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Will Bolt on Michigan State: 'They're gonna be fighting for their lives to get in the tournament'

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph•05/16/24

Will Bolt and Nebraska Baseball end the regular season with a road series against the Michigan State Spartans, beginning Thursday evening in East Lansing, Michigan. For his part, Bolt isn’t overlooking the hosts, who will be fighting for their postseason lives this weekend.

“Yeah, I mean, they’re gonna be fighting for their lives to get in the tournament,” said Bolt. “They’ve got some really, really fast guys in their lineup. The left-handers that we’re going to face are very, very good; they don’t give up a whole lot. The challenge is, like we talked about, that line is very thin. So you have to go attack it.”

Game one of Nebraska’s three-game series against Michigan State will be on Thursday, May 16, and wrap up on Saturday, May 18, weather permitting.

A sweep of the Spartans could possibly give the Cornhuskers the Big Ten regular-season title. On the other hand, Michigan State finds itself taking on water late in the season. With an overall record of 23-25 and a conference record of 10-11, the Spartans have a puncher’s chance of making it to the postseason. They are in 9th place in the Big Ten this year, and only the top eight teams get to participate in the conference tournament.

Bolt shares key to keeping team focused as season ends

The Cornhuskers have enjoyed a strong season in the Big Ten and were listed as a two-seed in the latest NCAA Tournament projections from On3’s Jonathan Wagner earlier this week. To stay in two-seed territory, a series victory over MSU would certainly help, and head coach Will Bolt has no doubt his guys will be locked in for their final stand in the regular season.

Ahead of the trip to East Lansing, Bolt met with media, where he was asked how he keeps his guys focused on the task at hand as the postseason draws nearer. He simply answered that with this particular team, he’s had no issue at all maintaining focus.

“Yeah, I don’t. It kind of sounds boring, but it’s kind of been the same mood we’ve had all year,” Bolt said. “It’s just day to day, you just come practice and do your thing. And then, we’ll go practice tonight and show up and play a baseball game. There’s not a whole lot of up and downs with this group.”