Nine-run second inning powers Nebraska baseball to series win over Northwestern
A nearly two-hour rain delay did little to damper Nebraska baseball’s bats on Saturday afternoon. The Huskers pounced on the Wildcats plating nine runs in the second inning en route to a 9-2 victory.
Nebraska was shutout the rest of the way. Yet with a stellar outing from Jackson Brockett and another stout performance from the bullpen, the Huskers remained comfortably ahead until game’s end. Head coach Will Bolt and company are 20-11-1 on the year and remain tied for first place in the Big Ten standings.
Both starting pitchers saw plenty of early traffic on the base paths. Brockett allowed a single and walk in the first inning while Michael Farinelli gave up a single to Casey Burnham. But, each arm limited the damage to hang zeros in the opening frame.
Brockett continued to struggle with control in the second but erased a leadoff walk by coaxing a 5-4-3 double play and ending the inning on a strikeout.
The flood gates opened in the home half. Ben Columbus got the Husker hit parade started with a double to right-center. Then Nebraska rattled off eight two-out RBIs highlighted by Brice Matthews‘ 50th RBI of the season, a bases-clearing triple from Charlie Fischer that plated three runs and Gabe Swansen’s eighth homer of the year.
When the dust settled, the Huskers had amassed eight hits and built a 9-0 advantage.
Brockett took the retook the hill in the third and was light’s out from then on. The sophomore retired 12 of the next 15 batters he faced including two 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth. The Wildcats locked down Nebraska’s bats in that stretch, too. The Huskers managed just two hits in the next four innings and went down in order twice.
Drew Christo relived Brockett in the seventh hoping to maintain Nebraska’s 9-0 cushion. The Elkhorn product worked around a leadoff walk and sat down the next three batters he faced. Austin Berggren was the next young arm to climb the mound. His outing was not quite as smooth as Christo’s as Berggren let loaded the bases and allowed Northwestern’s first run of the game via a sacrifice fly.
Jalen Worthley entered for Berggren and inherited runners on the corners with two outs. The southpaw let a run through after a wild pitch but coaxed a weak grounder to escape the inning without further damage.
Nebraska couldn’t add any insurance in the home half but it didn’t matter. Worthley sat the Wildcats down in order punctuating his outing with a strikeout and protecting the Huskers’ 9-2 lead.
Brockett makes his push for Sunday role
Brockett found out he was in the starting rotation on Thursday night.
“Wednesday I was throwing a bullpen and Jace (Kaminska’s) arm was kinda bugging him,” Brockett said. “So coach Christy was just telling me, ‘Stay ready for anything.'”
The left-hander stepped up to the moment delivering six clean innings in his longest outing of the year. Control was an issue early, but a nine-run advantage can certainly help a pitcher out.
“I think around the third inning I really settled in,” Brockett said. “I was just trying to keep that quick tempo, working with pace. I was getting my legs a little more. I was missing high in the beginning but once I got the legs and got the rhythm I was making pitches and letting the defense do the work for me.”
Brockett’s innings also put Nebraska in a good position from a bullpen perspective for Sunday’s series finale. The Huskers need neither Jake Bunz or Shay Schanaman in the victory. The latter threw 63 pitches in Tuesday’s loss to Omaha and will likely be available on Sunday.
“He buckled down and made some pitches in that game,” Bolt said. “The command wasn’t great early on and he allowed us to play from ahead.”
Brockett is another fresh name to make a serious case for filling Nebraska’s Sunday starting role.
“I was just called to it,” Brockett said of his outing. “I just did everything I could, let my defense help me behind me and the offense took care of business.”
Fischer, Burnham, Swansen get back on track
Matthews and Anderson have dominated the Husker highlight reels over the last few weeks. Saturday brought a few new stars into the spotlight once more. Fischer, Burnham and Swansen led the way for Nebraska’s offense against Northwestern. Each shrugged off some recent struggles.
Burnham went 3-for-4 with an RBI after going 4-for-19 in his previous five games. Swansen also went 3-for-4 with two RBIs coming up a triple short of the cycle. He entered the day 2-for-19 in his last five games and is now two blasts shy of double-digit home runs.
Fischer has also had his fair share of struggles of late. The fifth-year senior had just two hits in the nine games between March 19 and April 8. Since, he has an RBI in each of his last five games and hits in four of those five. Fischer’s three-RBI triple in the second helped to blow the game wide open.
“It feels really good,” Fischer said of his rebound. “I think these last couple of days and games I’ve started to have a lot more competittive at-bats and that’s all it takes. It’s a long season and we work hard every day. So, just kinda getting over that hump and I think I’m finally starting to put it together again.”
Bolt likes the boost in production, too.
“It was good to see some different guys cap the inning off,” Bolt said. “It’s been a lot of Brice (Matthews) and Max (Anderson) still in a lot of those, and they certainly were involved in the middle of stuff today too. But, to see Burnham to have the day that he had, Swansen to have the day he had and then Fischer made his hit count. That was a huge swing right there because we’ve left some traffic out there with the bases loaded.”
Nebraska will need more from the pieces around Matthews and Anderson in order to make a postseason run.
What’s next for Nebraska baseball?
Nebraska continues its wraps up its series with Northwestern on Sunday afternoon. The Huskers Radio Network will carry the game over the air and it can be streamed on BTN+.
The Huskers close out the homestand on Tuesday with another in-state duel against the Creighton Bluejays. First pitch is set for 7:02 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
