Nebraska baseball decimates South Alabama 15-3, clinches series win
Nebraska baseball put together far and away its best performance of the season against South Alabama on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskers pounded 14 hits scoring 15 runs and secured a series win bringing head coach Will Bolt’s squad to 2-3-1 on the season.
Max Anderson continued his hot streak at the plate with the Huskers’ only hit in the first inning. The junior advanced to second base on a balk but South Alabama starter Gehrig Conard worked around it with ease. He downed Josh Caron on strikes with two outs to end the half-inning.
Jace Kaminska used his defense for an efficient 1-2-3 first. The right-hander induced a pair of flyouts and a groundout on just nine pitches to hang a zero for the inning.
Nebraska’s offense ratcheted up the pressure on the freshman Conard in the second inning by capitalizing on numerous Jaguar miscues. Mitchell Heer made a pair of errors at third base, Conard balked a second time and the Huskers delivered three hits in the inning to plate four runs.
Kaminska retook the mound in the bottom half and retired the first two South Alabama batters he faced without issue. Then some cracks started to show in his armor. A walk sandwiched between a pair of singles scored a run for the Jaguars costing Kaminska 25 pitches.
Bolt’s squad continued to engineer runs in the third. Garrett Anglim got aboard after taking a pitch squarely in the back. Then the speedy outfielder stole second and moved to third on a Gabe Swansen single. Swansen got caught in an intentional rundown between first and second base allowing Anglim to score unimpeded from third to make it 5-1.
A 12-pitch inning got Kaminska back on schedule with another zero in the third and the Husker bats returned to action in the fourth. Brice Matthews sent a one-out single to centerfield but he was caught stealing in the midst of a 10-pitch at-bat from Dylan Carey. The third baseman struck out swinging to close the Husker threat.
Nebraska struck quickly in fifth following another Kaminska shutout inning. Caron singled with one out and that brought Will Walsh to the plate. The first baseman entered the day 1-for-11 in plate appearances this season. But, that didn’t stop Walsh from blasting a home run to left center growing the Husker advantage to 7-1.
The Jaguars didn’t waste any time in getting those runs back. The South Alabama bats knocked in a pair of runs off two doubles and a single. Carey answered with his second RBI of the day during the sixth inning and Nebraska led 8-3 entering the bottom half of the sixth.
That’s when Kaminska exited the game after winning an 11-pitch at-bat by notching his fourth strikeout for the first out of the frame. Jackson Brockett entered in relief inheriting a runner on first base and made quick work of two South Alabama batters to post another scoreless inning.
The Huskers put it away by pouring it on in the seventh inning. Nebraska brought twelve to the plate and totaled three hits scoring six runs. No at-bat was more important than that of Matthews who stepped into the box with two on and one out. The shortstop murdered his pitch and sent the baseball sailing over the fence in left for a three-run shot that made it 14-3.
Nebraska added another run in the ninth and freshman lefty JC Gutierrez closed it out stranding a Jaguar at third to hang another zero.
“I think the thing I’m the most proud of in this game wasn’t how we started but how we finished. I called the team up in the fifth inning and said, ‘Hey, here’s your challenge right here. They’re trying to grab a little bit of momentum. Let’s leave no doubt in the back half of this game.”
-Nebraska head coach Will Bolt on the Huskers Radio Network
Husker bats are red-hot
Nebraska totaled just six runs on 16 hits in its first two games. The Huskers were 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position on a night in which Bolt called his team’s approach atrocious.
Since then, Nebraska is hitting .321 with 47 total hits. The Huskers have crushed 19 extra-base hits and homered in four consecutive games. Three of those four games featured multiple Nebraska long bombs.
Anderson is the posterchild for the turnaround. He started the year 1-for-9 in his first two games. In the four games since, the second baseman is 10-for-16 (.625) with a double, home run and six RBIs.
Oddly enough, a freshman is the most consistent piece to Nebraska’s attack. Carey is batting .440 on the season following today’s game. The Colorado native has been a production monster posting six RBIs in six games to go along with two homers and a double.
Matthews can’t be left out of the conversation either. The shortstop nearly hit for the cycle demolishing the three-run blast that blew the game wide open in the seventh as well as adding a double and single in the win. Matthews has three doubles, a home run and seven RBIs this season.
The strikeouts are still an issue to some extent. Nebraska went down on strikes 10 times in Saturday’s win. However, the Huskers had 42 total at-bats and such miscues are often forgotten when the clutch hitting is there.
Nebraska batted .429 with runners on base, .375 with runners in scoring position and .625 (15-for-24) in advancement opportunities.
A week after an atrocious evening, this Husker offense is night and day different.
The pitching staff locks in
It isn’t a complete performance without rock-solid defense.
Nebraska learned that lesson the hard way in its final two games with San Diego. This time the Huskers put it all together.
It started with a second strong outing from Kaminska. The Wichita State transfer picked up his first win at Nebraska after going 5.1 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out four batters. He didn’t quite meet the by the book definition of a quality start, but Kaminska has put Nebraska in an outstanding position for Sunday’s game.
If Kaminska and Olson can eat up innings at this rate, the Husker bullpen should be deep enough to secure a lot of wins.
Nebraska’s relivers were the stumbling block last weekend. Not so on Saturday. Brockett and Gutierrez protected the Husker lead without allowing a single run.
Finally, Nebraska issued one walk and didn’t hit a single batter in what may be the most important stat of the game if the trend continues.
What’s next for the Huskers
Nebraska will close the series with South Alabama on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CT. Caleb Clark will make his second start as the Huskers go for the sweep.
The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and heard on the Huskers Radio Network.
