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The Nebraska Baseball team improved to 21-7 on the season winning Sunday afternoon 6-2, finishing a sweep of the Texas Longhorns. Nebraska will be moving back into the rankings tomorrow, and has put up the most impressive non-conference series victory for the Big Ten.
The Huskers made sure that the game would not go 15 innings on Sunday afternoon. The Huskers managed to put a pair of runs on the board in the first inning. After a Jake Schleppenbach single, Blake Headley doubled to deep center to drive in Schleppenbach who slid perfectly at the plate. After a Ben Miller walked and Tanner Lubach singled Austin Darby drove in Headley for a 2-0 lead. The Huskers had a chance to get more but a double play ended the threat.
Nebraska would effectively put the game out of reach in the third inning when the hung four more runs on Texas. After Lubach and Darby reached with two outs, Elijay Dilday hit a double down the right field line to stretch the Husker lead to three. Scott Schreiber, Wes Edrington, and Ryan Boldt would all follow with hits to drive the Husker lead to 6-0, chasing Texas starting pitcher Chad Hollinsworth.
The Huskers would threaten in other innings, as they tallied a grand total of 16 hits on the day. While the Huskers did not score, they would not need to as Derek Burkamper shut down the Longhorns. Burkamper dealt eight scoreless innings before running into trouble in the ninth.
Burkamper gave up a two run home run to right in the ninth to give the Longhorns 2 of their 3 runs for the weekend. The Huskers would turn the ball over to Josh Roeder who would induce a game ending double play to clinch the sweep for the Huskers.
Nebraska improves to 14-1 at home, their best home start since the 2005 season. Nebraska also moves up to 18th in the RPI rankings, and 15th in the expected RPI rankings. Nebraska has an impressive resume and will be in serious consideration for a regional host if they keep up their current pace.
Nebraska ranks first in the nation in runs allowed per game with just 2.46 runs allowed per game. Kyle Kubat had the highest game score this weekend, with a game score of 85. Nebraska has not allowed more than three earned runs in 15 consecutive contest.
Around the league, Maryland lost 2 of 3 games to Michigan and Indiana dropped all three games to Iowa. Nebraska is currently in first in the Big Ten with Iowa. Nebraska finishes their 16 game home stand with a game against Creighton Tuesday night.