Huskers fall 3-0 to the Hawkeyes in series opener

The Nebraska baseball (5-4) team fell to Iowa (4-5) 3-0 in the first of a three-game weekend series.

Cade Povich got the start for the Huskers and hung up five zeros on the scoreboard in the first five innings. The junior had found a rhythm, only giving up two hits in those innings and striking out six batters.

In the first five innings while the defense was impressing, the offense was struggling. NU only had two hits in those innings, and only one of those players got into scoring position.

The sixth inning is where things fell apart for the Big Red. The leadoff batter for the Hawkeyes, Brendan Sher stepped up to the plate and wasted no time sending the first pitch over the left-center field wall to break the deadlock. The next at-bat, Iowa doubled to left field and that runner was sent home when Ben Norman went yard in just the third at-bat of the inning. Nebraska was able to get out of the inning with no more runs, but the damage had already been done.

The Husker bullpen did its job and came in after six innings with Caleb Feekin relieving Povich. The sophomore pitched just .2 innings and gave up one hit and no runs. Following up for him was Trey Kissack who finished out the seventh inning without giving up a hit. Emmett Olson took over in the eighth inning and struck out two batters while giving up no hits in his only inning pitched.

The Big Red combined for just one more hit after Iowa's big sixth inning, and that fell far short of enough to get back into this game.

Starting pitching and relievers were tremendous in this game, apart from the sixth inning. In a game where the offense could not put the ball into play, one big inning was all it took for the Hawkeyes to win this game. A big swing from Brendan Sher on the first pitch of the inning sent the ball flying over the wall and gave Iowa their first lead. A double in the next at-bat and a home run following that put the Hawkeyes up by three and that was enough for the win.

In a similar story to the last matchup against Iowa, Nebraska could not get the bats heated up. Just three hits in this game coming all in different innings was not nearly enough for NU to string together a score. Some of the leading Huskers struggled significantly with freshman Max Anderson, who started the season on fire, going 0-4, Joe Acker going 0-2 and the bottom three in the lineup going a combined 0-10.

Nebraska and Iowa will match up two more times this weekend. Saturday they play at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Both games can be streamed on BTN+ and heard on Husker Sports Network.