Nebraska Baseball will face off against a familiar opponent in their three-game series against Iowa this weekend.

The Nebraska Baseball team (5-3) will face off against a familiar opponent this weekend in their three-game series against Iowa (3-5). The Huskers just finished up a four-game series in Minnesota where they played the Hawkeyes twice, splitting the games 1-1. Both teams went 2-2 in Minneapolis last weekend after splitting a pair of games with Ohio State as well.

The Big Red is coming off of a disappointing finish to the weekend series in Minnesota where they lost both games in the Sunday doubleheader. NU played two impressive games on Friday and Saturday winning against Ohio State 10-4 and beating Iowa 4-0.

After 14 runs in the first two games, Nebraska couldn’t match that on Sunday, scoring half of the amount they scored in just the first game. A 6-4 loss to the Buckeyes and a 3-1 loss to the Hawkeyes put the Huskers at 2-2 on the weekend and 5-3 on the season.

Friday, 4 p.m.: LHP Cade Povich (1-0, 6.00 ERA) vs. LHP Trenton Wallace (1-0, 1.64 ERA)

Saturday, 2 p.m.: RHP Chance Hroch (2-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. RHP Drew Irvine (0-1, 4.15 ERA)

Sunday, 1 p.m.: RHP Shay Schanaman (1-0, 3.48 ERA) vs. RHP Duncan Davitt (1-0, 4.82 ERA)

Povich back at it

In his first start of the season, Cade Povich struggled to get going and pitched a career-low three innings after giving up six hits, three runs and walking four Purdue batters. The coaching staff continued to believe in him and stated that he was the best arm on the team. On Friday, against Ohio State, Povich threw for six innings and picked up 12 strikeouts along the way. That number of strikeouts is the most by any NU pitcher since May of 2010 when Michael Marriot struck out 12 against Southeast Missouri State.

Trust the bullpen

The Big Red has used the bullpen effectively in many games this season. There have been 11 pitchers out of the pen for Nebraska and they have thrown for a combined 29.1 of the 66 innings. In these innings, the bullpen has combined for an ERA of 1.53 and struck out 28 batters. Opposing teams have only averaged .206 from the plate against the Husker bullpen.

New guys settling in

NU has seen 11 new faces this season, and many have made a major impact. Senior transfer Chance Hroch has won his first two outings from the mound and will start again this weekend. Hroch currently has an ERA of 1.50 and has struck out 10 batters in the 12 innings he has pitched. Freshmen Max Anderson and Jack Steil are first and second in batting average with Anderson batting .367 and Steil batting .333. Anderson is also tied for the most RBIs with eight.

***Iowa split a pair of games against both Ohio State and Nebraska last weekend in Minneapolis. The Huskers saw two of the starters that will appear again this weekend.

***Iowa’s season-opening series was against Michigan where they lost three out of four games. The Hawkeyes’ only win in that series was in game two where they won 8-3.

***Iowa has a conference low one home run this season, but they rank sixth in doubles with 16.

***The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series 16-15, a record that could change sides this weekend.