Nebraska baseball sweeps South Alabama with a 9-3 Sunday win
Just six days after the Nebraska baseball team (3-3-1) went winless in San Diego, the Huskers completed a three-game sweep over South Alabama (4-4).
The Big Red scored in each of the first five innings to take the third game of the series 9-3.
Recap
It was another strong performance from the Nebraska offense as they jumped on the South Alabama pitchers from the start.
With two outs in the top of the first inning, Max Anderson got aboard with a double off the wall. Josh Caron followed up with a base hit to drive in the junior, and gave NU an early lead.
Caleb Clark stepped onto the mound in the bottom half of the inning for just his second Husker start. The Freshman allowed two hits in the first, but worked out of a jam with some help from his defense. A double play kept the scoreboard clean for NU’s offense to take over.
Cole Evans did take over as his base hit doubled Nebraska’s lead. It didn’t take long for the Huskers to double it once again as Josh Caron hit a two-run shot in the top of the third inning.
However, the Jaguars answered quickly as Will Turner hit a triple to make it 4-1 NU.
The Husker offense was just getting started. In the top of the fourth, Brice Matthews hit a double that put runners on first and second base. Dylan Carey then popped a ball up to shallow right field that the USA defense dropped for an error. That scored a run, and Josh Caron then hit a sacrifice-fly to make it 6-1 Big Red.
After South Alabama hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, Nebraska bounced back as Garrett Anglim hit a solo-shot of his own.
After the two-run homer from the Jaguars, Caleb Clark’s day was done. The Freshman went three innings, allowing three runs off seven hits. Onto the mound was Michael Garza for his third appearance of the season.
Michael Garza brought his best stuff.
After the Huskers went up by four, Garza shut the game down. The righty pitched six innings, allowing just one hit and two total baserunners.
To top the game off, Nebraska hit back-to-back solo homers from Josh Caron and Charlie Fischer to close it out 9-3.
“You just can’t let results, good or bad, sway how you work, sway how you show up. We played our best game, I thought our most complete game today.”
–Nebraska head coach Will Bolt on the Huskers Radio Network
Garza locked it up
After a weekend against San Diego where NU’s bullpen struggled, Michael Garza delivered a performance to quiet any doubters. The righty came into the game after Caleb Clark allowed a two-run homer, and USA was sneaking back into the game.
However, Garza didn’t let any of that get to him. After making quick work of the batter sin the fourth inning, the righty faced just 17 more batters in the following five innings. He struck out three Jaguars in the process.
Garza needed just 56 pitches to retire 18 of the 20 batters he faced. The Huskers couldn’t have asked for much more out of the bullpen.
The bats were hot
The Big Red offense has been rolling so far this season. Josh Caron was the leader of that in this one as he brought home five Huskers and hit two home runs.
However, it was more than just the sophomore who showed up. Three other NU batters recorded multiple hits with Garrett Anglim hitting a home run as his first of two hits.
Nebraska hit four home runs off the South Alabama pitching staff in the series’ final game. Caron hit two in this one, while Garrett Anglim and Charlie Fischer both went yard once.
After a tough opening weekend for the Big Red, the offense continued to roll and it led to three wins.
What’s next?
Nebraska will head to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Cambria College Classic next weekend. There, NU will face off against Vanderbilt on Friday, Hawaii on Saturday and Ole Miss on Sunday.
These three games will stream on B1G+ and will be available to listen to on the Huskers Radio Network.
