Huskers break away for win in season opener
The Nebraska baseball team had an unorthodox start to its trip before stepping on the field at Tempe Diablo Stadium Friday afternoon.
The Huskers’ arrival to Arizona was delayed by nearly four hours because flight issues and the team didn’t take the practice field until around 9:00 p.m. local time Thursday.
If the Huskers were flustered by the schedule, they didn’t show it in an 8-3 runaway win over UC-Riverside in Nebraska’s season opener at the Husker Classic.
Senior right-hander Luis Alvarado struck out nine batters over 4.2 innings in his first career start, Luke Roskam drove in three runs in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate and Nebraska notched a comfortable win against a Riverside team that beat Washington State 8-1 earlier Friday.
“(Alvarado) looked really sharp,” Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad said in a postgame interview with the Husker Sports Network. “Once he started doing what he did, I think it really settled our guys down because his stuff was pretty sharp.”
While Alvarado started hot, the Huskers couldn’t get anything going offensively until the bottom of the fourth inning, when a Scott Schreiber single and steal led to a Jesse Wilkening RBI up the middle for the first run of the season.
UC-Riverside responded quickly. The Highlanders sensed a slight loss of control from Alvarado in the fifth and took advantage, tying the game on a looping single from C.J. Sporrer. Alvarado got the hook after 69 pitches and Matt Waldron worked out of a jam to finish the top half of the inning.
In the bottom half, Nebraska had its best inning on the base paths. After being hit by a pitch, Alex Henwood, who had a hit and two stolen bases in his first career start, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third on a pitch in the dirt. Angelo Altavilla drove in the junior on a single through the left side before Schreiber returned the favor with a sacrifice fly.
Hagge added the Huskers’ third steal of the frame before Luke Roskam drove him in with a single up the middle, pushing Nebraska’s lead to 4-1.
In all, Nebraska had four of its six stolen bases in the fifth, an explosion on the base paths after just 22 successful steals in the 2017 season.
“I told the guys, ‘We have to find ways to be able to produce runs,’” Erstad said. “We’re not going to sit here and smash balls - although today I think we might have had three or four home runs - but we have to be able to get free 90s and we have to have a higher walk percentage.”
Even after the Huskers stretched the lead, the Highlanders refused to go away. A series of well-placed hits made Waldron uncomfortable and tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth inning to close the gap to 4-3.
Nebraska’s offseason emphasis on two-strike counts paid off down the stretch. The Huskers ran through a single-double-triple sequence to start the third as Roskam drove in his second and third runs with a triple and Wilkening and Brison Cronenbold added RBIs to a four-run frame.
With a 5-run lead, the Huskers had room to breathe, but right-handed pitcher Robbie Palkert suffocated the Highlanders anyway. The junior put together a three-inning save on 28 pitches to get Waldron the win.
The Huskers turned the tables after a season-opening loss to Riverside a year ago and notched just their fifth February win in the last three seasons.
Of Nebraska’s six walks in the game, four came on full counts. The Huskers stretched Highlander starter Hazahel Quijada to 74 pitches over 4.1 innings en route to NU’s highest season-opening scoring output since 2006.
“I would say this is probably one of the first games we’ve ever had when we had more walks than strikeouts,” Erstad said, making note of Nebraska’s four-strikeout performance at the plate. “We’re seeing a formula for success today and our guys followed through with it.
“We’re going to have to maintain that through the rest of the season.”
Nebraska returns to action in the Husker Classic with a Saturday doubleheader against Washington State and UC-Riverside. The action begins from Tempe Diablo Stadium at 1:00 p.m. central time.