Around the Horn: Nebraska baseball travels to Purdue to wrap up the regular season

The Nebraska baseball team (29-20-1) has gotten hot at the right time, with one regular season series remaining. For that final series, the Big Red will head to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on Purdue (23-27).

Coming into the game, NU have won four straight games, extending to last week’s midweek game against Creighton. A sweep over Penn State in the Huskers’ final home series last weekend has Nebraska rolling with some momentum into the final series of the year.

For the Boilermakers, positive momentum is not something that they have been enjoying. Purdue is doing the opposite of the Big Red, riding a four game losing streak. The Boilermakers were swept in three games last weekend by Indiana after losing to the University of Illinois Chicago on Wednesday. The last win Purdue recorded was on May 7, beating South Dakota State 3-2.

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Projecting the pitching

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

Thursday, 5:00 p.m., LHP Emmett Olson (6-3, 4.42 ERA, 73.1 IP, 72 K) vs. TBA

Friday, 5:00 p.m., RHP Jace Kaminska (7-3, 4.52 ERA, 61.2 IP, 45 K) vs. TBA

Saturday, 1:00 p.m., TBA vs. TBA

What to watch for the Huskers

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Playing complete baseball

Nebraska is coming off a weekend where they played complete baseball. That means that the Huskers have hit the ball well, the pitching staff has showed up, and the defense done its job. On top of that, we are seeing a different side to this offense. Not only have they continued to hit home runs, but they have worked some small ball into the mix.

Over the weekend against Penn State, NU bunted for multiple hits, bunted to advance runners, and even bunted to score runs. Dylan Carey laid down three bunts on Sunday against the Nittany Lions, and two advanced a runners, while the third was a base hit.

Overall, as the season nears its end, the Big Red are likely to try and find new ways to get runners around the bases. With that comes some small ball on top of the big hits from the home run leaders.

Shuffling around the Big Ten

With Illinois losing to Rutgers on Sunday, Nebraska has guaranteed that they will play in the Big Ten tournament in Omaha. With that, this weekend only means shifting position in the conference. Sitting at 13-8 in Big Ten play, Nebraska can in theory win the conference outright, or finish as low as eighth.

In order to win the conference, NU would have to sweep Purdue first and foremost. On top of that, Indiana and Maryland would need to be swept by Michigan State and Penn State respectively. In addition, the Big Red would need Iowa, Rutgers and Michigan to drop a game this weekend.

On the flip side, if the Huskers are swept, they will finish anywhere from fourth to eighth. However, head coach Will Bolt said that they are not thinking about this heading into the final weekend. That is understandable, as it has little effect on anything outside of what day they play and who the opponent is.

Max Anderson rounding out an impressive season

Max Anderson has put together quite the season from the plate. The junior is one home run shy of hitting the 20 homer mark, and he is hitting above .400. Hitting at a .409 clip, the Anderson has hit 39 extra-base hits. This includes 18 doubles, two triples, and 19 home runs. With numbers like that, Anderson sits just inside the top 10 for all-time single season extra-base hits in NU history.

That isn’t the whole story though. Through this much of the season, just one other player in Division I baseball is hitting over .400 and has hit at least 19 homers and 60 RBIs. Charlie Condron of Georgia is the only other player, other than Max Anderson.

With this being the Huskers’ final series of the year, there is a strong chance it is also Anderson‘s final home series for Nebraska. Unless he decides to not declare for the draft and play another year at NU, the junior put together quite a final season from the batter’s box.

Nebraska baseball notes

***Brice Matthews is just one stolen base away from becoming the first player in program history to record 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases.

***In 2019, Nebraska put up the most runs in a three-game Big Ten series in program history when they score 39 against the Boilermakers.

***Nebraska has hit 90 home runs this season. That is the second most in program history for a single season. NU hit 93 home runs in 1985, and that sits as the number to beat.

Know the foe: Purdue

***The Boilermakers need to sweep the Huskers in order to guarantee they make the Big Ten tournament.

***Purdue has two players in the top three of the conference for stolen bases. Mike Bolton Jr. (28) and Couper Cornblum (24) sit first and third respectively in the stolen base category.

***Aaron Suval has seven saves on the season. That number ties him with Shay Schanaman for the fourth most in the Big Ten.

Around the Big Ten

Here are a few Big Ten baseball series to keep tabs on this weekend:

Maryland (35-18, 15-6 Big Ten) @ Penn State (24-23, 6-14 Big Ten)

Iowa (37-12, 13-7 Big Ten) @ Northwestern (9-38, 3-18 Big Ten)

Rutgers (32-19, 13-8 Big Ten) @ Minnesota (16-33, 8-13 Big Ten)

Indiana (39-14, 15-6 Big Ten) @ Michigan State (30-19, 10-11 Big Ten)

Conference Baseball Standings

SCHOOL	CONF	PCT	HOME	ROAD	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	ROAD	NEUTRAL	LAST 10	STREAK
Indiana	15-6	.714	8-4	7-2	39-14	.736	26-4	12-9	1-1	8-2	W8
Maryland	15-6	.714	8-4	7-2	35-18	.660	18-9	17-6	0-3	7-3	W2
Iowa	13-7	.650	9-3	4-4	37-12	.755	22-3	7-8	8-1	8-2	W3
Rutgers	13-8	.619	8-4	5-4	32-19	.627	16-4	15-13	1-2	7-3	W1
Nebraska	13-8	.619	10-2	3-6	29-20-1	.590	15-7	9-11-1	5-2	7-3	W4
Michigan	13-8	.619	9-3	4-5	26-23	.531	15-10	7-8	4-5	5-5	L1
Illinois	12-12	.500	8-4	4-8	23-24	.489	9-7	10-15	4-2	5-5	L1
Michigan State	10-11	.476	7-2	3-9	30-19	.612	15-3	10-13	5-3	4-6	W1
Purdue	10-11	.476	6-3	4-8	23-27	.460	11-8	4-15	8-4	4-6	L4
Minnesota	8-13	.381	4-5	4-8	16-33	.327	10-14	6-12	0-7	5-5	W1
Penn State	6-14	.300	5-3	1-11	24-23	.511	14-4	2-17	8-2	1-9	L8
Ohio State	6-15	.286	4-5	2-10	28-25	.528	16-7	7-14	5-4	7-3	W6
Northwestern	3-18	.143	2-7	1-11	9-38	.191	5-8	4-28	0-2	2-8	W1

Broadcast information

TV: Big Ten Plus (ALL 3 GAMES): LINK HERE

Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found LINK HERE)

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