Nebraska baseball wins late innings in series-opening victory over Northwestern

Nebraska baseball found a way yet again in a 5-2 win over Northwestern on Friday afternoon. The victory extended an eight-game winning streak for head coach Will Bolt’s squad. The Huskers stranded the bases full of Wildcats in both the eighth and ninth and moved to 18-5 on the year and 1-0 in Big Ten play.

It seems Nebraska is used to having its back against the wall. Now 23 games into the year, the Huskers have played in 13 games separated by three runs or less and have saves in 12 of the team’s 18 wins.

“We’ve been in a lot of those scenarios already,” Bolt said postgame on the Huskers Radio Network. “That’s being battle tested and being in the grease. You’ve seen it. Just our guys ability to stay pitch-to-pitch is what I’m proud of. To do that you’ve got to be really present and really resilient.”

Brett Sears moved to 5-0 on the season and recorded his sixth straight quality start despite a host of early struggles. His final line included two earned runs and four strikeouts across seven innings of work. Sears is the first Husker arm to record six consecutive quality starts since Matt Waldron accomplished the feat in 2019.

Here’s more on Nebraska’s win in its conference opener against the Wildcats.

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Northwestern put the pressure on Sears in the early going.

Following an Owen McElfatrick solo home run in the first, each of the Wildcats’ leadoff batters reached in the second and the third. Sears worked around a double and single in the second and managed to hang a zero after facing runners at second and third with no outs.

In the third, the first three Northwestern batters reached, sandwiching a hit batter between two singles and adding another run. This time Sears slithered out of another jam with the help of a lineout double play and a flyball to center.

Nebraska got on the board in the second via a Will Walsh home run. He snuck his fourth deep shot of the season inside the left-field foul pole and plated a pair after a Garrett Anglim single.

Tied at 2-2 entering the seventh, the Husker bats finally broke through after leaving runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth. Freshman Case Sanderson got things going with a leadoff walk and then advanced to third with the help of a Riley Silva single. Cole Evans’ sacrifice fly to right put Nebraska back on top and Josh Caron tacked on another run with a RBI single to shortstop to make it 4-2.

Sears’ overcame his early struggles and faced just two batters over the minimum from the fourth through the seventh inning. But, things got dicey after a walk and hit batter in to open the eighth. Evan Borst was the first out of the pen and he walked the bases loaded.

“I didn’t think Sears was particularly sharp and they were on him early,” Bolt said. “But, what he did is he made some adjustments. He got the changeup going, groundballs and weak contact. Tried to squeeze a couple hitters out of him there and fortunately the bullpen picked him up.”

Then NU turned the ball over to Kyle Perry, who inherited the bases loaded with no outs. The southpaw needed just five pitches to hold the runners and avoid any damage via a flyout and a pair of grounders.

“He’s seen about every situation you could possibly come into,” Bolt said. “Obviously, getting out of that with no runs, I mean, how heroic on his part right there.”

Evans collected another RBI in the ninth after a single off the bag at third which gave the Huskers’ a 5-2 advantage.

Perry allowed the first two batters to reach in the ninth and recorded an out before Rans Sanders entered in a save situation. The senior allowed a base hit to load the bases but bounced back with back-to-back flyouts to log his second save of the season.

NU executed in late-game situations…again

Nebraska’s bullpen stepped up in key spots on Friday. Now after the Sanders save, three different Huskers have multiple saves on the year. NU totaled 10 saves throughout the entirety of the 2023 season and only three arms recorded a save led by Shay Schanaman (six).

Rob Childress’ pitching staff held Northwestern to 1-for-10 with two outs, 4-for-18 with runners on base and 0-for-6 with runners on third and less than two outs.

Offensively the Huskers’ made plays when it counted. The Wildcats made a host of stout defensive plays in the early going. Yet, Nebraska stuck to its process and manufactured three key runs late.

“You’ve just got to stay in the fight and keep coming,” Bolt said. “I thought we took a lot of really good swings but at the end, it came down to execution. Sanderson got a 3-2 walk to get us going, we got a hit and run and then a sac fly. Then obviously Caron cashing in was huge to make that a two-run inning in the seventh.”

The Huskers capitalized on 9-of-18 advancement opportunities, went 5-for-14 with runners on base and overcame leaving the bases loaded in the sixth.

Friday’s bout with Northwestern is yet another example of how learning from two late-inning losses in Arlington, Texas, to begin the season has paid off for Nebraska.

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska will resume its series with Northwestern on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT as currently scheduled. Due to inclement weather in Sunday’s forecast in Evanston, a double-header is on the table. Should everything proceed as originally slated the Huskers would conclude the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CT.

The final two games of the weekend can be streamed on Big Ten Plus and heard on the Huskers Radio Network. Drew Christo is set to start the second game of the series while Mason McConnaughey is slated to get the ball in the finale.