Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball hosts Ohio State

Nebraska (20-6, 3-0) baseball welcomes Ohio State (12-12, 2-1) to Haymarket Park this weekend for its first home conference series of the season.

The Buckeyes kicked off conference play with a series win over Purdue last week. Ohio State has a series win over West Virginia and as well as single-game victories over USC and Oklahoma. Meanwhile the Huskers are seeking to rebound after a 5-3 loss to in-state rival Creighton on Tuesday.

Here’s more on Nebraska’s response to that defeat, stars starting to shine on a well-balanced team and where the Huskers rank nationally in saves.

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Projecting Nebraska’s pitching matchups

Friday, 6:05p.m., RHP Brett Sears (Stats: 5-0, 1.36 ERA, 46.1 IP, 47 K) vs. LHP Landon Beidelschies (Stats: 3-4, 3.35 ERA, 40.1 IP, 50 K)

Saturday, 2:02 p.m., RHP Mason McConnaughey (Stats: 2-2, 2.86 ERA, 22.0 IP, 31 K) Vs. LHP Gavin Bruni (Stats: 2-0, 5.34 ERA, 28.2 IP, 28 K)

Sunday, 12:05 p.m., RHP Drew Christo (Stats: 1-1, 4.09 ERA, 33.0 IP, 23 K) Vs. RHP Gavin DeVooght (2-1, 1.15 ERA, 15.2 IP, 13 K)

What to watch for the Huskers

Flushing Tuesday, dealing with the ranking, and moving on to Ohio State

Nebraska’s 5-3 loss to Creighton on Tuesday seemed, at least on the outside, to put a bit of a damper on a week in which the Huskers opened as a consensus top 25 team. NU had a short practice on Wednesday before a more challenging outing on Thursday that focused on more of the finer details.

Much like in other instances this season with varying exterior circumstances, the Huskers are preaching consistency.

“I’m not worried about this group,” Bolt said. “I know they’re gonna be hungry to respond. We haven’t had a whole lot of opportunities to respond from this year, but these guys have been pretty resilient in game this year and I expect no different.”

As far as the ranking, Bolt said he brought it up to the team a two weeks prior when he believed more national recognition could be coming.

“I just reminded them like, ‘Hey, we’re still a bunch of nobodies that haven’t done anything or proven anything. We have a chip on our shoulder because we have something to prove everyday,'” Bolt said. “So, that doesn’t change. It’s where we want to be right, though? Those are the expectations that we want to have here. We want to be a part of a midseason projection to be playing postseason baseball here.”

Brett Sears echoed his coach’s thoughts. Nothing changes.

“It’s the same for us,” Sears said. “It’s obviously nice to get recognized, you know? We’re winning games. But, each is the same for us. We don’t care what number is in front of us. We don’t care what’s across your jersey. We’re here to win and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Caron, Sears shining as offensive, defensive leaders

It’s hard to attribute Nebraska’s success this season to any one player. But, Josh Caron and Brett Sears have been integral for the Huskers up to this point.

Caron’s 32 RBIs are the most on the team and his batting at a .289 clip. Bolt said there are a number of things NU’s nearly everyday catcher is doing to take care of his body behind the scenes. That’s one area the skipper is pleased with his backstop. There is one more part of Caron’s game that has taken a big jump according to Bolt.

“Where I’m most proud of his growth is his vocal presence behind the plate,” Bolt said. “He’s kinda a quiet guy by nature, but he’s really taken better charge of the pitching staff this year. He’s been a true leader for us back there.”

Bolt added that Caron has likely played himself into draft considerations come season’s end.

Then there’s Sears who is on the cusp of a seventh consecutive quality start, leads the nation with a 0.67 WHIP and was named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list on Thursday. Fastball command and intense work outside of practice time are factors Bolt attributes to Sears’ strong senior campaign.

“His preparation is second to none, his competitive spirit as well when he’s out there,” Bolt said. “He gets greedy when he’s on the mound and that’s what you want from a starting pitcher. You want a pitcher that’s greedy out there, that doesn’t want to give you anything.”

Data Dive: Analyzing the Huskers’ save rate

In 2023, Nebraska logged 10 saves. It’s Week 7 of the 2024 campaign and the Huskers are up to 12. Six different NU arms have logged a save and four of those six have done it multiple times. Shay Schanaman recorded six of the Huskers’ 10 saves a year ago.

Nebraska has a save in 60% of its victories this year. That ranks sixth in the country among programs with at least 10 wins on the season. Only Arkansas (14) and Georgetown (13) have more saves than the Huskers (12) nationwide.

The chart below shows the top ten teams in the country entering the week in terms of save percentage and sorted by total wins. Green dots on the right represent wins while the red stands for saves. The black line between the two illustrates the gap between saves and wins.

Caron has caught in plenty of those late-game situations. He said shared belief is key.

“Every guy that takes the ball, we know that they’re prepared, that they’re ready for the situation,” Caron said. “Just having total, complete trust in every guy that takes the mound in those big spots that they’re going to get the job done.”

Bolt said he believes the staff doesn’t necessarily have a true closer. Finding multiple guys who could be trusted with the ball over the game’s final three innings was a key offseason focus.

“The belief from a team comes from what you do between the sixth and ninth innings of a game,” Bolt said. “You can hold the leads if you have the right guys and you’re not just relying on one or two guys to get the job done.”

Nebraska is 14-1 when leading after six innings this year and 2-4 when trailing.

Nebraska baseball notes

***Nebraska’s sweep of Northwestern pushed the Huskers to the 20 win mark within the first 25 games of the season for the first time since 2006. NU’s best 25-game start in the last 24 years came in 2005 at 22-3.

***Cole Evans was a critical piece to the Huskers’ offense in Evanston. He went 6-for-10 in three games against the Wildcats with a double, a home run and seven RBIs. He has appeared in all 26 contests to this point.

***Josh Caron entered the week leading his squad in home runs (six) and multi-hit performances (eight). He is one of seven Huskers to tally 30 or more RBIs in the first 25 games of a season since 2005.

***Nebraska and Coastal Carolina are the only two teams nationwide to hold opponents to 11 or fewer stolen base attempts on the season.

Know the foe: Ohio State

***Bolt has crossed paths with Ohio State head coach Bill Mosiello and pitching coach Sean Allen before when he was at Texas A&M. Mosiello was at TCU and Allen at Texas.

***A pitcher’s duel seems likely on Friday. Buckeye ace Landon Beidelschies tossed seven innings against the Boilermakers last week with two runs allowed and seven strikeouts. He has punched out at least five batters in every outing this year.

***Henry Kaczmar (No. 36 shortstop), Beidelschies (No. 84 starting pitcher) and Joseph Mershon (No. 41 second base) were named to D1Baseball’s midseason player position rankings this week.

***Player to watch: C Matthew Graveline

Graveline made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team a year ago and started 49 of his 50 appearances for the Buckeyes. He drove in 35 runs with a .287 batting average and lead his team in runs scored (45). Now as a sophomore, he leads his squad in hits (31), doubles (nine), slugging (.543) and batting average (.330). He also owns a team-high 10 multi-hit games.

Around the Big Ten

Here are a few Big Ten series to keep tabs on this weekend as well as the conference standings. Records are as of Wednesday evening:

Series:

Indiana (16-14, 1-2) @ Maryland (21-8, 3-3)

Michigan (12-17, 4-2) @ Iowa (15-11, 4-2)

Illinois (14-12, 5-1) @ Minnesota (11-12, 1-2)

Broadcast Information

TV: Big Ten+: HERE

Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)

Stations: Lincoln (1400 AM), Omaha (590 AM)