Nebraska baseball didn’t start the weekend well, losing to Northwestern 9-7 at Haymarket Park Friday night. But the Huskers turned it around Saturday, sweeping a double-header 14-4 and 5-2.
The first game ended after seven innings because of the 10-run rule. The double-header was a result of rain expected to impact the series finale originally scheduled for Sunday.
Strong wind blowing out to right field affected Friday night’s game. Northwestern hit five home runs, all in the first four innings, while Nebraska hit four, two by Joshua Overbeek, one each by Max Buettenback and Tyler Stone. Overbeek’s second, with two out in the eighth, tied the score at 7. But the Wildcats scored two runs in the ninth, on three walks and a single.
Husker starter Will Walsh wasn’t his usually reliable self, lasting only three innings and allowing six earned runs. Four of the six hits he allowed were home runs.
Nebraska was able to flush the frustration on that loss to improve to 19-21, including 7-11 in Big Ten play. And the story on Saturday was the starting pitching of Ty Horn and Jackson Brockett.
Both went five innings and earned their first victories of the season.
“We’re a lot better than that (Friday) team,” said Horn, who allowed five hits and three earned runs and struck out six, walking only one. “I think everybody knows that, and we just let that one slip away from us. And I think we kinda just had a chip on our shoulder and just played with it.
“Brockett’s one of my best friends, and I think us both being able to pitch today was awesome, and both being able to get our first wins of the season; yeah, I’m 0-4, he was 0-3 before today.”
Coach Will Bolt wasn’t aware neither had posted a win this season. But getting through five innings? “I realized that,” he said. “That was a big step in the right direction.”
Brockett’s five innings were especially impressive. He probably should’ve been the lead to this story. He allowed only two hits, doubles in the first and second innings. He didn’t allow a run, walked one and struck out five. The walk ended a streak of 11 consecutive outs.
Was he looking to match what Horn did, Brockett was asked. “A little bit,” he said. “I just want to … going out there like every other game, I want to put our team in the best possible situation and then hand it off to the bullpen. I know they’ll take care of it afterwards.
“I trust our bullpen. I knew coming out of the game, they were going to take care of me, and they were going to take care of the rest of the team and they did.”
Luke Broderick, the fourth reliever in the second game, earned his Big Ten-leading ninth save.
Nebraska’s 14 runs in Saturday’s first game came on 11 hits, including home runs by Buettenback and Gabe Swansen, a grand slam in a five-run first inning. Buettenback’s came with one on in the second as the Huskers took a 7-0 lead. Overbeek and Will Jesske also drove in two runs each.
The Huskers scored three runs in the fifth and sixth innings to increase the lead to 10.
Nebraska had nine hits in the second game, including two each by Buettenback, Swansen and Robby Bolin. The Huskers had a 4-0 lead before Northwestern scored an unearned run in the seventh.
“It’s nice to be on the right side of a winning week, a 3-1 week,” said Bolt.
Nebraska defeated Creighton in Omaha Tuesday.
“We haven’t really had a whole lot of that, and finding momentum and being able to try to find some consistency. We talked about it last night, just the frustration of the inconsistency, and again, we just need to keep it going,” Bolt said.
The Huskers play Kansas at Haymarket Park Tuesday night before a Big Ten series at Maryland next weekend. The Kansas game will be a bullpen night, something with which Bolt is becoming comfortable. “I think so. I mean, I think we’re at our most successful when we do that,” he said.
Oh yes, Saturday’s attendance was 5,824, Friday night’s 4,832.
