HUSKER BASEBALL: Walsh, Nebraska Complete Sweep of Nicholls
LINCOLN—(NU Athletics Mar. 17)—
Will Walsh belted his second homer of the weekend, as Nebraska completed its series sweep of Nicholls with an 11-4 win in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.
Winners of 10 of their last 12 games, the Huskers (13-5) scored 11 runs on 14 hits and committed an error. Nicholls (17-6) totaled four runs, six hits and three errors.
Walsh led the Big Red at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and two runs in a game where every Husker in the starting lineup recorded a hit. Rhett Stokes drove in a pair of runs after going 2-for-5 with two doubles and a team-high three runs. Gabe Swansen and Josh Caron had a two-hit day with a double apiece, while Dylan Hufft went 2-for-3.
Riley Silva tallied a two-RBI single, while Joshua Overbeek posted a double and Cayden Brumbaugh and Cole Evans each had a single.
Ty Horn pitched two innings in the start, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks. Jackson Brockett moved to 1-0 on the season after pitching a pair of scoreless frames. Kyle Froehlich pitched two scoreless innings, before Bobby Olsen allowed one run on one hit in an inning of work. Rans Sanders took the mound for the final two innings and dealt a pair of scoreless frames to maintain the 11-4 win for the Huskers.
Nicholls grabbed its first lead of the weekend after a pair of walks and sacrifice fly in the second.
A walk and a double set up MaCrae Kendrick’s two-RBI single to right-center in the third, expanding the lead for the Colonels to 3-0.
The Huskers burst onto the scoreboard with four runs on five hits and an error in the bottom of the fourth. Nebraska had runners on second and third with no outs after Evans’ single and a double from Caron. Walsh cleared the bases and tied the game with a three-run blast into the left-field berm for his second roundtripper of the series.
Stokes reached on a fielder’s choice and came around to score and give the Huskers a 4-3 lead in the fourth after the Colonels’ outfielder misplayed Hufft’s single, allowing the ball to roll all the way to the wall in right.
Froehlich quieted the Colonel offense in the fifth and sixth innings, while the Huskers plated five runs on five hits in the sixth to blow the game open at 9-3. An infield single by Walsh, followed by a one-out RBI double to left from Stokes doubled the Big Red’s advantage to 5-3.
Hufft was plunked on the first pitch, before a wild pitch moved Stokes and Hufft to second and third with one out. Silva came through and stretched the lead to four with a two-RBI single through the right side. A wild pitch scooted Silva to second, while an RBI double from Overbeek put the Huskers in front 8-3.
Evans drew a full-count walk to put runners on first and second with two outs, setting up Caron’s RBI single to right that plated Overbeek and made it a 9-3 game through six innings.
Olsen replaced Froehlich in the seventh and had the first two Colonels reach with a walk and a single to put runners on first and third with no outs. The Brown transfer induced a 1-6-3 double play that scored Nicholls’ final run of the day but put an end to the momentum of the Colonel offense.
Nebraska responded quickly with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to expand the lead to 11-4. Back-to-back doubles from Swansen and Stokes to begin the inning plated the Big Red’s 10th run of the game. The Huskers capped the scoring on the afternoon after Case Sanderson lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Stokes.
Sanders fired scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth innings to clinch the series sweep for the Huskers.
Nebraska continues its homestand at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park with a pair of midweek games against Omaha and North Dakota State. The Huskers welcome the Mavericks on Tuesday, March 19, before hosting the Bison on Wednesday, March 20.