Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball takes on Northwestern back at home

The Nebraska baseball team (18-11-1) will welcome Northwestern (5-22) to Haymarket Park for a three game series against the Wildcats. It’s the first three game series between these two teams since 2019.

The last time the Huskers saw Northwestern was in the Big Red’s Big Ten title winning season in 2019 when Nebraska won the first two games of the series. Sunday’s game was then cancelled for health and safety reasons.

Here’s more details on the matchup, Wildcats to watch, Husker notes and how the Big Ten is shaping up as the Big Red return to Haymarket Park.

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Projecting the pitching

Note: These are projections and will be updated once starting rotations are officially announced.

Friday, 3:05 p.m., LHP Emmett Olson (5-1, 3.04 ERA, 50.1 IP, 52 K) vs. RHP Matt McClure (1-4, 6.53 ERA)

Saturday, 2:02 p.m., LHP Jackson Brockett (1-0, 3.27 ERA, 22 IP, 21 K) vs. RHP Michael Farinelli (1-5, 6.98 ERA)

Sunday, 12:05 p.m., TBD vs. RHP Luke Benneche (0-3, 9.28 ERA)

What to watch for the Huskers

Emmett Olson has been dealing

Nebraska has found a Friday starter this season, and he has been nothing but reliable thus far. Emmett Olson has started eight games for the Big Red and has recorded a 5-1 record. In his last four starts, he has only allowed more than one run in just one of those games. In Olson’s start against Illinois, he allowed six hits for four runs, however, the Huskers still won the game 8-4.

The lefty’s quality starts has been something that has snuck under the radar with this team, as it has become the expectation.

Not only has Olson allowed few runs, he has gone deep into games and struck out batters at a high rate. The junior has pitched six innings or more in all of his last six outings. Through those outings, Olson struck out 42 batters, averaging seven strikeouts a game.

With Big Ten play getting into full swing, the lefty has only just found his best stuff, allowing the Husker offense to take a sigh of relief on Fridays.

Looking for the sweep

The Huskers are still in search of their first sweep of a Big Ten opponent. Sitting in the top four spots in the conference, the Big Red have won both of their three-game conference series this season 2-1. Heading into the third Big Ten series of the year, there is no better time to look for a sweep.

Northwestern comes into the weekend with a 3-3 Big Ten record, however they are 2-19 outside of the conference. To start the season, the Wildcats lost 12 straight games from February 17 to March 10. Adding to that, in its season opening series, Northwestern allowed 56 total runs to Texas State in three games.

Allowing a multitude of runs is not uncommon for the Wildcats either. In 13 of their 27 games this season, the Wildcats have allowed 10 runs or more. One of those games is Northwestern’s most recent game on Tuesday against the University of Illinois Chicago. The Wildcats lost the game 24-20 after giving up 14 runs in the second inning, followed by 8 more in the third.

If the Huskers are looking to cement themselves near of at the top of the Big Ten, a sweep over a struggling Northwestern team should be the expectation.

Anderson and Matthews showing out

It is no surprise that we are talking about Brice Matthews and Max Anderson once again as the two juniors have continued to impress. Both of them have now reached the 10 home run mark.

Anderson has smashed 11 homers, while Matthews is not far behind with 10 of his own. This is the first time in the last two seasons that a Husker has hit more than 10 home runs in the entire season, and we are just over halfway through this year.

The last time a Big Red batter hit more than 10 home runs in a season was in 2018 when Scott Schreiber hit 18. Anderson is on pace to break that number.

Now 30 games into the season, Anderson is also still hitting over .400, as he’s sitting at the .402 mark. Matthews once again is not far behind, batting .395

Nebraska baseball notes

***Max Anderson and Brice Matthews have hit 21 combined homers. This is the ninth season that NU has had multiple players hitting at least 10 home runs in a year since 2000.

***The Huskers have hit 51 home runs this season. That ranks them 34th nationally.

***Nebraska’s offense is hitting .309 this season, with a .530 slugging percentage. In the 53 games last season, the Big Red slugged just .400.

***The Husker bullpen has pitched 37.2 innings in the last eight games. In those games it has posted a 0.96 ERA and allowed just four earned runs.

***The bullpen has also allowed just a .169 batting average against opponents in the previous eight games.

Know the foe: Northwestern

***Through 26 meetings between these two teams, Nebraska has won 14 and lost just 12.

***The Wildcats earned their first series win last weekend as they beat Illinois two games to one. Northwestern came back on Friday down 3-1 in the ninth to win 4-3.

***The Wildcats have allowed the most runs in the conference with a staggering 234 earned runs allowed. The next closest number is Maryland who have given up 178 earned runs.

***The Northwestern hitters also sit at the bottom of the conference with just 235 hits this season compared to Nebraska’s 324.

Around the Big Ten

Here are a few Big Ten Series to keep an eye on this weekend:

Indiana (23-10, 7-2 Big Ten) @ Illinois (14-15, 3-6 Big Ten)

Michigan (18-14, 4-2 Big Ten) @ Rutgers (18-15, 2-4 Big Ten)

Maryland (19-13, 4-2 Big Ten) @ Ohio State (17-15, 2-7 Big Ten)

Conference Standings

SCHOOL	CONF	PCT	HOME	ROAD	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	ROAD	NEUTRAL	LAST 10	STREAK
Indiana	7-2	.778	5-1	2-1	23-10	.697	18-1	4-8	1-1	7-3	W3
Michigan State	6-3	.667	4-2	2-1	20-10	.667	6-2	9-5	5-3	8-2	W3
Michigan	6-3	.667	4-2	2-1	18-14	.562	9-5	5-4	4-5	7-3	W1
Nebraska	4-2	.667	2-1	2-1	18-11-1	.617	7-3	6-6-1	5-2	6-4	L1
Maryland	4-2	.667	2-1	2-1	19-13	.594	11-5	8-5	0-3	6-4	L2
Purdue	5-4	.556	2-1	3-3	14-17	.452	3-4	3-9	8-4	4-6	L2
Minnesota	3-3	.500	1-2	2-1	9-22	.290	5-10	4-5	0-7	6-4	W2
Northwestern	3-3	.500	2-1	1-2	5-22	.185	3-2	2-18	0-2	4-6	L1
Illinois	3-6	.333	1-2	2-4	14-15	.483	2-4	8-9	4-2	4-6	W1
Iowa	2-4	.333	1-2	1-2	23-8	.742	11-2	4-5	8-1	5-5	W1
Rutgers	2-4	.333	1-2	1-2	18-15	.545	8-2	9-11	1-2	6-4	W3
Ohio State	2-7	.222	1-2	1-5	17-15	.531	7-4	5-7	5-4	5-5	W2
Penn State	1-5	.167	1-2	0-3	18-11	.621	9-3	1-6	8-2	6-4	W4

Broadcast Information

TV: BTN+ (All three games | Link: HERE), Nebraska Public Media (Saturday | Link: HERE)

Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)

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