana Tech on 2/23) and is currently riding a five-game hitting streak. Last week at the Dairy Queen Baseball Classic, Fusilier was awarded the Silver Stick ? recognizing the tournament?s top hitter ? batting .500 (7-for-14) with four doubles, six RBIs and three runs scored.

Three Huskers on Smith Award Watch List
Three University of Nebraska baseball players are on the initial watch list for the Rotary Smith Award released earlier this week. Pitcher Aaron Marsden, first baseman Matt Hopper and outfielder Jeff Leise were among the 130 players on the watch list for the annual award presented to the top collegiate player. Over the past four years, a pair of Huskers have been selected as semifinalists ? Ken Harvey in 1999 and Shane Komine last season. Harvey was one of three finalists for the 1999 award, which was won by 2002 National League Rookie of the Year Jason Jennings. Voting to determine the list of 12 semifinalists will begin in mid-May and the list will be announced at the conclusion of the regular season. Three finalists will be announced prior to the start of NCAA Super Regional action, the week of June 6-9.

Leise Looks to Repeat Top Academic Honor
Senior Jeff Leise will try to become the second straight college baseball player to repeat as the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the year on the diamond. The outfielder from Omaha Creighton Prep carries a 3.79 cumulative GPA in psychology and looks to follow in the footsteps of Arizona State?s Casey Myers, who was tabbed as college baseball?s top student-athlete in both 2000 and 2001. Leise will look to become the fourth Husker athlete (among all 23 of NU?s sports) to repeat as Academic All-American of the Year in their respective sports, joining Karen Jennings (1992-1993, women?s basketball), Virginia Stahr (1988-89, volleyball) and Janet Kruse (1990-1991, volleyball).

Draft Dodgers
The 2003 Huskers boast 10 players who have been previously selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. The list is led by junior catcher John Grose, who has been selected on two occasions. Seniors Jeff Leise (7th round by Anaheim in 2002) and Matt Hopper (36th round by San Francisco in 2001) were selected while at Nebraska, but decided to return for the 2003 season. The list also includes four newcomers who were drafted out of junior college, including junior right-hander Quinton Robertson, who was chosen in the 17th round of the 2001 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees.

Eighteen Huskers Named to Big 12 Honor Roll
One area where the Huskers have enjoyed a lot of success is in the classroom, as Nebraska placed 18 members on the Big 12 Commissioner?s Honor Roll for the recently completed fall semester. The total represented half of the total roster (18 of 36), as the team GPA was nearly above a 3.0 during the fall.

Up Next
The Huskers conclude the homestand on Tuesday, March 11, when the Huskers play host to Nebraska-Kearney at 2:05 p.m., before heading to Texas for a stretch of five games in six days, including the Big 12 opener at Texas A&M (March 14-16) and a matchup against 2002 CWS qualifier Rice.