Nebraska Baseball Takes Series from South Alabama with 15-3 Barrage

In the immortal words of manager Lou Brown, “it’s called ‘two in a row’. And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called a ‘winning streak.’” Fresh off its first victory of the season, the Husker baseball team brought its best all around game to Stanky Field on Saturday. The offense kept the pressure on all day, the defense didn’t falter, and the pitching threw strikes.

Nebraska got the scoring started in the 2nd. Jump started by 2 Jaguar errors (USA would have 5 on the day) the Husker offense did what they couldn’t do in San Diego, and took advantage of the other team’s mistakes. 3 singles, and 2 reached-on-errors were punctuated by Max Anderson’s 2nd of 3 hits on the day, an RBI single lined into the left-center gap.

The Big Red would add another baseball point in the 3rd, with Gabe Swanson, making his first start in left field, getting intentionally caught in a rundown between first and second base to lure the USA defense into allowing Garret Anglim to score from third. That made it 5-1 Huskers.

The teams exchanged runs in the 5th, as Nebraska first baseman Will Walsh clobbered his first career home run, a towering 2 run shot to left that put his team up 7-1. But the top of Jaguars lineup would finally make Husker starting pitcher Jace Kaminska work, using a single followed by pair of doubles from their 2 stars, Erick Orbeta and Will Turner, to cut the lead to 7-3.

The Husker pitching staff wouldn’t relinquish another run after that. Following Kaminska’s solid 5.1 innings with 4 Ks and 3 earned runs, Husker relievers Jackson Brockett and JC Gutierrez would only allow 2 of the final 13 batters to reach base. Most notably, the biggest bugaboo for the pitchers thus far on the season, walks and hit-by-pitches, were limited to just 1 total on the day.

While the Jags offense sputtered to a stop, the Huskers offense was just roaring to life. Nebraska short stop Brice Matthews led the way literally and figuratively, as he was back in the lead off spot after being dropped down to the 9 hole for a few games. Matthews doubled and scored on a Dylan Carey RBI single in the 6th, and then provided the coup de grâce in the 7th, a 3-run home run that exited stage left in a hurry, and capped off a 6 run 7th inning for Nebraska.

The Huskers added another run in the 9th, with Dylan Carey scoring on a wild pitch, to bring the contest to its final tally, Nebraska 15, South Alabama 3.

Nebraska will look to go for the sweep in their final game at Stanky Field on Sunday. First pitch for the contest is set for 1 pm CT, and will be streaming again on ESPN+, and can be heard on the Husker Radio Network.