Nebraska "salvages" a win over Western Carolina
Despite the sub-freezing tempatures for the third day in a row, Nebraska got off to a hot-start and didn’t slow down in a 9-0 win over Western Carolina on Sunday.
NU (6-8) struggled on offense the entire weekend and only recorded 12 hits between the first two games of the series. It matched that total with 12 hits on Sunday afternoon.
The Huskers got the scoring started immediately on a Scott Schreiber single that brought Angelo Altavilla home in the first inning. Ben Miller quickly followed that up with a double to left field that allowed Schreiber to score. Miller became the 45th Husker since 1986 to have 100 career RBIs.
“I like how we came out with our mentality this morning,” head coach Darin Erstad said. “Throw strikes, play good defense. That’s how we are going to have good consistent baseball. I thought we did a good job battling and we took some better and more aggressive swings.”
NU didn’t slow down after the first inning, adding another three runs in the second inning, led by Jake Schleppenbach’s first career triple that brought Austin Raburn and Brady Childs.
Cold, windy and cloudy weather didn’t stop junior pitcher Jake Meyers from pitching a complete game, recording four strikeouts and only allowing five hits. He is now 2-1 on the year with a 2.51 ERA and has emerged as a leader for the Huskers.
“I just put my head down and went inning to inning,” Meyers said. “I had guys out there like Mojo Hagge and Schleppenbach picking me up, and everyone made some great plays I couldn’t of done it without them.”
Added Schreiber: “Jake is just a guy that competes his butt off. There’s no one else I would rather play behind. He’s going to give you his all each and every day especially in conditions like this.”
Meanwhile, WCU pitcher Brenden Nail continued to struggle, falling to 1-3 on the year with a 14.24 ERA.
NU will have five days off before its next game, but Erstad didn't exactly seem pleased with the thought of that.
“This time of year I don’t want days off,” Erstad said. “You want to get back out there and play mid-week but we didn’t have that this week. We have a lot of things to work on.”
The Huskers are now 3-0 on Sundays this year with wins against Arizona, Utah and Western Carolina.
NU will continue its home stand on Friday when it opens up a weekend series against the College of Charleston.