Nebraska Baseball Defeats Iowa 13-8, Wins Weekend Series

The Nebraska baseball team 7-4 (7-4 Big Ten) took the Sunday rubber match 13-8 from the Iowa Hawkeyes to win the season series. Nebraska jumped on Iowa quickly with a big six run second inning, while also getting several bullpen arms work in the later innings.

Going against Iowa pitcher Duncan Davitt who limited the Huskers to just one run last weekend, Nebraska got off to a fast start. Joe Acker and Jaxon Hallmark started the game with walks off of Davitt. A pair of flyballs would score the first run on a sacrifice fly.

Shay Schanaman had a rough start in the bottom half of the first inning. He quickly got the first two outs. A single and a walk would bring up Tyler Snep who launched a three run home run to give the Hawkeyes a 3-1 lead. Schanaman would give up a double and walk but would get a flyball to bring the Huskers back up.

In the second Nebraska would send 11 men to the plate and score six times. Mojo Hagge would get the rally started with a one out triple down the right field line. Jack Steil would then line a ball to center fielder Ben Norman. Norman dove and the ball went all the way to the wall for a triple. Luke Roskam then got in on the action as he went the other way to tie the game with a double.

Still in the second, Nebraska would chase Davitt after Hallmark singled to put runners on the corners. Back to back walks to Spencer Schwellenbach and Cam Chick put the Huskers ahead. Max Anderson then put two more on the board with a single into center. A balk brought home the seventh Husker run. Efry Cervantes walked to bring up Hagge who struck out to bring an end to the second.

Schanaman was not sharp and was pulled in the third inning. The Husker bullpen started the parade with Tyler Martin. Martin gave up a run on a passed ball in the third but got the final out.

Hallmark would get the run right back in the fourth inning. Jaxon bunted to the first base side to get on to start the inning. An errant pickoff throw would let him score from first base to put the Huskers up 8-4.

Nebraska got scoreless innings from Martin in the fourth inning and Koty Frank in the fifth. Martin benefitted from a great grab from Schwellenbach in the fourth with a pair of runners on, while Frank got a pickoff from Roskam to keep the Hawkeyes off the board in the fifth.

Anderson extended the Husker lead in the sixth inning. Hallmark and Schwellenbach led off the inning with a pair of walks. After Chick struck out, Anderson took a 3-2 pitch out to dead center for a three run home run.

The Hawkeyes responded with a two run home run off the bat of Norman to bring it to within 11-6. Frank would respond by striking out Austin Martin to get the Huskers out of the sixth.

Roskam got a run back for the Huskers in the seventh with a solo home run to left. Schwellenbach singled and scored on a double from Chick to make it a 13-6 Husker lead.

Emmett Olson got his first action of the year in the seventh. He worked around a one out walk, striking out a pair in his first inning of his career. After a quick 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, Olson gave up a pair of hits in the eighth. In came Max Schreiber.

With Schreiber in the game, everything becomes exciting. He would give up what appeared to be a three run home run to Norman. Norman when he hit the ball passed the runner on first, causing him to be out. It would be a two run grounder in the scorebook with Nebraska recording an out on the play. Schreiber then got Martin to swing and miss to bring the Huskers to the ninth up 13-8.

Nebraska went scoreless in the top of the ninth. Schreiber worked around a one out walk to Snep to keep the Hawkeyes scoreless in the ninth and secure the win for the Huskers.

The Huskers move to 7-4 in the Big Ten and are currently two games behind league leader Indiana. Nebraska now returns home to open the 2021 home schedule against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. First pitch on Friday is set for Friday at 2:00 p.m.