To quote the late Al Davis, “Just win, baby!”
That’s what Nebraska did against South Dakota State Wednesday at Haymarket Park. Never mind the 5-4 score, over a team now 4-8, a team the Huskers were expected to beat.
And don’t attribute the one-run edge to looking ahead. Nebraska opens Big Ten play against Michigan State this weekend, with Friday’s first game scheduled for a 2 p.m. CT start.
The weather forecast would suggest otherwise. But that remains to be seen.
The starting rotation remains the same: Ty Horn, Carson Jasa and Gavin Blachowicz.
Anyway, for now, consider what the Huskers did Wednesday.
“In years past we’ve had issues with these midweek games, so to get two wins under our belt was big going into the weekend, lot of confidence going into Michigan State,” Dylan Carey said.
He was including Tuesday’s 8-5 victory against Omaha.
Carey was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs-batted-in against the Mavericks. But he topped that against the Jackrabbits. How so? He went 5-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, the second of which was the game-winner in the eighth inning, driving in Mac Moyer, who had led off with a double.
Even more impressive, South Dakota State had tied the game at 4 in the top of the eighth on a two-run home run by designated hitter Dayton Franke. Then Kevin Mannell came out of the bullpen and closed down the Jackrabbits for his first victory, retiring all five batters he faced, striking out two.
“Good to see Mannell give ‘em no hope there at the end,” said Husker Coach Will Bolt.
Sophomore right-hander Pryce Bender, starting for the first time at Nebraska, pitched four scoreless innings, allowing five hits while walking one and striking out two. “He’s just a strike pitcher,” Bolt said.
No matter the opponent, “we got a win,” said Carey, who now leads the Huskers with a .509 batting average and 19 RBIs. With the two doubles, his career total is 54, tying him with Daniel Bruce and Matt Hopper for second on the all-time Nebraska list — one behind Bolt.
“He gives me a hard time about it every day,” Carey said. “It’s a fun thing, going back and forth with it.”
In any case, Wednesday’s victory, the Huskers’ seventh in 12 games, was “great,” said Bolt. “I mean, heck of a job right there. We … kinda let ‘em hang around a little bit after a fast start.”
Nebraska scored three in the first and a fourth in the second.
“I thought the difference today was, we were really into every pitch today, just from the entire group. I thought it showed up on defense. Specifically, we played good defense today, probably four games since we’ve had an errorless game. So it’s good to see that.”
Michigan State fell at 12th-ranked Clemson 12-1 Wednesday, its third loss in a row and eighth in 11 games. Among the losses were three to Louisville and three to Texas, ranked third at the time.
The Huskers weren’t looking past South Dakota State, according to Bolt, “just seeing how we played today. We got off to a great start … played clean defense, threw strikes and when they had their big moment, we just kinda stayed the par, just did what we needed to do.”
That was his message to the team afterward, Carey said. “We got a win. That’s all that matters. These games can go one way, either you win or lose and we found a way to win.”
He repeated the point for emphasis, “that’s all that matters.”
“Just win, baby!”
And the Huskers did. Now on to dealing with Michigan State.
