Huskers cruise past Gophers in opening round win

Nebraska (29-20, 16-9 Big Ten) started off the Big Ten tournament exactly how it wanted to on Wednesday night, with an 8-2 win over Minnesota (26-26, 15-10 Big Ten). A strong offensive start helped lead the Huskers to the win, and their second win over the Gophers this season.

Matt Waldron started off at the mound for the Huskers, before being relieved by Mike Waldron in the bottom of the eighth inning. Robbie Palkert also saw action in the bottom of the eighth and ninth inning to close out the game.

NU couldn’t have asked for a better offensive start, and it came right in the first inning. Right-fielder Aaron Palensky reached base on a fielding error in centerfield following a leadoff walk by Mojo Hagge. Senior infielder Angelo Altavilla had himself a night against his home state, reaching his 150th career hit in his first at-bat on a triple to right center, plating two runs and giving the Huskers the early lead. A sacrifice fly from Joe Acker gave NU a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first inning.

Minnesota cut the NU lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second when Jordan Kozicky singled to right field, scoring Eli Wilson from second.

Gunner Hellstrom and Altavilla kept the Husker bats alive in the top of the third inning with a pair of RBI singles to left and center field. Spencer Schwellenbach stepped up to the plate with bases loaded and added to the Cornhusker lead, hammering one to right center, putting the Huskers up 8-1.

The Husker defense continued to hold its ground throughout the night. Waldron retired nine straight batters on a strikeout, fly out and foul out in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Minnesota’s mound sat down 12 straight Huskers between the third and seventh innings. The Gophers looked to rally back in the bottom of the eighth inning with a Zack Raabe single to left field, scoring one, but were unable to capitalize on any more runs in the inning despite having bases loaded with only one out.

Minnesota trailed 8-2 headed into the ninth inning and couldn’t rally back late in the game, giving the Huskers the opening round win against the Gophers.

The Nebraska bats came alive in a big way early on in the game against the Gophers. Nobody proved that more than senior third baseman Angelo Altavilla who accounted for five of the eight Cornhusker runs, recording three RBIs and two runs scored. Spencer Schwellenbach was equally as impressive on the day, being responsible for the other three runs the Huskers scored on the night.

Altavilla knows how important it is to get out in front of an opponent early and keep riding that momentum in tournament games like this. "Setting the tone right away is absolutely enormous," Altavilla said. "To throw that first punch, when Minnesota's fighting for their lives, too, to try and get into the tournament, it's huge. I'm not going to say they were defeated right away but it gave us a lot of confidence and it gave Matt [Waldron] a lot of confidence."

The pair of Husker batters finished the night a combined 3-for-7 with three hits, six RBIs and two runs scored.

Matt Waldron is slowly cementing himself as one of the all-time greats to walk on the mound for the Huskers. On Wednesday night, the senior pitcher struck out nine total batters, passing Husker great Joba Chamberlain on the career strikeouts list and moving into the No. 4 position all-time.

In all, Waldron pitched a textbook game against the Gophers, going 7.1 innings, allowing only two runs on six hits as well as the nine strikeouts. An even more impressive stat could also be the fact that Waldron, or any Husker pitcher for that matter, didn't walk a single Gopher batter on the night.

Not to be overlooked is the performance of Robbie Palkert, who wrapped up the game for the Huskers in the closing innings. On just 17 pitches, Palkert recorded the final five outs of the game, not allowing a single hit and striking out two batters.

Late in the game against the Gophers, second basemen Alex Henwood went down with a shoulder injury following a diving play to try and double up the runner on second base. Henwood remained on the dirt for a few moments and, with his teammates and coaches gathered around him, stood up and refused to be taken out of the game.

"I don't know if I've ever cried on a baseball field but I almost shed a tear," head coach Darin Erstad recalled of the moment. "I literally watched his shoulder pop back into the socket.

"[Henwood] literally said to me, 'Coach, there's nothing left in there anyway. I have to have surgery, I'm staying in the game.' I just kind of smiled and walked away. That's what it's all about, they're my kind of guys," the head coach said with a slight grin.

The Huskers return to action on Thursday where they will face No. 8 seed Iowa who is coming off an upset win over No. 1 Indiana earlier on Wednesday. The game is scheduled to begin at 9:00 PM and can be seen on BTN and heard on the Husker Sports Network.