Nebraska baseball falls behind early, iced 10-7 by Illinois in series finale
For a third consecutive Sunday, Nebraska baseball missed out on perfection. Illinois jumped on the Huskers early, building a 6-2 lead after two innings.
Head coach Will Bolt’s squad failed to regain its footing despite multi-homer days from Max Anderson and Gabe Swansen. Nebraska fell by a score of 10-7 moving to a 13-8-1 record and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
Branden Comia got the party started for the Fighting Illini. The third baseman mashed his second solo homer in as many days to give Illinois its first lead of the series in the top of the first. Ryan Moerman extended that edge with a two-run homer and the Fighting Illini went ahead 3-0.
Nebraska threatened in its turn at the plate through consecutive singles by Brice Matthews and Dylan Carey. A hit batter loaded the bases but the Huskers came up empty as a slow roller to third led to a double play.
Illinois used four singles and a wild pitch from Michael Garza to tack on three more runs in the second. Gabe Swansen countered for Nebraska with the game’s third homer. The left fielder blasted his fifth jack of the year to deep center scoring two and making it 6-2.
Jackson Brockett relieved Garza in the third and worked a 1-2-3 frame. Then Max Anderson followed in the home half with a solo bomb to right marking his second opposite-field homer in three days.
Brockett held the Fighting Illini off the board in the fourth and in the bottom half the Huskers had the makings of a big inning. Back-to-back walks led to naught as a double play doused Nebraska’s momentum and the bats .
Illinois capitalized on its free passes in the fifth. Brockett issued a leadoff walk that turned into a run after a two-out RBI single by Coltin Quagliano stretched the Fighting Illini advantage to 7-3. Illinois tacked on three more in the sixth with a pair of doubles and a single. The latter two hits were surrendered by Will Rizzo as the Huskers fell behind 10-3.
After another zero for Nebraska’s bats, Jake Bunz took the hill in the seventh. The southpaw struck out three of the four batters he faced stranding the runner he allowed on via a single.
“It feels really good to be back here at Haymarket,” Bunz said. “It’s been two years without throwing here. To get outs like the way I did, that was a confidence builder for sure and I know I can do it again.”
Swansen struck again in the seventh with a solo home run to left which was his third of the weekend. That wasn’t all for Nebraska but the Huskers failed to maximize their opportunities again. Josh Caron drew a bases loaded walk to make it 10-5 but Cole Evans grounded into a fielder’s choice soon after ending Nebraska’s chance.
The Huskers got another back in the eighth when Efry Cervantes scored Ben Columbus on a fielder’s choice. Anderson made things interesting with a home run in the ninth but it wasn’t enough as Nebraska came up short.
“It’s not from a lack of effort, I just think the focus today could be better,” Bolt said. “It needs to be better. It’s hard to win and it’s hard to sweep people. Illinois, they got beat the first two days and they were on it.”
The Sunday Scaries
The last day of the week is supposed to be “Championship Sunday” according to Nebraska players and coaches.
It’s the day where a team finishes the job and grinds out a sweep. The Huskers have had that chance in the past two weekends and three out of the four weekends in March. Nebraska has yet to win all three games in a single weekend for the month.
“We’ve talked about that in our program as long as I’ve been here, how important Sundays are,” Bolt said. “We battled at the end, made it 10-7, and we stayed in the fight but that’s just what’s expected.”
A large part of the blame is placed on the pitching. Garza was the latest in a long line of Husker starters to struggle on Sunday. In fact, the longest Sunday start of the season belongs to Caleb Clark who went 4.1 innings against San Diego in the opening weekend. The freshman surrendered five earned runs that day and Garza gave up six in just two innings today.
“We need some guys to step up on the mound that can get us some stops and get us back in the dugout,” Bolt said. “Bunzy did a nice job today. Shay had two good outings this weekend. He’s looking good but we need more.”
Nebraska’s last Sunday win was Feb. 26 against South Alabama. In games without Jace Kaminska or Emmett Olson, the Huskers are 3-6-1 and have allowed an average of 8.3 runs.
Some help is likely on the way with the return of CJ Hood looming in the next 10 days and Bunz working into a more regular role. Yet, Nebraska needs more. While winning 2-of-3 each weekend likely gets the Huskers to the postseason, a pair of victories in five days doesn’t claim a regional title.
“We want to be the team we’re capable of being and we want to have a chance to win a championship,” Bolt said. “2-1 weekend is a good weekend. But when you have a chance to go finish it off, I would like to have seen our execution be better in all three phases today.”
Swansen, Anderson provide bright spot for the Huskers
The Husker power was on full display throughout the loss to Illinois in spite of the cold. Swansen in particular was impressive considering his showing last week.
Against Nicholls and UNO, he went 2-for-15 with an RBI double. He failed to connect on three at-bats in the visit to Creighton as well. Swansen sat out Friday’s game but got his chance Saturday and delivered a home run in a pinch-hit opportunity. He capped his weekend with a pair of homers on Sunday and finished the series 4-for-5 with three home runs, and five RBIs.
“I’ve just been sitting fastball and adjusting,” Swansen said. “I’ve been seeing the ball well, it’s happened to be thrown in good spots and I’ve just been executing.”
Meanwhile, Anderson has five home runs in his last six games. That’s after a 13-game stretch without a long ball.
Still, the day at the plate was far from perfect. Nebraska left the bases loaded twice and a double play killed a promising opportunity in the fourth with two runners on and no outs. Cashing in on those chances will be a focus going forward.
“We scores seven runs on 12 hits, we hit four home runs and it’s like, ‘Hey, great offensive day,'” Bolt said. “But for me, I think there were some empty at-bats when we had a chance to drive some runs in.”
What’s next for Nebraska?
Nebraska wraps up its Haymarket-heavy March with a mid-week matchup against North Dakota State. First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on BTN+.
Then, the Huskers hit the road for a double header in Abilene, Texas, on Saturday. The first game will start at 1:00 p.m. against Texas A&M Corpus Christi while the second begins at 5:00 p.m. and Abilene Christian is the foe. Both games will be broadcast on the Huskers Radio Network.
