Nebraska baseball survives Northwestern in extra innings, moves to 20-5 with sweep
Sunday’s series finale turned on a dime. Nebraska baseball’s winning streak was in jeopardy after a three-run homer gave Northwestern the lead in the bottom of the eighth.
But, the Huskers fought back to tie the game in the ninth and won it 8-7 in the 10th on Cole Evans’ sacrifice fly. The victory brings head coach Will Bolt’s squad to 20-5, secured a sweep and brings NU’s winning streak to 10 games.
Nebraska tallied eight hits but stranded 11 batters in the win. Only four of the Huskers’ eight runs scored on hits. Kyle Perry collected his first win of the season with his 2 1/3 innings of work, posting three strikeouts and retiring all seven batters he faced.
“We want to be known as a consistent team,” Bolt said postgame on the Huskers Radio Network. “To do that, you have to show up and do it every day. I think we’ve played in enough close games now where we understand that line is very, very fine between winning and losing. So, we’ve got to show up with a great mindset. The thing that makes this team special is that we love one another and we play for each other. That’s something you’ve got to earn each and every day.”
Here’s more on the win and what lies ahead for Nebraska.
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Trailing 2-1 in the fourth, Nebraska capitalized on a host of Wildcat miscues and posted a crooked number. Husker batters worked three straight walks, two of which came on 3-2 counts, to begin the inning. Then Riley Silva put a ball in play toward second and NU plated a pair on an air-mailed throw. Evans’ RBI groundout tacked on another and Garrett Anglim’s two-run double made it 6-2.
Meanwhile, Mason McConnaughey locked back in after a tough first inning. He retired 15 straight batters following Jackson Freeman’s two-run homer in the first. Then he entered the danger zone with one away in the sixth.
Owen McElfatrick launched his second home run of the weekend with one on to cut the Husker advantage down to 6-4.
That spelled an to McConnaughey’s outing and Jalen Worthley sailed smoothly through the remainder of the inning and into the eighth in relief. With one on and one down, righty Kyle Froehlich entered to face the right-handed McElfatrick who promptly tallied his seventh hit of the weekend.
Once again, Freeman stepped in and the freshman went yard yet again. This time, his three-run blast put the Wildcats in front for the top of the ninth.
Nebraska was down to its final three outs when Evans entered the box. His second hit of the afternoon was a leadoff double. Josh Caron’s RBI single evened the ledger at 7-7, but the Huskers couldn’t manage any more runs in the inning. NU left two more in scoring position and stranded 11 in the game.
“What can you say about Cole Evans,” Bolt said. “The swing that he took with two strikes to leadoff that inning with a double to setup the tying run and then driving in the winning run with a SAC fly.”
Clay Bradford was the Huskers’ extra-inning hero yet again. He took first on a dropped third strike and advanced to second to give Nebraska a leadoff man in scoring position. Then two batters later, Evans’ sacrifice fly pushed the Huskers in front 8-7.
“Here’s the thing I’m gonna point out that embodies this team, is somehow, Clay Bradford ends up on second base with a strikeout to start the 10th inning,” Bolt said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before. It takes a truly selfless individual to do that. He busted it down the line and it wasn’t enough just to get to first but he got to second.”
In the bottom half, Perry, who had appeared in Friday’s series opener, made short work of the Wildcat order and moved NU to 2-0 in extra-inning games this year.
“Perry came in and got his guy and gave us a chance to get back in the dugout only down a run,” Bolt said. “You saw him just carve right through them after that. He suffocates the zone with strikes. I mean, he’s a warrior out there.”
Nebraska is in the Big Ten’s driver’s seat
What a start to Big Ten play for Nebraska. It’s the Huskers’ first sweep to begin the conference slate since 2019 and the first road sweep since Ohio State in 2022. NU’s 10-game winning streak is its second-longest since joining the Big Ten and has past the 2021 Big Ten Champion squad’s mark of nine in a row.
Sweeping a weekend series is hard. Just look to Iowa which has dropped its series openers to Minnesota and Purdue in the last two weeks before winning the next two games easily.
Even winning a series is hard. Look no further than Maryland which had claimed 23 straight conference series entering this weekend. That’s about as impressive of a streak as there is. Yet, the Terps dropped two of three to Michigan. The Wolverines’ nine wins were the least in the Big Ten entering the weekend and Maryland nearly dropped the series opener if not for a late comeback.
Nebraska’s 2023 squad took until April 14th to reach 20 wins.
The Huskers have a strong case for a top 25 ranking come Monday. Sunday’s sweep established Nebraska as the Big Ten favorite, but there’s plenty of season (two months) left to go.
McConnaughey locks down the Sunday spot
His final line won’t show it, but McConnaughey was very solid in Sunday’s finale. The sophomore right-hander allowed four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts.
Prior to McConnaughey’s start, no Husker starter had lasted longer than four innings in the last game of a series. The Cloud County Community College product surpassed that mark by nearly two innings. Not only that, he worked four straight 1-2-3 frames which obviously matched the previous innings-pitched high for a starter in a game.
He effectively made two mistakes. All four earned runs came on two separate two-run homers. For the first time since Shay Schanaman in 2021, it feels like the Huskers have a bonafide No. 3 in the weekend rotation.
What’s next for Nebraska baseball?
Nebraska baseball will travel to Charles Schwab Field on Tuesday night to take on the Creighton Bluejays. Head coach Ed Servais’ squad is 20-4 and at No. 39 in the RPI as of Sunday afternoon. The game can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network and will be streamed on FloSports.
