It’s home sweet home for the Nebraska baseball team, hopefully. It’s home for sure. Sweet remains to be seen. The Huskers are scheduled to play a three-game series against Oregon State at Haymarket Park this weekend. That’s assuming weather doesn’t intrude. The forecast isn’t good.
If the games go on, Nebraska will need more than a home field advantage against the 19-4 Beavers, ranked fifth in the NCBWA poll, with a 19 RPI. The Huskers are 10-14, with a 127 RPI.
Plus, Nebraska is 1-10 all-time against Oregon State.
Still, it has to be good to be home after a 3-6 road trip, with eight games in California and one in Manhattan, Kansas, Tuesday night. You know that result. The Huskers lost 12-8.
They scrapped after a first inning that went like this:
The first two Nebraska batters reached, a single by Case Sanderson and a double by Cayden Brumbaugh, second and third, no out. They remained on second and third. In the bottom of the first Kansas State scored five unearned runs, aided by a three errors, a passed ball and a wild pitch.
The Huskers responded with two runs in the second, but Kansas State scored four runs in the bottom of the inning and increased its lead to 11-2 before Nebraska tried to battle back.
The Huskers finished with three strikeouts in the ninth, 13 total. So it goes, or has gone, which is why Nebraska is next-to-last in the Big Ten, with a 2-7 record. *Ohio State, 0-6, is last.
Oregon State, an independent, represents the fourth-consecutive weekend series against a former Pac-12 opponent. Washington, UCLA and USC are now members of the Big Ten.
Based on a numbers comparison alone, Nebraska has a tough task ahead. Oregon State is batting .296 as a team, with a .472 slugging percentage — again, that’s as a team. And the Beaver pitchers have a combined earned-run-average of 2.81. Nebraska’s numbers are .246, .370 and 5.22.
Junior outfielder Canon Reeder is hitting .367, followed by junior infielder Alva Arquette, .365 with six home runs and 24 runs-batted-in. Arquette is among four Beavers hitting over .300 who have started every game. Junior first baseman Jacob Krieg leads the team with seven home runs.
Sophomore left-hander Ethan Kleinschmidt is 4-1 with a 1.60 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings. He’s allowed only 18 hits. Junior left-hander Nelson Keljo is 2-0 with a 1.73 ERA. Both have six starts, as does freshman right-hander Dax Whitney, 2-2 with a 3.67 ERA.
Freshman Devin Nunez continues to lead Nebraska, batting .319. Case Sanderson is the only other Husker hitting .300. He has a .314 average after going 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs against Kansas State. Dylan Carey leads Nebraska with four home runs and 22 RBIs.
Will Walsh is 2-4 with a 3.90 ERA. Closer Luke Broderick is 1-0, with a 2.08 ERA and four saves.
But enough of numbers. At this writing, Friday’s game, televised by the Big Ten Network, is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
[*Iowa, Oregon and UCLA are tied atop the Big Ten with 7-2 conference records.]
