Nebraska baseball blasts Illinois State's bullpen, Schanaman earns save in 8-3 victory
Nebraska baseball battled in the early moments of its Friday night showdown with the Redbirds of Illinois State. Ultimately, the Huskers broke through in the seventh scoring five runs en route to an 8-3 victory.
Emmett Olson picked up the win pitching 6.0 innings allowing just two earned runs and striking out a career-high eight batters. Nebraska moves to 8-4-1 on the season with the win.
Olson picked up right where he left off in Minneapolis.
The southpaw retired the Redbirds in order closing out the top half of the first in just two minutes of real time. Nebraska drew first blood in the home half of the inning. Brice Matthews got aboard via a leadoff single and Max Anderson brought him home with a swinging bunt to give the Huskers a 1-0 lead.
Illinois State tested Olson in the second. After a strikeout to open the frame, the Redbirds put two on via a single and hit batsman. Olson stabilized with his third punchout of the afternoon and a groundout to strand both runners. Nebraska pieced together a two-out rally with a pair of singles, but couldn’t bring either home as Casey Burnham grounded out to end the inning.
Olson proceeded to retire six of the next seven batters he faced. The only blemish was a full-count walk in the fourth.
The Redbirds posed a serious threat to Nebraska’s 1-0 lead in the fifth. With two outs, a single from Blair native Auggie Rasmussen began the action. He later stole second and third base to go along with a walk from Olson that put runners on the corners. Greg Nichols had a chance to even the score but the .319 hitter grounded out to Anderson to close the frame.
Nebraska was held without an extra-base hit for the first four innings of the ballgame. That trend ended in the sixth with a double by Burnham. Matthews followed that with a two-run blast that he tucked inside the left-field foul pole.
“Yes and no,” Matthews said of whether he could see if his homer was fair or foul. “I was too far down the line to see it. It looked like it was fair. Umpire made the right call.”
Not only did his home run give the Huskers a 3-0 lead, it extended the team’s home run streak to 12 consecutive games which is the longest since 1988 (21 games). Head coach Will Bolt said he didn’t really have expectations as far as hitting for power entering the season.
“We have some older and more experienced hitters that have been on the barrel a lot,” Bolt said. “You’re on the barrel and you’ve got some experienced, strong guys you’re gonna run into some balls. The extra-base hits have been pretty key for us. Lots of doubles, even with two strikes, and the home run has obviously been a big part of it.”
Each team was held scoreless in the sixth, but Illinois State got back into the game in the seventh. Noah Rabin and Nick Strong, the No. 7 and No. 8 batters in the order, combined a single and home run to knock Olson out of the contest and make it 3-2. Shay Schanaman entered in relief and retired the next three batters he faced striking out two of the three.
Nebraska got those two runs back and more in the home half of the seventh against the Redbird bullpen. The Huskers smashed three consecutive RBI hits starting with an Anderson triple followed by a Josh Caron double and Efry Cervantes single growing Nebraska’s lead to 6-2. Burnham added two more runs on a two-out single to left and the Huskers held an 8-2 advantage.
That brought Schanaman back out after a long period in the dugout.
“I actually went back down to the pen and threw some,” Schanaman said. “I made the mistake of not doing that on one of the previous outings. But, I went back down, got warm again and it worked out.”
Schanaman allowed a run on a bloop single in the top half of the ninth, but other than that he remained clean for all three innings of his relief outing. The fifth-year senior captain notched his first save since 2019 and the fourth of his career overall.
The win is Nebraska’s eighth in the last nine games.
“We’re playing really good baseball,” Matthews said. “We’re believing in each other and we’re believing in ourselves. It’s just really fun.”
Olson, Schanaman provide powerful Friday Husker combo
Friday’s game marked the second time in as many weeks that Nebraska needed just two pitchers to complete the opening game of the series.
Last week, Olson worked the first six innings against No. 7 Vanderbilt and Schanaman followed with three scoreless innings of relief. Although the Husker closer didn’t quite keep the ledger perfectly clean this time around, his numbers have been excellent since the San Diego series.
In three total appearances, Schanaman 8.1 innings allowing just one earned run. He’s been hit twice in that stretch and has struck out 12 opponents.
“It feels good to have the ball at the end of the game when it matters,” Schanaman said. “I was happy I was able to get the team and the offense back in there as quick as I could so that they could score runs like they did. Just doing my job throwing strikes and getting outs.”
Olson has put together consecutive quality starts (6.0 or more innings pitched while allowing three or fewer earned runs). Despite giving up a home run in every game he has pitched this year, his ERA is a 3.97 and has yet to have a truly bad outing.
“I feel like I was just able to attack right away in the first couple pitches of the at-bat,” Olson said. “Just let the guys behind me work because I can trust them. Work quick, let them hit and rinse and repeat.”
If Nebraska can get six innings from Olson and a dependable Schanaman each Friday, that could be a lethal combo for conference play.
Matthews is in the midst of a breakout
Matthews is on an unreal run, and it’s not just at the dish.
The junior shortstop has been clean since the South Alabama series in which he had two errors. The last seven games are error free for Matthews. At this point last year, he had four errors on the way to a 15-error season.
“I feel really confident,” Matthews said. “Just staying in your preparation, believe in yourself and just no that the guys behind me and in front of me, they love me and they care for me. They believe in me as well so that’s all that matters.”
His batting numbers do tell of even greater improvement. Matthews owns an eight-game hitting streak and is batting .531 with all four of his home runs in that time. Get ready for Matthews to set a new career-high in the homer category because the most he’s hit in a season is seven last year.
Bolt said the shortstop’s confidence is key to his success.
“He didn’t get off to the best start offensively and didn’t really get deterred with that,” Bolt said. “He’s in that mode where he’s trusting his ability. He’s always had that. He’s really trusting his ability right now and playing fearless.”
What’s next for Nebraska?
The Huskers continue their series with the Redbirds on Saturday afternoon. The game which was previously scheduled for a 2:05 p.m. start will begin two hours later at 4:05 p.m. at Haymarket Park.
All games will be streamed on BTN+ and can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network.
