:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70641229/1322204485.0.jpg)
Nebraska vs Texas A&M Corpus Christi Series Preview:
Date: March 18th-20th
Time: March 18th (Fri.) @ 6:35 p.m March 19th (Sat.) 2:05 p.m March 20th (Sun.) @ 12:05 p.m
Location: Haymarket Park, Lincoln, Nebraska
Record(s): Nebraska (7-9) Texas A&M Corpus Christi (10-9)
Head Coach(s): Will Bolt, Scott Malone
Stream: B1G+
Radio: Husker Sports Network
The Cornhuskers are trending upward, finally. After a rough game 1 walk-off loss in Omaha to open up the weekend, the Huskers took care of business against UNO in game 2 and swept New Mexico State on two walk-offs of their own, rolling the Aggies in Tuesday’s game, 12-6. Shay Schanaman continues to be one of the better pitchers in the conference right now with one earned run on three hits in six innings on Saturday. Dawson McCarville has quietly been dominant this season for the Cornhuskers after allowing one hit through six innings with 10 strikeouts against the Aggies. McCarville has a 2-1 record with a 3.66 ERA and a .250 opponent batting average against.
The Cornhuskers are also getting some production from their players who were off to slow starts in Brice Matthews and Max Anderson, Anderson of which is up to .288 on the season. Cam Chick even ended the series with a blast over the outfield wall. Chick is someone the Huskers are going to need to break out of the slump he is in as they get into the middle part of the season. Griffin Everitt is also one of the hottest hitters in the country currently. The Nebraska catcher capped off the Huskers home opener by hitting a walk-off single to beat UNO and adding three home runs to his resume this season.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
March 18th: 6:35pm cst
March 19th: 2:05pm cst
March 20th: 12:05pm cst
The Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders are a team that has had a pretty decent season up to this point. The Islanders have had some big wins against Wichita State and Iowa. They don’t hit many home runs (neither do the Huskers) but they aren’t afraid to steal a base as they are 29 for 42 in stolen base attempts. Their top offensive threat is easily Brendan Ryan (No, not THAT Brendan Ryan), as he leads the team with a .384 batting average and is 14 for 14 in stolen bases. Sophomore outfielder Brendan Petkoff also has had a productive season as he owns a .318 batting average and a .492 on-base percentage, essentially Petkoff gets on base half the time. Another sophomore in Max Puls is the only other Islanders starter hitting above .300, leading the team with 16 RBI.
The pitching for the Islanders has been okay. No team starter has under a 4.15 ERA and they have a team ERA of 4.95. The Huskers will be facing Tyler Miller on Friday who owns a 5.09 ERA with a .347 batting average against, as the struggling Kyle Perry will look to turn it around for Nebraska on the bump. Junior righty Hayden Thomas is 2-1 and owns a 4.29 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts and will be the starter for Saturdays matchup. Senior Leo Perez will close out the weekend for the Islanders and has a 4.95 ERA with opponents hitting .322 against him. Freshman Zach Garcia has been arguably the teams most effective reliever, with five appearances and a 2.03 ERA with a dozen strikeouts. Other effective arms have been Henry Bird and Colin Purcell, who the Huskers are almost sure to face this weekend.
Verdict:
Nebraska has (albeit slowly) started to look more like the Nebraska we expected them to be. The pitching for the Huskers has been very good lately and the overall stats don’t do justice for how this staff has been playing. The offense is the key for the Huskers, if it can continue trending upward and the team can find ways to get some early runs on the board and take some pressure off of their pitchers, they are a very dangerous baseball team. The Islanders starting pitchers all have relatively high batting averages against and have shown that they can miss their spots in the zone to good hitting teams. The Huskers have shown that they have the ability to pour it on these types of arms, especially in the home friendly environment of Haymarket Park.