Husker youth shine in 7-4 victory over Utah
Nebraska’s (5-3) offense showed up mid-game and didn’t slow down against Utah (0-7) as the Huskers beat the Utes 7-4 on Sunday afternoon.
Head coach Darin Erstad hasn’t been pleased with his team’s base running when on second/third this season and the trend continued early on Sunday. The Nebraska offense couldn’t take advantage of opportunity in the first inning when they had sophomore outfielder Mojo Hagge on third and senior Scott Schreiber on second with one-out. Junior Jesse Wilkening lined out and freshman Jaxon Hallmark struck out swinging to end the inning.
“Those guys are having quality at-bats,” Erstad said on his radio postgame show. “We are obviously going to have to find some other pieces to help them out. Our lineup isn’t stretched out quite yet.”
Hallmark got another chance to put up some runs for Nebraska and he delivered. He hit a single right up the middle that scored Hagge. Senior pitcher Luis Alvarado reached base on a fielder’s choice to keep bases-loaded, but sophomore Ben Klenke struck out and ended the opportunity.
Utah would strike back in the fifth inning when shortstop Matt Richardson singled to center field and two-time first team All-Pac-12 center fielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. doubled up the middle. That’s when third baseman Tom Rykker grounded out to the shortstop, but allowed Richardson to score that cut the Husker lead 2-1.
Nebraska would respond in the fifth as back-to-back walks put Wilkening and Schreiber on first and second base. That’s when Utah pitcher Brett Brocoff threw a passed ball that advanced the runners to second and third base with no outs. That’s when sophomore utility Luke Roskam hit a ground out to first base that scored one for NU.
Hallmark continued his great start to his freshman campaign as he drilled a RBI double down the left field line that scored Wilkening to make it a 5-1 Husker lead.
That’s when Brocoff’s day was finished. He ended with five strikeouts, but walked seven and gave up three earned runs on 73 pitches.
Graduate transfer pitcher Matt Warren continued his stellar play as he finished his day with five strikeouts, one walk and only allowed one earned run. Junior pitcher Nate Fisher didn’t get the start this weekend, but came in to relieve for Warren.
“He pounded the zone and was mixing well,” Erstad said. “He was in control of that game the whole time. He got up and got tired in that last inning, but a nice effort from Matt on the mound.”
Utah was able to score on a wild pitch in the sixth inning. Wild pitches were an issue for Fisher today as he threw three of them in two innings pitched.
The Nebraska offense heated back up in the sixth inning when they were able to put together two runs thanks to a wild pitch, a Schreiber double and a Wilkening RBI single. Wilkening has been on an early season tear offensively as he leads the team with nine RBI.
Hagge was able to single through the left side in the seventh inning and score another two runs for Nebraska as they took a 7-2 lead. It wasn’t a smooth ending for NU reliever Fisher as he allowed another two runs to score in the eighth inning after a pair of wild pitches. Fisher finished with one strikeout, two earned runs and one walk.
NU senior relieve pitcher Jake Hohensee came in to pitch the ninth inning and was able to secure his third save of the year.
Erstad was not pleased with the offense today as had 13 runners left on base including bases-loaded in the first and the third inning.
“Early on we had some chances to score a lot of runs and make it Sunday fun day, but it didn’t turn out that way.”
This 5-3 start for Nebraska matches the best eight-game start in the Erstad era. Starting pitcher Jake McSteen was hurt during last night’s game and he’ll have a MRI done as soon as he gets back to Nebraska. The initial prognosis is ‘not good’ according to Husker IMG Sports Network’s Greg Sharpe.
The Huskers return to action on Friday, March 2 as they take on Wichita State (5-0) in Wichita for a three-game series.
“Fortunately we were able to string a couple hits together, but it’s safe to say we have a lot to work on.”