Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball to play four games in four days against UNO, Nicholls
Nebraska baseball has won nine of the last ten games and continues its homestand (sort of) this week. The Huskers will face UNO (5-8) in a mid-week matchup on Tuesday before clashing with the Colonels of Nicholls (11-7) in Manhattan, Kansas.
Will Bolt and company will attempt to stay hot despite the cold snap bound to begin on Friday. Here’s a look at what Nebraska has ahead.
Projecting the pitching
Note: These are projections and will be updated once starting rotations are officially announced.
Tuesday, 6:05 p.m. (UNO): RHP Michael Garza (1.64 ERA, 11.0 IP, 6 K, Record: 1-1) Vs. RHP Charlie Bell (6.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 4 K, Record: 1-1)
Thursday, 11:00 a.m. (Nicholls): LHP Jackson Brockett (1.04 ERA, 8.2 IP, 8 K, Record: 1-0) vs. RHP Michael Quevedo (6.23 ERA, 8.2 IP, 8 K, Record: 0-0)
Friday, 2:30 p.m. (7 Innings): LHP Emmett Olson (3.97 ERA, 22.2 IP, 23 K, Record: 2-1) vs. LHP Tyler Theriot (2.53 ERA, 21.1 IP, 20 K, Record: 2-2)
Friday, Game 2 (9 Innings): RHP Jace Kaminska (2.25 ERA, 24.0 IP, 13 K, Record: 3-0) vs. TBA
What to watch for the Huskers
Instate rivalries renewed
Nebraska baseball struggled mightily against its instate foes last season.
Combined, the Huskers went 2-3 against Creighton and UNO. The Mavericks triumphed twice in Omaha while Nebraska came out on the winning end in a pair of Lincoln meetings. Huskers and Bluejays met but once last year and Creighton pulled out a 3-2 victory at TD Ameritrade park. The two schools couldn’t find a makeup date following a rainout in April.
All three of Nebraska’s losses came by a single run.
There’s a tension between the Huskers and UNO. It’s not exactly best described as bad blood but it was clear a year ago that a rivalry is building. Nebraska won a fall exhibition 9-1 at Tal Anderson Field in Omaha just a few short months ago.
The Mavericks, in spite of their slow start, would like nothing better than to rain on the Huskers’ parade. Meanwhile, Nebraska hopes to take the first step toward reestablishing itself as the top dog in the state after last season.
Eating up innings
The Husker bullpen is in great shape entering the week. Nebraska only used three relief pitchers in Friday and Saturday’s games. Freshmen Jalen Worthley and JC Gutierrez threw for just an inning apiece and each tossed less than 25 pitches.
Pitching coach Jeff Christy will have just about every arm at his disposal for this four-game stretch. Still, it will be important to maximize the use of the Huskers’ starting pitching.
Each outing from Emmett Olson and Jace Kaminska has gone for a minimum of 5.1 innings. Continuing that trend will be critical for Nebraska even with one less game to plan for.
The weather (again)
All four games are on as scheduled for Nebraska despite some slight changes.
Sunday’s mid-30s high claimed the series finale with Illinois State, the first cancelation of the Huskers’ season. Tuesday’s game with UNO is safe with highs in the low-50s. However, the weekend series couldn’t escape the cold.
Nebraska will head a little bit south to Manhattan for three games with Nicholls. There is some rain in the forecast for Thursday set to start near the 11:00 a.m. first pitch. Friday projects like low-40s and partly cloudy skies in the double header. The series drops from four games to three.
No matter the weather, the Huskers have been able to score aplenty. Does that change this week?
Nebraska baseball notes
***The Huskers checked in as the No. 9 team in the country in batting average hitting at a .334 clip. NU leads the Big Ten in batting average, doubles (41), doubles per game (2.93) and slugging percentage (.589).
***Nebraska sports eight different batters with batting averages above .300. If you include Cole Evans, that number jumps to nine. His .556 average sparks from a 9-for-11 week in which he also added seven RBIs. However, it’s a small sample size at just 18 at-bats.
The Huskers had just one .300 hitter last year, Garrett Anglim.
***Shay Schanman enters the week tied with Zach Kroenke for the 10th most career strikeouts in program history. A 197th punchout from the fifth-year senior moves him into sole possession of the honor. He is four strikeouts away from the No. 9 spot on the all-time list.
***Brice Matthews is two hits away from the 100th of his career.
***According to Huskers.com, Nebraska’s last full season without a canceled game was 2016 in which the Huskers had only one postponement. The 2021 season was the last time Nebraska did not have alterations to its schedule in March. The last game of the Northwestern series was called off that year due to pitching restraints for the Wildcats.
Know the foes: Omaha and Nicholls
Omaha:
***Nebraska has dominated the all-time series leading 53-13. The Huskers have come out on top in seven of the last ten meetings.
***UNO has crushed 21 doubles in the past five games. The Mavericks exploded for six doubles in three of those contests. In its first eight games, the team had just six doubles in total.
***The Summit League’s preseason poll pegged UNO to finish third in the conference after going 26-31 last season and 12-12 in league play.
***Charlie Bell threw 5.0 innings against Nebraska last season while striking out nine Huskers and allowing just one earned run in a 4-3 Maverick victory.
***Player to watch: Mike Boeve
There’s a big caveat here. Boeve left the first game of UNO’s series with Stonehill last week. He exited the series opener in the top of the third and did not return for the second game.
He won’t play Tuesday.
The reigning Summit League Player of the Year hadn’t slowed his production an iota prior to injury. After leading the Mavericks in batting average, runs, hits, doubles, home runs and walks a year ago, Boeve has returned for his junior campaign. So far, he’s batting a mean .475 with six doubles and nine RBIs in 40 at-bats.
How does UNO look without its star?
Nicholls:
***Nicholls is 8-3 in its last 11 games and has scored seven or more runs in seven of those games.
***The Colonels hold an impressive 2.77 team ERA which is good for No. 15 in the country. Only one pitcher with above 5.0 innings has an ERA higher than 5.00. Five pitchers with double-digit innings have ERAs at or below 2.53.
***Nicholls was picked preseason to finish sixth out of nine teams in the Southland Conference after finishing in fourth place during 2022.
***Player to watch: Jacob Mayers
The freshman from Gonzales, Louisiana was top ten nationally in both strikeouts per nine innings and total strikeouts entering last weekend. On Sunday, Mayers collected seven more punchouts to bring his total to 34 on the season.
In 20.0 innings pitched, he has surrendered just three earned runs. Granted, three of the four opponents he faced (ULM, Louisiana Tech and Lindenwood) are in the bottom 150 batting average nationally.
Around the Big Ten
Here are a few Big Ten games to keep tabs on this weekend. Rankings are according to the D1Baseball.com Top 25.
Weekend Series:
Penn State (9-5) Vs. Georgetown (10-6)
Rutgers (7-7) @ Mercer (12-5)
Ohio State (8-6) Vs. Dayton (3-11)
Illinois (7-5) Vs. Southern Illinois (6-10)
Conference Standings
| SCHOOL | CONF | PCT | HOME | ROAD | OVERALL | PCT | HOME | ROAD | NEUTRAL | LAST 10 | STREAK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 11-3 | .000 | 2-0 | 2-2 | 7-1 | 8-2 | W1 |
| Nebraska | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 9-4-1 | .000 | 4-0 | 3-3-1 | 2-1 | 9-1 | W4 |
| Penn State | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 9-5 | .000 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 8-2 | 7-3 | L1 |
| Indiana | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 10-6 | .000 | 7-0 | 2-5 | 1-1 | 8-2 | W5 |
| Illinois | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 7-5 | .000 | 0-0 | 5-5 | 2-0 | 5-5 | W1 |
| Ohio State | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 8-6 | .000 | 0-0 | 3-0 | 5-6 | 6-4 | W4 |
| Maryland | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 8-7 | .000 | 5-1 | 3-3 | 0-3 | 5-5 | W4 |
| Michigan State | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 8-7 | .000 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 5-3 | 4-6 | W3 |
| Purdue | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 8-7 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 8-4 | 4-6 | L3 |
| Rutgers | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 7-7 | .000 | 1-0 | 5-5 | 1-2 | 5-5 | W4 |
| Michigan | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 6-9 | .000 | 0-1 | 2-3 | 4-5 | 2-7 | W1 |
| Minnesota | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-14 | .000 | 2-8 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 2-8 | L3 |
| Northwestern | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-12 | .000 | 0-0 | 0-12 | 0-0 | 0-10 | L12 |
Broadcast Information
Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)
Stations: Lincoln (1400 AM), Omaha (590 AM)
