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HawgBeat's coverage of the Diamond Hogs' Road to Omaha is brought to you by CJ's Butcher Boy Burgers, which has locations in Fayetteville and Russellville.

For the fourth straight season, Arkansas has earned the right to stay home for the postseason. The 2021 Fayetteville Regional features Nebraska, Northeastern and NJIT.

Before play begins Friday, HawgBeat is taking a closer look at all three visiting teams. First up is the 2 seed, Nebraska…

Record: 31-12 (31-12 Big Ten)

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Big Ten did not allow any of its baseball teams to play non-conference games this season. That eliminated a previously scheduled two-game midweek series between Nebraska and Arkansas in March.

Instead, the Cornhuskers played a 43-game slate comprised entirely of Big Ten opponents. That hurt the conference’s RPI, as the metric relies on non-conference games to help its accuracy, and likely prevented Nebraska from being considered a potential regional host because it ran away with the conference title. Second-place finisher Maryland went 28-16, so the Cornhuskers won the league by 3.5 games.

Head coach: Will Bolt (2nd season)

When Nebraska legend Darin Erstad resigned following the 2019 season, ending his eight-year run at the helm, the Cornhuskers once again tabbed a former player as their next head coach. Bolt was a four-year starter as a middle infielder at Nebraska and a team captain on the back-to-back College World Series teams in 2001 and 2002.

Before landing the head coaching gig, Bolt had stops at Nebraska, Texas A&M and Texarkana C.C., with the latter being as a head coach for four seasons.