An explosive fifth inning propels Nebraska baseball past Northwestern 8-3

The Nebraska baseball team (19-11-1, 5-2 Big Ten) opened the series against Northwestern (5-23, 3-4 Big Ten) with an 8-3 victory over the Wildcats. After trailing early, it was a huge fifth inning that lifted the Huskers past Northwestern.

With two baserunners on and trailing 3-1, Brice Matthews drove a ball into the right-center field gap for a base-clearing triple to tie the game. Max Anderson then sent a ball over the left field wall and gave the Huskers their first lead of the game, and it was that lead that they held to win this one.

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Recap

It was Emmett Olson on the mound to start the game for the Huskers. Coming into the matchup, the lefty had his best stuff, and this game started out the same.

Olson struck out the first six batters he faced, but in the top of the third inning he felt his first blemish. Cooper Foard lined up in the box for Northwestern and launched a ball well over the left field wall.

The following inning, the junior struggled to keep it rolling as he walked three of the first four batters. Following this, Olson gave up a base hit that put the Big Red down 3-0 and his day was done. Corbin Hawkins took over on the mound and worked a double play to get out of the jam and limit the damage.

This is when the Husker offense started to heat up. Max Anderson led off the inning with a base hit, and worked his way to third with one out. Charlie Fischer drove him in with a sac fly and Nebraska cut the deficit to 3-1.

After a pitching change from Northwestern, the Big Red took advantage. In the bottom of the fifth, Dylan Carey led off with a double and Cole Evans reached on a fielder’s choice. With two runners on, Brice Matthews drove a ball into the right center field gap for a base-clearing triple. Max Anderson then drove a ball over the left field wall and Nebraska had its first lead of the game. Efry Cervantes added one more run with a base hit and the Big Red led 6-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Huskers tacked on yet another run as Brice Matthews blasted one over the left field wall.

Corbin Hawkins worked two outs in the seventh inning. With a runner on base, Kyle Perry took his place on the mound. The lefty struck out the final batter in the seventh and made way for the offense once again.

Max Anderson hit a double to lead off the bottom of the seventh and was driven in by Garrett Anglim to make it 8-3 Nebraska.

Kyle Perry worked two more clean innings and the Huskers took the first of three games in this weekend series.

A big day from Hawkins and the bullpen

Emmett Olson struggled to go deep into this game. That’s something that he has been able to do in most of his starts this season. The lefty retired the first seven batters he faced, but allowed a solo home run in the third. After allowing two more runs in the fourth, Will Bolt felt they needed to go to Corbin Hawkins. The righty was huge for the Big Red in this one.

In his three and a third innings pitched, Hawkins allowed just one hit and no runs. In that time he only allowed two total baserunners and struck out two batters as well.

Kyle Perry came into the game in the seventh and he brought his best stuff as well. The fifth-year senior threw two and a third innings, allowing just one baserunner on a hit. Perry struck out four batters as well.

On a Friday afternoon with a struggling starter, Hawkins and Perry helped out the pitching staff massively heading into the rest of the weekend.

Anderson and Matthews impress yet again

Max Anderson and Brice Matthews once again stole the show offensively for the Huskers. Nebraska recorded eight hits in this game and five of those came from those juniors. Max Anderson drove in two runs with his two-run home run in the fifth. However, Brice Matthews topped him in the RBI category. Matthews hit a home run and a triple that drove in three of Nebraska’s runs and the two went 5-8 from the plate combined.

Outside of that, the Big Red offense had RBIs from Garrett Anglim, Charlie Fischer, and Efry Cervantes. However, it was the junior duo that instigated the rally in the fifth inning that won Nebraska this game.

What’s next?

The Huskers will play two more games this weekend against Northwestern with Saturday’s first pitch set for 2:02 p.m. Sunday’s game will start at 12:05 p.m. Both of those games are available to be streamed on B1G+ (LINK HERE) or can be heard over the radio on the Huskers Radio Network (LINK HERE).