Huskers roll through Iowa into last four, 11-1

In a tour of vengeance for Nate Fisher, Nebraska (30-20) punished the struggling Iowa bullpen in an 11-1 rout of Iowa (31-23) on Friday, after the game was rescheduled due to inclement weather on Thursday night. Two four-run innings for the Big Red hitters excited a solid crowd at TD Ameritrade, propelling them into the last four at the Big Ten tournament.

The first inning was fairly tame. Iowa went down in order, while Nebraska loaded the bases and had a chance to take the early lead, but Joe Acker hit a ball just slightly too deep to left field. It was a warning shot and a sign of things to come.

Despite this, Iowa was the first to get on the scoreboard. After a Brendan Sher infield single, Mitchell Boe dropped one into shallow left to bring Sher home and make it 1-0. Fisher was able to escape a bases-loaded jam, as Chris Whelan flew out to center.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Alex Henwood sparked a firestorm as he hit a lead-off single. Gunner Hellstrom had a sacrifice ground-out which advanced Henwood and set up Spencer Schwellenbach who hit a double to left to tie the game. Colby Gomes and Mojo Hagge both worked two-strike walks to load the bases for Cam Chick. He threaded one to left to give the Huskers the lead, then Aaron Palensky did the same thing in the same spot to make it 3-1. Angelo Altavilla finished the scoring off with a sacrifice fly to left to finish a four-spot and give Nebraska command of the game. The only thing that changed from there was how big the lead became.

One run in the 3rd on a Chick walk, four more in the 5th, including a Schwellenbach homer, and a couple of late ones ended the story in eight innings. As a team, Nebraska hit 15-for-32 today and five players had multiple hits. Conversely, Iowa used five pitches and only its fourth, Drew Irvine, completed two full innings. The rest exited quickly, and the Hawkeyes will need to hope for a better outing against No. 4 Minnesota at 7:30 p.m. tonight in order to survive. Ten walks, 15 hits and 193 pitches as a group will not do in a tough remaining field.

Ever since the Cornhuskers dropped Game 1 to Arizona State by a lopsided score of 15-6, the Nebraska offense has been resurrected. Over the seven-game stretch, where the Huskers are 6-1, Nebraska has outscored their opponents 49-21 and are averaging seven runs a game. Friday’s 11-1 beatdown of the Hawkeyes was just another example of how this team has come alive late in the season.

One of the more impressive performances as of late has been from shortstop Spencer Schwellenbach who has been able to work out of a late-season slump. On Friday, the freshman went 2-for-3 at the plate including an RBI double in the second as well as a solo shot to left field to lead off the fifth. So far in the Big Ten tournament, Schwellenbach is 3-for-6 with five RBIs and two runs scored.

Schwellenbach says he switched things up and changed his approach at the plate and that’s been the biggest difference for him. “Just trying to stay within myself, not striding too far," Schwellenbach explained. "I brought my hands up just to take away the launch angle, as people like to call it, and just stay through the ball. So, I think, just staying behind the ball and not striding too far helped me a lot.”

Early on in the game, it looked like there was a chance that the Hawkeyes could open this game up early. However, with bases loaded in the second, and already one run scored in the inning, starting pitcher Nate Fisher was able to get out of the inning with a fly out to center field.

Fisher knows how important getting out of that early jam was and credits the offense for responding with a four-run second. “It was huge,” Fisher said of the inning. “I don’t want to ever doubt the offense, I know they’re going to get through to a guy, but getting out of that jam in the second was big. Then, I knew the offense was going to get it rolling so it was just going out and compete.”

With the Huskers winning their first two games, Fisher did exactly what he was supposed to do to save the bullpen, going for a full 7.0 innings allowing only one run on four hits and seven strikeouts.

Head coach Darin Erstad told reporters multiple times on Friday following the win that this team belongs to the players and he doesn't want to do anything that would disrupt their form.

Erstad furthered that philosophy by making it known that starting pitcher Reece Eddins would be their guy on Saturday morning. "I'm not going to try and reinvent the wheel. We're just going to stay, let him go right away and go from there.

"Of all of [the possible] scenarios, this is probably the best place you can be so we just have to get some rest and be ready to play tomorrow."

The Huskers advance to Saturday, where they will play the winner of No. 6 Maryland and No. 2 Michigan. That game is set for 9:00 a.m. and will be televised on BTN and can be heard on the Husker Sports Network.