Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball heads north to Minnesota, faces No. 7 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Ole Miss

Nebraska baseball’s first two regular-season weekends have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. From disaster on the West Coast to triumph down south at South Alabama last week, the Huskers have shown the best and worst of what their team is capable of.

Now comes the big test. Nebraska checks in at No. 5 in the RPI rankings entering the weekend with a huge opportunity ahead. The Huskers are set to go toe-to-toe with No. 7 Vanderbilt (6-3), Hawaii (4-3) and defending champion No. 4 Ole Miss (7-2) in the Cambria College Classic this weekend.

Here’s more on Nebraska’s weekend including projected pitching matchups, opponent details, how to watch and much more.

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Weekend Starters

Friday, 11:00 a.m. (Vanderbilt): LHP Emmett Olson (4.22 ERA, 10.2 IP, 10 K) vs. LHP Carter Holton (1.93 ERA, 9.1 IP, 11 K)

Saturday, 3:00 p.m. (Hawaii): RHP Jace Kaminska (4.91 ERA, 11.0 IP, 8 K) vs. TBA {Grant’s Projection: LHP Randy Abshier (2.45 ERA, 7.1 IP, 7 K) *Has started the last two Saturday games.}

Sunday 1:00 p.m. (Ole Miss): LHP Caleb Clark (9.82 ERA, 7.1 IP, 2 K) vs. LHP Xavier Rivas (7.88 ERA, 8.0 IP, 13 K)

What to watch for the Huskers

Squaring off with top-tier competition

In terms of the opponents, this is without a doubt one of the biggest regular-season weekends for Nebraska baseball in the last decade. Two top-ten foes and a Hawaii team that sits above .500 on the year.

Perhaps the question is what Husker squad shows up?

Last weekend’s series was obviously huge for the program from a mental standpoint. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss are a tall test on their own. If Nebraska had traveled to Minneapolis two or three games below .500, the tenor around the team would be extremely different.

Instead, the Huskers have the freedom to fulfill their mantra of playing hard, fast and loose. The pressure is minimal. Nebraska can seek improvement and chase victory without a losing record looming large.

That could lend itself to staying power for South Alabama’s production the rather than the return of the San Diego showing.

Do the bats stay hot against some of the nation’s best?

In Nebraska’s last five games, the Huskers are batting a scorching .324 as a team. Head coach Will Bolt’s squad has totaled 47 RBIs and blasted 11 home runs in that time. Nebraska has 29 extra-base hits in total. It took the Huskers 13 games to reach that milestone last season.

But things are about to go up a notch. Vanderbilt holds a team ERA of 4.15 while Ole Miss and Hawaii are at 4.84 and 5.49 respectively.

A large portion of the Huskers production came against South Alabama starting pitching that entered the weekend with ERAs below 2.10. Two of those three pitchers were left-handers. As projected, Nebraska will face several southpaws this weekend.

That puts the focus on the right-handed hitters in the Husker lineup such as Gabe Swansen who hit .250 last week and gave Nebraska solid at-bats from the order’s No. 8 spot.

Eyes on RPI

As of Thursday afternoon, the Huskers have the best RPI in the Big Ten after last weekend. San Diego, Nebraska’s season-opening opponent, is ranked No. 2 and held the top spot prior to suffering its first loss of the year.

Picking off Vanderbilt or Ole Miss would be a titanic boost for the Huskers’ RPI.

Other Big Ten teams like Illinois (No. 11), Iowa (No. 21), Penn State (No. 44) and Maryland (No. 55) have made their mark by besting a major nonconference program.

Nebraska gets its chance to make a statement this week.

Nebraska baseball notes

***Friday’s matchup with Vanderbilt and Sunday’s meeting with Ole Miss are the first in Nebraska program history.

***In Nebraska’s past five games, Max Anderson is batting .600 with a slugging percentage of .850. He also has seven RBIs, a double, home run and a .680 on-base percentage in that span.

***This is the first time the Huskers have battled two top-ten advisories since 2019.

***Saturday’s game with Hawaii is only the second time the two teams have met on the mainland.

Know the foes: Vanderbilt, Hawaii and Ole Miss

Vanderbilt:

***The Commodores are fresh off a 11-7 comeback win over Austin Peay in Nashville. Vanderbilt tallied eight runs on six hits in the seventh inning to secure the victory. Five Commodores had multi-hit games.

***The Commodores have crushed double-digit hits in four of their first nine games. In that time, Vanderbilt has also scored three or more runs nine times and eight runs twice.

***Vanderbilt owns single-game wins over No. 9 Oklahoma State and Texas as well as taking two of three from No. 17 UCLA. Losses of note include No. 15 TCU, UCLA and a mid-week defeat from Central Arkansas.

***Player to watch: Jonathan Vastine

Vastine is batting .394 in the first nine games of the season and leads the team in batting average, RBIs, hits and doubles. The sophomore from Bartow, Florida, is a left handed hitter who stands at 5-foot-11 and 176 pounds.

Hawaii:

***The Rainbow Warriors lead the all-time series with Nebraska 15-8. However, the Huskers won the last meeting with Hawaii back in 2015 and command a two-game winning streak.

***Hawaii has used 15 different pitchers in the first two weekends. No pitcher has been used more than twice and Rand Abshier is the only arm with multiple starts. The Rainbow Warrior leader as far as innings pitched, Abshier, has thrown a total of 7.1 innings. Hawaii boasts 10 pitchers under a 3.00 ERA and has held opponents to a .230 batting average.

***UH has delivered some big swings with two outs. Over half of the Rainbow Warriors’ 53 runs have come with two gone and the team is hitting .325 with two outs.

***Player to watch: Jared Qaundt

Ranks in the top ten nationally for batting average, on base percentage and slugging. He is one of two players to achieve that feat. Quandt missed last season due to injury. In his first game back, the sophomore delivered a walk-off double to lift Hawaii over Wright State.

Ole Miss:

***After losing the first game of a mid-week series to Louisiana Tech 6-5, Ole Miss bounced back with a 4-3 win in a six-inning ballgame. Ethan Groff’s go-ahead homer in the fifth inning lifted the Rebels to victory before weather marked a premature end to the contest.

***Eight Rebel batters have an average over .300 in more than 20 at-bats. As a team, Ole Miss has 24 multi-hit games between nine total players.

***The Rebels return 18 letterwinners from last season’s College World Series squad. Overall, Ole Miss lost five position starters, nine pitchers and the roster features 19 newcomers.

***Player to watch: Jacob Gonzalez

The infielder is batting .441 and has a hit in every game this season. Gonzalez knocked in seven runs in the series finale and has 14 RBIs on the year. He has two homers and a .676 slugging percentage through the first nine games of his junior season.

Around the Big Ten

Here are a few Big Ten games to keep tabs on this weekend. Rankings are according to the D1Baseball.com Top 25.

Friday:

Michigan (4-4) Vs. No. 10 TCU (5-3)

Ohio State (3-5) Vs. Mississippi State (6-3)

No. 18 Maryland (4-4) Vs. No. 4 Ole Miss (7-2)

Indiana (4-4) Vs. No. 9 East Carolina (5-2)

Saturday

No. 18 Maryland (4-4) Vs. No. 7 Vanderbilt (6-3)

Michigan (4-4) Vs. No. 24 Texas Tech (10-0)

Sunday

Ohio State (3-5) Vs. Oklahoma (4-4)

Michigan (4-4) Vs. No. 14 Louisville (7-1)

Conference Standings

SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK
Iowa	0-0	.000	6-1	.857	W3
Penn State	0-0	.000	4-2	.667	W3
Purdue	0-0	.000	5-3	.625	L1
Illinois	0-0	.000	4-3	.571	W1
Michigan State	0-0	.000	4-3	.571	L2
Nebraska	0-0	.000	3-3-1	.500	W3
Indiana	0-0	.000	4-4	.500	W2
Maryland	0-0	.000	4-4	.500	W1
Michigan	0-0	.000	4-4	.500	L2
Rutgers	0-0	.000	3-4	.429	W1
Ohio State	0-0	.000	3-5	.375	W1
Northwestern	0-0	.000	0-6	.000	L6
Minnesota	0-0	.000	0-8	.000	L8

Broadcast Information

TV: BTN+ (Stream online HERE)

Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)

Stations: Lincoln (1400 AM), Omaha (590 AM)