Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball duels Nicholls at Haymarket Park
Nebraska baseball (10-5) kicks off an eight-game home stand with a battle with Nicholls (17-3) this weekend.
“We’ve got a really good team coming out,” Bolt said of the Colonels on the Huskers Radio Network on Wednesday night. “They’ve got a kid on Friday night that’s going to be a top-round pick next year as a junior. So, they’ve got a really, really good ball club.”
Nicholls has already accumulated half of their 2023 win total (34) and has won nine of its last 10 games. Here’s more on the Colonels, where Nebraska’s pitching depth stands entering the weekend and the latest developments on the strikeout front.
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Projecting Nebraska’s pitching matchups
Friday, 6:05 p.m., RHP Drew Christo (Stats: 1-1, 5.68 ERA, 19.0 IP, 12 K) vs. RHP Jacob Mayers (Stats: 2-0, 2.70 ERA, 20.0 IP, 31 K)
Saturday, 2:05 p.m., RHP Brett Sears (Stats: 2-0, 1.78 ERA, 25.1 IP, 28 K) Vs. LHP Jack Nelson (Stats: 0-0, 4.91 ERA, 7.1 IP, 12 K)
Sunday, 12:05 p.m., RHP Ty Horn (Stats: 1-0, 2.79 ERA, 9.2 IP, 9 K) Vs. LHP Michael Quevedo (3-0, 3.22 ERA, 22.1 IP, 20 K)
What to watch for the Huskers
Pitching depth to be tested
Nebraska has entered the deepest stretch of its March schedule. Two five-game weeks will soon give way to the normal four-game rhythm of conference play.
This critical sector of the season will either be won or lost on pitching depth. So far, the Huskers’ have answered the bell. Bolt said on Sunday that Nebraska’s bullpen arms are well stocked and rested for the week ahead.
That held true through the midweek series with Wichita State. Will Walsh’s quality start went a long way in keeping the bullpen relatively untaxed. Despite Ryan Harrahill and Caleb Clark’s early exits on Wednesday, no Husker threw more than 20 pitches in the rest of the game.
Even if Nebraska doesn’t get continued extended outing from Drew Christo and Brett Sears, this unit is still on schedule for the weekend ahead.
Strikeouts on the decline?
It seemed as if Nebraska had started to fight off the strikeout bug.
Husker bats had punched out no more than six times in each of the last five games prior to the Wichita State series. The strikeout total for that period sits at 24. Juxtapose that with the 34 strikeouts in three games Nebraska posted on Opening Weekend or the 35 strikeouts in the first three games of the GCU series and improvement becomes fairly evident.
The South Alabama total was 13.
“It just gives you more confidence to trust your approach early in your at-bat when you feel like you’ve got that in your hip pocket that you can move the ball with two strikes,” Bolt said. “It’s not like (South Alabama) didn’t have guys with strikeout stuff. They had guys running it up there with good breaking balls.”
Nebraska’s plate discipline seemed to fade at Wichita State in a two-game series that saw the Huskers go down on strikes 24 times. So which version of the Huskers show up at Haymarket Park against a Nicholls staff that averages 2.61 strikeouts per walk? Nebraska bats struck out 26 times in the three-game set with the Colonels last year.
Midweek Madness returns
Midweek season is back. They were the stumbling block of all stumbling blocks for Nebraska’s 2023 squad that finished 7-7 in such games.
Of course last year’s group struggled for a variety of reasons in midweeks. Pitching miscues played a role such as in the 10-6 loss to Omaha in March last year. But the shortcomings of the bats in those same games seemed to fall through the cracks in the public discourse. For example, Nebraska never recorded less than eight strikeouts in three midweek meetings with the Mavericks.
Bolt seems to recognize that all-around inconsistency was the reason the Huskers didn’t get Friday and Saturday results on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.
“We are far from a finished product, we are far from perfect but we’re finding ways to win games,” Bolt said Sunday. “The message is just going to be very, very consistent. If we want to be the team we’re capable of being, you just show up and play nine full innings or however many innings you’re supposed to play. Doesn’t matter what it looks like, just stay in the fight.”
The Huskers got their first taste of the midweek slate on Tuesday and got things started on the right foot with a win. Then some of the previous year’s inconsistencies returned on Wednesday. Bouncing back with a sweep of Omaha and North Dakota State (owners of a combined 5-26 record) next week will be a must.
Nebraska baseball notes
***Rhett Stokes became the first Husker to record three straight three-hit performances since 2021 with his 9-for-12 weekend against South Alabama.
***Tyler Stone has recorded hits in 10 of his last 11 starts and in that stretch has posted a .326 average with four home runs and 15 RBIs. The Scottsdale, Arizona, has five multi-RBI games this season which is the most by any Husker.
***Cayden Brumbaugh has hits in nine of his last 10 games and leads the team with 17 hits. He crushed two doubles on Wednesday night.
***Max Buettenback’s inside-the-park home run was Nebraska’s first since Joe Acker accomplished the feat against Rutgers in 2021.
Know the foe: Nicholls
***Nebraska won its series with Nicholls last season. Inclement weather forced the two teams to play an altered schedule and move the games to Manhattan, Kansas. The Huskers swept the Saturday double header with 2-1 and 17-1 victories. The Colonels took Sunday’s game 10-7.
***Despite Nicholls’ sparkling record, the strength of schedule is far from stellar. The Colonels sit with the 141st-ranked RPI in the country according to Warren Nolan. Nicholls strength of schedule is 141st in the country with an opponent winning percentage of .381. Additionally, four of the team’s 17 wins came against non-Division-I competition.
***Nebraska leads the all-time series with Nicholls 5-2. The Huskers own a 2-1 record against the Colonels at Haymarket Park after winning a weekend series in 2016.
***Player to watch: RHP Jacob Mayers
Mayers was a consensus Freshman All-American and with a 2.02 ERA in 75 2/3 innings of work in 2023. He struck out 105 batters and issued 58 walks with a 9-1 record. He’s allowed two earned runs in 11 innings during his last two starts against Grambling and Southern. At 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds, Mayers is in strong position for a MLB Draft selection in the near future.
Around the Big Ten
Here are a few Big Ten series/games to keep tabs on this weekend. Records are as of Wednesday evening:
Friday, March 15:
San Diego (8-7) @ Michigan (6-11), 2:00 p.m. CT
Ohio State (8-7) @ West Virginia (10-7), 3:00 p.m. CT
Western Illinois (4-11) @ Iowa (7-9), 4:05 p.m. CT
Saturday, March 16:
Ohio State (8-7) @ West Virginia (10-7), 1:00 p.m. CT
San Diego (8-7) @ Michigan (6-11), 1:00 p.m. CT
Western Illinois (4-11) @ Iowa (7-9), 2:05 p.m. CT
Sunday, March 17:
Ohio State (8-7) @ West Virginia (10-7), 12:00 p.m. CT
San Diego (8-7) @ Michigan (6-11), 12:00 p.m. CT
Western Illinois (4-11) @ Iowa (7-9), 1:05 p.m. CT
Broadcast Information
TV: Big Ten+: HERE
Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)
