Focus has been a term thrown around a lot for the Huskers over the past few days. Nebraska is 0-4 in series-opening games this season (excluding tournaments) and they’ll look to change that as they travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take on Oral Roberts (11-6).
“It seems like once we get punched in the face a few times, we tend to get a little angry,” head coach Darin Erstad said. “We’ve got to get that going sooner. It’s in there, they have the ability to play high-level baseball.”
Sunday has been Nebraska’s saving grace over the past couple of years. NU hasn’t lost on Sunday since May 8th, 2016 against Michigan State.
It’s weird to see Nebraska struggle in opening series games like this because the last two years, NU was 16-7 in opening series games. The team says focus has been an issue.
“I don’t know if we come out focused enough,” sophomore utility Luke Roskam said. “We always come back and focus that on Sunday trying to get that last one.”
Erstad and the Huskers lost a lot of leadership last year when Jake Meyers decided to forego his senior season to pursue a pro career. They also lost Ben Miller who had been a consistent starter for NU the past four years. Erstad isn’t seeing that as an excuse and puts the blame on himself.
“It’s my job to get them ready to play,” Erstad said. “I haven’t found the right buttons to push yet. It seems like when we have days off, we come in and we aren’t as sharp as we normally are.”
Despite their record, Oral Roberts hasn’t had the best offensive start to the season. They have been inconsistent and don’t have that go-to power hitter. This seems like a perfect opportunity for Erstad to continue to build up the young Nebraska bullpen’s confidence heading into conference play. NU will take on Minnesota (14-8) on Friday.
“Nobody wants to lose especially on your first day because we know we finish well and start a little sluggish. It’s everyone focusing up and being ready for the first pitch during the first game,” Roskam said.
Onto the breakdown…
Probable Starters:
March 20: Mike Waldron (1-1, 9.1 IP, 3.86 ERA, 7 K) vs. Taylor Varnell (1-0, 13.0 IP, 1.38 ERA, 18 K)
March 21: TBA vs TBA
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (11-6, 3-game win streak)
Last year: 43-16, 25-4 in Summit
2018: The Golden Eagles are off to a similar start as last season. They return 10 of 16 pitchers from last season including preseason First Team All-American pitcher Miguel Ausua. Oral Roberts is well-respected around college baseball as they have won 17 straight regular Summit League titles and they don’t shy away from competition. The Golden Eagles are 12-3 at home against Power 5 teams in head coach Ryan Folmer (177-111). ORU is 3-0 this season against Power 5 teams as they swept Utah to start the year. Ten of Oral Roberts’ 55 games will be against teams that advanced to a NCAA Regional. This is a well-coached experienced team that will be a threat to any team they play.
Biggest strength: Strikeouts. Despite playing two less games than most of the teams in the Summit league, the Golden Eagles have struck out 151 batters this season. They are averaging a strikeout an inning. The Eagles pitching is led by junior Grant Townsend (27 K in 17.1 IP) and senior Justin McGregor (22 K in 28.0 IP). The Huskers are sure to see their big-time saver in senior Kyler Stout (16K in 8.2 IP). All 12 Oral Roberts pitchers this season that have seen action are juniors and seniors. Nebraska is tied for fifth in the B1G for most times being struck out (146 K) Oral Robert has a team ERA of 4.02.
Biggest weakness: Scoring. While the Golden Eagles have been effective preventing others from scoring, they haven’t been able to put up runs consistently. Oral Roberts entered last weekend’s series against South Dakota State having only notched 46 runs in the previous 14 games. The Golden Eagles offense exploded against SDSU as they put up 34 runs on 35 hits, including six home runs. If you don’t count last weekend’s games, ORU only scored seven more runs than Western Illinois (2-13). The Huskers have a chance here to gain some more confidence with their bullpen if they can get the early strikeouts.
Player to watch: Sophomore infielder Spencer Henson is leading the Summit league in batting average (.383) and has 23 hits on the season. Waldron has been a streaky pitcher for NU so far this season, so this will be an early matchup to watch.
