Now that’s more like it.
The Nebraska baseball team swept two games at Pepperdine, 9-6 and 11-4, in preparation for its third Big Ten series against USC at Great Park in Irvine, California, this weekend.
The first game is slated for Friday at 8:30 p.m. CDT. Nebraska is 9-11, including 1-5 in conference play. USC is 12-8 and 2-4, having been swept by Oregon and winning two of three from Michigan. Nebraska, 9-11 and 1-5 after losing three in a row at home to UCLA last weekend, needed a boost.
What the Huskers accomplished against Pepperdine was “big,” Coach Will Bolt said during his post-game interview on Huskers.com Wednesday. “You try to win every game you play, and I just think from an offensive standpoint, guys are going to feel confident going into the weekend.”
Dylan Carey was 3-for-4 with two home runs and three runs-batted-in Wednesday. Tyler Stone was 2-for-3, with a home run and two runs scored. Eight players had at least one RBI Tuesday. Caden Brumbaugh was 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
Devin Nunez was a combined 4-for-10 and drove in two runs in the two games. The freshman from Navasota, Texas, leads Nebraska with a .353 batting average.
Consider numbers other than the scores of the two games. After striking out 32 times against UCLA, the Huskers struck out only twice against Pepperdine, including none in the final 16 innings. Wednesday, they “scored in six-of-nine innings,” said Bolt, “and a big goose egg in the punch-out department, so (I’m) awfully proud of the offense, (and) some of the bullpen guys made some big pitches for us.”
Nebraska used 11 pitchers in the two games, including five freshmen and two sophomores. Carson Jasa was the winning pitcher Tuesday, Gavin Blachowicz the winner Wednesday. Both are freshmen.
Junior Luke Broderick earned the save Tuesday.
Bolt mentioned Blachowicz and sophomore Ryan Harrahill out of the bullpen Wednesday. And, again, the offense helped pick up the team when Pepperdine tried to mount a comeback. Nebraska took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth, and the Wave responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
But the Huskers scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth to regain control. “There were some moments there that did get a little bit dicey,” Bolt said. “But the thing the offense did all day long is, we answered with runs, and that’s something we keep harping on and keep talking about.”
USC defeated Arizona State in Phoenix 6-5 Tuesday. The Trojans are hitting .273 as a team and their pitching staff has a combined earned-run-average of 4.45.
Ethan Hedges leads the team hitting .368 with six home runs and 23 RBIs. Braydon Dowd is batting .333, with four home runs and 13 RBIs, second to Hedges in all three categories.
Senior right-hander Caden Aoki and junior left-hander Caden Hunter have the most starts for the Trojans, five each. Aoki is 2-1 with a 4.23 ERA, Hunter 3-1 with a 2.77 ERA.
Wednesday’s victory in particular should put the Huskers in a good place mentally this weekend, according to Bolt. “Just one heartbeat with the crew today, offensively, and guys just kind of feed off that, you know, when you can compete with two strikes, execute, you can use the middle of the field, get some base hits,” he said. “We didn’t have any three-up-three-down innings, I don’t think.”
That’s Nebraska baseball. Or it should be.
