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Huskers grind out sweep of Penn State, 3-1

In a less-than-pretty game, Nebraska (20-10, 10-2) did just enough on the mound and in the batter's box to claim the series sweep of Penn State (17-15, 1-10) on Saturday night, 3-1.

Huskers get a gritty two-run eighth inning after missing two chances to score

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For the most part, the Huskers were absolutely quiet through a large part of this game. In the 1st, the Huskers missed a chance to score with runners on the corners and nobody out. Then, in the 4th, where the Huskers scored one run, they still left two on in scoring position.

Yet, an ugly but functional 8th gave Nebraska the small boost it needed to finish the game out. Joe Acker pinch hit and was walked on five pitches. Acker then stole second as Luke Roskam came up. Roskam was up 3-0, then lost his lead at a full count, but had a great eye to earn the walk and put two on with one out.

Angelo Altavilla had been 0-3 to that point, but with a clutch single up the middle, the bases were loaded with one out for Cam Chick. Chick was at 2-2, and got lucky with a wild pitch that got Acker home to give the Huskers the lead. Then, on a full count, Chick sac flied out to center to get Roskam home and give the Big Red a 3-1 lead, obviously good enough to let the Husker bullpen close it out.

OFFENSIVE REPORT: Lots of blanks on the scorecard

When you put up eight innings with no more than one hit, you can't feel good about how the bats worked during the game. Mojo Hagge went 0-for-3 with a run scored, the normally hot Jaxon Hallmark was 0-for-4 and the three through nine batters in the lineup combined for three hits on 23 at-bats. Yikes.

There aren't many ways to justify that kind of performance, but considering how the offense has been in conference, this may have been a cooling off of sorts. With a series against Iowa (20-14) on the horizon, cool nights like that can only be afforded once in a blue moon.

Fisher puts down another solid performance, Mike Waldron and Shay Schanaman help clean things up

The Big Red bullpen was quite the opposite, as they showed a lot of grit tonight in what could have been a real disaster. Mike Waldron earned the win, coming in for Nate Fisher after five innings, with Fisher putting up six strikeouts, four walks, two hits and one earned run. Waldron kept everything calm and pitched three hitless innings. Shay Schanaman got his chance to close things down and delivered with a strikeout in the 9th and no hit whatsoever.

Yet again, the rotation for Nebraska proves to be a tipping point and one of the reasons why the Huskers continue finding ways to win rather than finding ways to lose like last season.

"We knew we were in for some tough pitching, they can really pitch. We left a lot out there... but to win [both] games with all of that happening... you can call it winning ugly. We're here to win and we can win in a lot of different ways."
— Darin Erstad on a gritty series sweep of Penn State

ON DECK

The Huskers return home on April 16 to face Kansas State once again, hoping to pick up a season sweep. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT.

You can watch on BTN Plus or listen on the Husker Sports Network (AM 590, 1400).

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