Ten Nebraska spent much of the 2006 season in the top five nationally, reaching as high as No. 2, but lost eleven of its last seventeen games and failed to advance out of its regional. The following season followed a similar trajectory; NU began the season ranked ninth nationally, but finished just fourth in the Big 12 and were eliminated a game short of reaching a super regional. NU lost eight pitchers to the MLB draft prior to 2008, and despite a fourteen-game win streak which helped the young team reach a No. 5 national ranking, the Huskers again lost in a home regional. Nebraska lost several key players, including star pitcher Johnny Dorn, following the 2008 season, and the program's tenth-place Big 12 finish in 2009 was its worst since 1997. Anderson was fired in 2011 after missing the postseason entirely in each of his last three seasons, departing with a 337–196–2 record across nine seasons. Before Nebraska began its first season in the Big Ten in 2012, the school hired former Husker outfielder and Major League Baseball All-Star Darin Erstad as head coach. Ted Silva was hired as Erstad's pitching coach and former Huskers Will Bolt and Jeff Christy were named assistants. Nebraska earned the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament in Erstad's first season, the program's first postseason appearance of any kind since 2008. Nebraska lost its first seven games of the 2013 season, its worst start since 1976. The team improved significantly as conference play began, and on April 16 three NU pitchers combined to no-hit twelfth-ranked Arkansas, led by former Huskers head coach Dave Van Horn. Despite a second-place Big Ten finish and the No. 31 RPI rank in the country, normally strong enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, NU's sub-.500 record disqualified them from consideration. NU again finished second in the Big Ten in 2014, returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. After three conference runner-up finishes under Erstad, Nebraska won its first Big Ten regular-season championship in 2017. The Cornhuskers lost to Maryland in the second round of the conference tournament; their quick elimination from the NCAA Tournament dropped Erstad's record as a head coach in NCAA Regionals to 0–6. Nebraska won its first NCAA Tournament game under Erstad in 2019, but a blown eighth-inning lead against Oklahoma State and a blowout loss to Connecticut