Huskers avoid a sweep by the Wildcats

Game 3 for Nebraska (24-18, 13-8 Big Ten) couldn't have gotten off to a hotter start in a 6-4 win on Monday against Northwestern (21-23, 8-10 Big Ten).

In a game where the Huskers were trying to avoid being swept on the road against the Wildcats, the Huskers got things started off with a bang thanks to a solo home run from leadoff man Aaron Palensky, giving Nebraska the early 1-0 lead.

The bats for the two teams went quiet up until the top of the fifth inning when Angelo Altavilla doubled down the left field line, scoring Colby Gomes and extending the lead to 2-0. However, Northwestern would answer in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a leadoff home run from Casey O'Laughlin, cutting the Nebraska lead in half.

In the sixth, the Huskers would come up with their only multi-run inning thanks to the bats of Altavilla and Palensky. Following a leadoff triple from Jaxon Hallmark, and with two outs in the inning, Altavilla again doubled down the left-field line, scoring Hallmark from third and extending the lead to two runs. In the very next at-bat of the inning, Palensky would single up the middle, scoring Altavilla to extend the Husker lead to 4-1.

Northwestern would threaten a Husker win late in the game, scoring three runs in the final two innings to bring the game within two runs. However, a solid outing from relief pitchers Robbie Palkert and Colby Gomes helped salvage the win for Nebraska and avoid a sweep against the Wildcats.

Over the last 10 games, it's been no secret that the Husker bats have gone almost radio silent. For Angelo Altavilla and Aaron Palensky, the story hasn't been much different from the rest of the team. In fact, in the previous ten games heading into the series with Northwestern, Altavilla had only mustered up a batting average of .167 to go along with only four RBIs while Palensky was able to record a modest .273 average and three RBIs.

On Monday, things changed for the two ballplayers in a big way where they found themselves responsible for five of the six runs scored. Palensky was able to go 3-for-5 on the afternoon with a home run to start the game along with two total RBIs. Altavilla's day was even better, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run scored, and three runs batted in.

Even with the hot bats from the Altavilla and Palensky, the most glaring stat from the offense today was the 15 base runners that were left stranded. Head coach Darin Erstad praised the performance of the team for coming away with a win but says he still expects more from his team at the plate.

"Bottom line is we've been playing awful baseball," Erstad explained. "We just had to go out there and have fun and try and get back on track. We'll take a win any way it comes but we left a lot out there. Offensively, we should've put up a lot of runs and we didn't.

"[There were] some unacceptable at-bats in there and hopefully we get that cleaned up."

Nebraska pitching continued its solid run of play this year and it began with an important start from Reece Eddins. Eddins provided 6.0 innings of action, only allowing one run on five hits and striking out a total of six Northwestern batters. Eddins threw over 100 pitches this afternoon and Erstad praised the senior pitcher for showing his stamina on the mound.

"The thing is, he's holding his stuff," Erstad said. "He's obviously put a ton of work in because he's still throwing 90-92 [mph] late in his outing and that's just great to see. It's one of those things where he's got a lot of experience and made a couple huge pitches. We needed that today."

Relief pitchers Robbie Palkert and Colby Gomes also provided the Huskers with quality innings on the hill. The two pitchers combined for 3.0 IP and only allowed three runs on four hits to help seal the game for Nebraska.

Nebraska will return to Lincoln next weekend to take on non-conference opponent Arizona State in a three-game series at Hawks Field celebrating Alumni Weekend.

First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Friday, in what is the 500th Nebraska baseball game played at Haymarket Park and will be televised on NET.