Earlier in the season, the Omaha World-Herald’s Evan Bland referred to it at the Evan Bland Experience. Cornhusker fans got to experience the Experience once again today on a sunny, but chilly and very windy day at Haymarket Park.
In the first inning, with one out Jasa walked Hogan Denny on four-straight pitches and then followed with an impressive strikeout of Indiana’s best hitter Jake Hanley. Clean-up batter Caleb Koskie singled to put two on base with two outs. It looked like Jasa righted the ship as he got two quick strikes on Brayden Ricketts, but then threw four straight balls to walk him. Bases loaded and he struck out Cooper Malamazian. What a roller coaster inning.
That was pretty much the way it went for the righthander through his outing today. He’d get ahead in counts or get a strikeout and then walk a batter or two. But, through five innings he was able to get out of trouble and kept the Hoosiers off the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the Big Red offense got off to another hot start, which they’ve done quite a bit this season. And, they finished big as well.
To no one’s surprise, Mac Moyer started off the bottom of the first getting on base, this time with a single past a diving third baseman. Jeter Worthley followed up and showed some masterful bat skills pushing a bunt toward the second baseman, beating it out and moving Moyer to second. Perhaps a bit rattled, Hoosier starter Tony Neubeck hit Case Sanderson to load the bases with no outs.
Up came Dylan Carey who walked to score Moyer. Designated hitter Cole Kitchens then hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to score Worthley. A Jett Buck infield ground ball pushed Sanderson across the plate. The good start put Nebraska up 3-0 after one.
Nebraska goa runner on base on the second and third innings but didn’t threaten until they loaded them up in the bottom of the fourth with one out due to Neubeck hitting Joshua Overbeek, giving up a single to Rhett Stokes and walking Mac Moyer.
Jeter Worthley hit a chopper to Mateo Noto at third who fired it home to force Overbeek at the plate for the second out. Sanderson then sliced a shot that Noto knocked down, but couldn’t pick up in time to throw out a runner. Stokes scored and the bases were still load with Dylan Carey coming to the plate. He walked on a full-count pitch in the dirt to score Stokes.
Indiana brought in Ivan Mastalski to try and get the Hoosiers out of the inning with Kitchens in the box. Mastalski got him to chase a 2-2 high fast ball to strike him out and end the threat. After four innings, Nebraska held a 5-0 lead.
Indiana got to Jasa in the top of the sixth inning. After getting a lead-off flyout to centerfield, Jasa walked Brayden Ricketts for the second time in the game. He then struck out Cooper Malamazian and looked to get out of the inning. However, Cole Decker rapped a single to put two runners on.
Coach Childress came out for a conversation with the 6’7” Colorado native and to burn a little time for the bullpen to warm up a bit. None the less, Owen ten Oever, a big fella from Brooklyn, NY tied into one and launched it over the right-centerfield ball. All of a sudden, it was a 5-3 ball game and little lefty Chase Olson came in to get the last out, thanks to a brilliant diving catch by Drew Grego in rightfield.
Back came the Cornhuskers in the bottom of the sixth. The top of the order loaded the bases with a Moyer single, followed by Worthley getting hit by a pitch and Sanderson drawing a walk. That ended the day for Mastalski, who was replaced with Jackson Yarberry.
With bases loaded and no outs, Yarberry struck out Carey looking. Then struck out pinch-hitter Miken Miller swinging, and then got Jett Buck to pop-up to centerfield. That was the second time this game that Nebraska left the bases loaded.
Indiana put up another run in the top of the seventh, and could have easily scored more. Olson walked Will Moore to start the inning. That was one of four walks he and his reliever, Ryan Harrahill gave up. The only Hoosier to put a bat on the ball was a sacrifice bunt by Koskie. Otherwise, Indiana did not hit the ball out of the infield and left the bases loaded when Cole Decker was out on a tapper back to Harrahill.
As fans worried about the bullpen and whether or not it would stop the bleeding, back came the Cornhusker offense in the bottom of the seventh. Yarberry walked Grego and Stokes with an Overbeek sacrifice bunt in between. He then struck out Moyer, and then . . . came the return of two-out hitting.
Worthley singled. Sanderson singled. Carey hit a three-run bomb to leftfield. Miller singled. Buck was hit by a pitch. Yarberry was replaced by Pete Haas. Grego singled, driving in two more and Overbeek grounded out back to the pitcher. If you haven’t been counting on your fingers, Nebraska was now up 12-5.
That bullpen meltdown mentioned a moment ago, yeah, it happened in the top of the eighth. At one point, two Nebraska pitchers threw 18 balls out of 19 pitchers, giving free bases to five straight Hoosiers and walking in two runs.
Jace Ziola came out for the eighth inning. The big freshman from Skutt Catholic got a quick flyout from ten Oever, but then hit the nine-hole hitter and walked the two Hoosiers at the top of the order. In came Braxton Stewart to face Hanley with bases loaded and one out. He walked him and walked in a run.
In came Pryce Bender with bases loaded and one out. He started with a strike and got Ricketts to flyout deep to center for the second out. It was fitting that the inning ended on kind of a crazy play when Malamazian singled off Bender to right field and Hanley tried to score from second base. Grego fielded the ball and fired it home way ahead of the runner. Worthley tagged him eight feet down the line, standing up. Indiana appealed the play for some reason, but the call was upheld. Avoiding a major melt-down, Nebraska was still up Indiana 12-7.
Proving that he could throw the ball over the plate, Bender was back on the mound for the ninth inning. While he wasn’t perfect, giving up two hits and a couple of baserunners, he got the side out without giving up any additional runs. Ball game! Nebraska 12, Indiana 7.
Today’s game was eerily similar to yesterdays with Nebraska getting out to what should have been a comfortable lead only to have Indiana come back and make things interesting. Today, the seven-run inning provided a cushion that the Hoosiers could not overcome.
Today there was no excuse for Indiana getting back into the game. Young pitchers should be able to come into a game with a big lead and throw the ball over the plate. When your team has a lead, you don’t have to be quite so perfect, yet at one point Nebraska pitchers threw thirteen or fourteen balls in a row.
Nebraska stays undefeated at home and has won every B1G series they have played at this point of the season. Tomorrow they will look for the sweep against Indiana with the first pitch scheduled for 12:02. Cooper Katskee will make his first weekend start and will go up against another Indiana lefty, Brayton Thomas.
Notes:
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Five Nebraska players had two hits in today’s game: Moyer, Worthley, Sanderson, Grego and Stokes. All of them were singles and Grego had two RBI. Dylan Carey was 1 for 3, but the one was a three-run homerun that was a huge boost for the team. He had two more RBI when he was walked twice.
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The pitching staff gave up a reasonable seven hits and had twelve strikeouts, ten by Jasa. They gave up 13 walks.
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Nebraska hasn’t seen many lefthanded starters this season and in an attempt to get as many righthanded batters in the lineup, regular second baseman Jett Buck started in left field. He’s played a couple of innings out there this season, but with as much wind as there was today, he faced a big challenge.
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Despite the wind coming directly out of the south and the chilly temps, a good crowd of red-clad fans showed up to watch the 24th ranked Cornhuskers. At least some of those walked across the bridge having attended the Spring Game.
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