Oregon State offense too strong for Huskers in 9-1 loss
Nebraska (3-2) couldn’t stop the Oregon State offense and couldn’t get any of their own offense going on Thursday afternoon in a 9-1 loss.
“You’re excited to have a good first weekend and you’re playing a quality opponent and you get your teeth kicked in,” Erstad said.
Senior Husker outfielder Scott Schreiber dropped a foul ball that would have made it two-outs nobody on-base. Oregon State capitalized on that mistake and recorded back-to-back-to-back singles that scored a run.
Nebraska had a chance to respond when they got junior catcher Jesse Wilkening and redshirt-freshman infielder Jeff Athey on second and third base. But Oregon State All-American pitcher Luke Heimlich recorded back-to-back strikeouts and the Huskers went away empty-handed.
NU starter Matt Waldron’s day ended early as he finished his day with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings pitched. Freshman Keegan Watson came in to replace Waldron. The first batter he faced was reigning Pac-12 player of the year Nick Madrigal. Madrigal welcomed the freshman to college baseball with a solo homerun.
“A couple of those guys probably wouldn’t have seen the field for quite some time and it’s kind of an accelerated learning curve,” Erstad said.
The game broke open in the fourth inning when junior third baseman Angelo Altavilla had a throwing error to first and senior outfielder Jack Anderson hit a double to right center. Junior pitcher Byron Hood came in to replace Watson at the mound and the Beavers were able to put up three more runs thanks to a sac-fly and some singles.
Heimlich had his way with the Husker offense as he didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning. Freshman Jaxon Hallmark was able to reach base, but infielder Alex Henwood grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Oregon State continued their scoring in the sixth inning as Schreiber walked Oregon State lead-off Steven Kwon. After that, Beaver freshman infielder Cadyn Graenier singled to center field. Schreiber followed that up with a wild pitch that scored Kwon. Schreiber’s day was done after Madrigal hit a RBI single to right field.
NU offense did show up in the seventh inning when Wilkening hit a single up the middle. In the next at-bat Heimlich walked Athey. Hallmark followed that up with his first career RBI single.
Heimlich’s day was done after the Wilkening hit. Heimlich was a thorn in Nebraska’s side all day as he finished with eight strikeouts, 6.1 IP and only allowed two hits.
“Going out there against one of the best pitchers in the country,” Erstad said. “We wanted to be aggressive, we know he gives 0-0 count pitches and you’re not going to get a ton of great swings.”
Nebraska wasn’t sharp in any aspects of the game today. They totaled only four hits, four strikeouts and had three fielding errors. One of those errors was in the eighth inning that allowed men to get on second and third base. Beaver sophomore Adley Rutschman hit a two-RBi triple that extended the lead 9-1.
Oregon State freshman reliever Christian Chamberlain came in and was effective for the Beavers. He struck out five batters in 2.2 innings.
One of the high points for NU on Thursday was the fact that Nebraska only walked two batters and Erstad says that’s doing exactly what he asked.
“We are going to have to have some guys grow up very quickly this season because of the circumstances we have, but overall I thought they went out on the mound and tried to fill up the zone like we asked them too.”
Nebraska returns to action tomorrow night at 6 p.m. central time as they take on (0-3) Utah. Utah will be starting junior Kyle Robeniol (3.0 IP, 9 ERA, 1K) and Nebraska’s projected starter is senior Luis Alvarado (4.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 9K). The game will be broadcasted on the Husker IMG Sports Network and on the TuneIn App.
“We’ll see how we respond tomorrow. We’ll see what kind of identity we have,” Erstad said.
