Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball opens home slate with South Alabama

Nebraska baseball (7-3) opens a run of 11 home games in the next 16 days with a three-game set against South Alabama (10-3) this weekend. The Jaguars have won four of their last six games and are seeking to avenge a sweep at the hands of the Huskers in 2023.

“We’ve just got to keep playing our brand of baseball,” Bolt said. “I told the team yesterday that we’re in a nice spot record wise and I think we’ve played to our ability in two or three games total. Where we’ve done the defense, the pitching and the timely hitting together. That means there’s room for improvement.”

Here’s the latest on changes to the Huskers’ starting rotation, injury updates, the hot start for Riley Silva, scouting South Alabama and much more.

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Projecting Nebraska’s pitching

Friday, 4:05 p.m., RHP Drew Christo (Stats: 1-0, 3.07 ERA, 14.2 IP, 8 K) vs. RHP Carson Swilling (Stats: 1-1, 3.07 ERA, 14.2 IP, 20 K)

Saturday, 2:05 p.m., RHP Brett Sears (Stats: 1-0, 1.56 ERA, 17.1 IP, 21 K) Vs. LHP Cam Hill (2-0, 1.13 ERA, 16.0 IP, 13 K)

Sunday, 12:05 p.m., RHP Ty Horn (Stats: 1-0, 1.35 ERA, 6.2 IP, 5 K) Vs. RHP Cade Carlson (0-1, 6.55 ERA, 11.0 IP, 13 K)

What to watch for the Huskers

Husker injury updates

Nebraska got more bad news after returning from South Carolina this weekend. Second baseman Cayden Brumbaugh will be unable to play in the infield for the next six weeks due to an arm injury. The sophomore, who commands a .333 batting average in 45 at-bats, will still be able to hit and move to the designated hitter slot while he recovers.

Nebraska saw a host of players fill in for Brumbaugh during the last two games of the College of Charleston series. Dylan Hufft, Rhett Stokes, Bryce Hughes and Will Jesske were among them. Bolt said the future could see a committee look at the position that was matchup dependent. There does seem to be an early leader in the clubhouse to fill in during Brumbaugh’s absence.

“I like Will Jesske,” Bolt said. “It’s probably not his most natural position but he loves to play baseball. I love the way he goes about his business. He’s sneaky fast for a guy his size. He doesn’t really get caught up in anything besides playing the game.”

As far as the hand injury to third baseman Josh Overbeek, Bolt said the junior will meet with doctors this upcoming Monday. A return to the lineup next weekend against Nicholls is on the table. Overbeek has been able to do everything but hit of late and is trending in the right direction. This weekend, the Huskers will have to go without two of their Opening Day infield starters.

“Overbeek was our best player in the first weekend and he’s kinda been our heartbeat in a lot of ways,” Bolt said. “To play well without him, it’ll be good to get him back. We’ll be fine without Brum, too. I hate it for him but we’ll find a way to get it done.”

Horn slides into a Sunday starting role

Following a couple shaky Sunday starts from Will Walsh, Nebraska has elected to make a change in its starting rotation. Freshman Tyner Horn will get the ball in the Huskers’ series finale with the Jaguars.

“He’s a very confident young man,” Bolt said. “I think the thing that gives us a lot of comfort there is that the stuff was always there but he was doing it in a 160-pound package and now he’s 190 pounds.”

Horn has often been the first called out of the pen to relieve Brett Sears throughout the first three weeks of the season. His 30-pound addition to a 6-foot-2 frame has brought some extra juice to a three-pitch mix that features a fastball which peaks at 95 mph. More weight should help Horn stretch his outings according to Bolt.

A rough start and subsequent recovery in his two-inning outing against the College of Charleston last week is part of why the coaching staff had the confidence to make the change.

“It didn’t start the way he wanted to and he had to face some adversity and make some pitches,” Bolt said of Horn. “We went back and forth in the dugout, ‘Hey, are we going to go get him here? We’ve got these guys that are ready.’ Coach Childress (and I) talked it through and he’s like, ‘Let’s see if the kid can get out of it.’ And, he did. Now he’s leaving last week instead of feeling not great about his outing, he’s feeling really confident.”

With a five-game week looming, Nebraska needs as much as it can get out of Horn. Walsh and Caleb Clark could see potential starting action in the two-game midweek bout with Wichita State on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Data Dive: Silva’s strong start

Riley Silva appears to be a jackpot of a junior college acquisition through the first 10 games of the season.

He’s batting a cool .400 with a double, three RBIs an on-base percentage of .533 and nine stolen bases. Those latter number is tied for the conference lead (in two fewer games than Iowa’s Sam Peterson) and he also paces the conference in sacrifice bunts. Silva’s on-base percentage entering the week was fifth-highest in the conference.

Here’s a look at which ways the speedster is reaching base compared to the Big Ten’s top bats in this category.

The percentage of Silva’s OBP accounted for by walks is the lowest in the conference while his HBP percentage is understandably the highest. The Cambridge, Ontario, native has been plunked eight times. The all-time Nebraska record for HBP in a career belongs to Daniel Bruce at 67. Silva is a little under 12% of the way to surpassing that mark.

Since moving up to the second spot in the order, Silva is batting .417 and has reached base in each of the Huskers’ 10 games. He has a very strong case as the greatest Nebraska offseason addition. The impending return of Josh Overbeek has the potential to change things.

Nebraska baseball notes

***Brett Sears is one of five pitchers in the country to toss more than 17 innings with 21 or more strikeouts while allowing three or fewer earned runs and issuing two or fewer walks. The rest of the list includes Jamie Arnold (Florida State), Zach Root (East Carolina), Luke Holman (LSU) and Jack Anker (Fresno St.).

***Drew Christo’s career-high 6 2/3s innings pitched last weekend gave him his second consecutive quality start. Sears has also recorded back-to-back quality starts.

***Riley Silva is one of eight players at the Division-I level that leads their team in both runs (13) and stolen bases (9).

***Cayden Brumbaugh has hits in his last eight games which is Nebraska’s longest active streak. In that stretch, his is batting .342 with three doubles and four RBIs. He is also one of four Huskers to start every game this season and leads the team with 15 hits and is tied for the most multi-hit efforts at five (Silva).

Know the foe: South Alabama

***Nebraska swept South Alabama in mobile last season by a combined margin of 29-10. A 5-4 narrow victory on Friday gave way to 15-3 and 9-3 blowouts on Saturday and Sunday. Josh Caron smashed two home runs and totaled five RBIs in the series finale.

***The Jaguars have a pair of extra-inning wins this season. The first came over regional qualifier and 10-2 Nicholls by a score of 11-10 in 10 innings. Last week, South Alabama picked off a series win against UNC Wilmington with a 5-4 victory in 11 innings.

***Players to watch: LHP Cam Hill

The two-way southpaw from Madison, Alabama, spent the previous three seasons at Auburn before transferring for his senior year. A solid freshman and sophomore campaign in which Hill hit above .270 with at least six doubles in each season, gave way to a very quiet junior year with just 10 appearances.

Hill has now moved into a strictly pitching role with the Jaguars.

In his first start of the season against Southern Indiana, he allowed two earned runs and three hits in four innings. Since then the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder has pitched 12 innings, scatter nine hits, surrendered no earned runs, struck out nine while issuing one walk.

Around the Big Ten

Here are a few Big Ten series/games to keep tabs on this weekend. Records are as of Wednesday evening:

Friday, March 8:

Northwestern () @ Louisville (), 2:00 p.m. CT

Michigan () @ Coastal Carolina (), 3:00 p.m. CT

Illinois () @ Tennessee (), 5:00 p.m. CT

Saturday, March 9:

Illinois () @ Tennessee (), 12:00 p.m. CT

Northwestern () @ Louisville (), 12:00 p.m. CT

Michigan () @ Coastal Carolina (), 1:00 p.m. CT

Sunday, March 10:

Northwestern () @ Louisville (), 11:00 a.m. CT

Michigan () @ Coastal Carolina (), 12:00 p.m. CT

Illinois () @ Tennessee (), 12:00 p.m. CT

Broadcast Information

TV: Big Ten+: HERE

Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)

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