Nebraska Baseball lays another egg as Iowa completes the sweep
Nebraska baseball’s nightmare weekend at Iowa continued on Sunday afternoon. Another clunker from the Huskers gave the Hawkeyes a 6-1 win and 3-0 sweep of the series.
Nebraska’s loss marks the first time the Huskers have been swept in a Big Ten road series since the 2016 season. Will Bolt and company were outscored 25-7 on the weekend and 14-1 in the final two games of the three-game set.
Despite one swing, the Husker bats went quiet once again. Here’s more on how the action unfolded in Iowa City.
Brice Matthews threw a haymaker right out of the gate. The Husker shortstop attempted to set the tone in the game’s first at-bat with his 14th home run of the year. What transpired from then on did not match his early energy. Nebraska put Casey Burnham aboard on a four-pitch walk but two strikeouts and runner’s interference provided a quick close to the inning.
Iowa loaded up the bases in the bottom half on a single and two walks issued by Will Walsh. The lefty escaped the jam by coaxing some soft contact leading to a weak groundout to shortstop. Walsh’s struggles didn’t stop there. He started the second with a four-pitch walk and followed that by letting up a single, triple and sacrifice fly as the Hawkeyes grabbed a commanding 3-1 lead.
With one out, Nebraska went to the bullpen and Kyle Perry stopped the bleeding with two quick outs.
After a scoreless third inning, the Huskers pieced together a fruitless two-out rally in the fourth. A walk and hit batter put a pair on for Ben Columbus but the first baseman struck out swinging. Columbus marked the sixth Nebraska bat retired on strikes.
Perry worked a 1-2-3 fourth inning but his smooth sailing came to an end an inning later. Brennen Dorighi opened the frame with a monster solo homer to left. A double down the left-field line and single added another run to make it a 5-1 Iowa lead. Shay Schanman was the next Husker to take the hill. He surrendered a run on a wild pitch and Nebraska fell behind 6-1.
A pair of one out singles had the Huskers in business in the top of the sixth. Yet, Garrett Anglim and Gabe Swansen couldn’t deliver as each struck out to end Nebraska’s threat. There were three more Husker base runners the rest of the way and all reached with one out. Another set of consecutive strikeouts accompanied by double plays in the seventh and ninth held Nebraska off the board.
The loss dropped the Huskers into a four-way tie for fourth in the Big Ten standings.
The Huskers weren’t even competitive
This is likely the worst weekend of the Bolt era.
Two weekends against Rutgers during which the Huskers were swept in Lincoln (2022, 2021) stand out as possible contenders. San Diego from this season was also a very poor showing. But even though those series were incredibly rough, they at least featured some close losses.
Bolt’s squad lost by a combined margin of 12 to Rutgers in 2021 and was within two runs in two of the first three contests in 2022 before losing 19-1 to the Scarlet Knights on Sunday. The Huskers were outscored by 18 this weekend and fell behind in every game but the last in which they promptly surrendered the lead.
The total numbers bring this thing into perspective. No Nebraska starter made it passed the third inning and the unit combined for a 16.20 ERA. The bats tallied 35 strikeouts and hit .146 with runners in scoring position. The early deficits were a large part of the struggle according to Bolt.
“That was the story of the weekend,” Bolt said. “The way that Iowa’s team is built it’s hard to chase runs against their pitching staff and that’s what we had to do over the entire weekend. And you know, that’s a tough way to live.”
The Hawkeye rotation entered the weekend averaging 4.5 innings per start. Only Brody Brecht failed to reach six innings as Iowa used just 10 arms on the weekend.
Nebraska has no choice but to leave this weekend in the past. Minnesota awaits next weekend and Maryland the week after.
“Iowa played really well and they played at a really high level this weekend,” Bolt said. “They took it to us and we gotta look inward at what we’re going to do moving forward to be the team we’re capable of being. Baseball is a funny game. This time last weekend, we couldn’t have felt any better. So, you gotta flush it and you’ve got to be ready to move on. We’ve got a big week ahead.”
Serious stress on Nebraska’s bullpen
Nebraska’s bullpen pitched nearly two thirds of the innings this weekend. Entering a week in which the Huskers will face five opponents in seven days, that’s definitely not a good thing.
The relievers did the best they could considering the position they were put in. Nebraska’s pen posted a 4.15 ERA. Some of the younger Husker relievers will be relied upon heavily in the next week during the midweek. Caleb Clark, Jalen Worthley, and Drew Christo stick out as some underclassman guys who could likely be asked to eat key innings.
Omaha is waiting in the wings on Tuesday and there’s nothing the Mavericks would like more than to hand Nebraska its second sweep in as many games.
What’s next for Nebraska baseball?
The Huskers wrap up their road trip on Tuesday with the season series finale against Omaha. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. CT at Tal Anderson Field.
Nebraska faces another midweek foe on Wednesday in the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. The Huskers are the hosts for this 6:02 p.m. first pitch and the game will be broadcasted on Nebraska Public Media.
