Around the Horn: Nebraska closes home stand with Iowa

Just 15 games remain in Nebraska baseball’s regular season.

An incredibly strong Husker start to the season featuring extra-inning wins and critical late-inning plays has been met with a mystifying midseason slump. NU (25-13, 8-4) welcomes Iowa (23-15, 9-6) this weekend for three of its final eight games at Haymarket Park. Head coach Will Bolt said the Huskers’ sights are set on a late-season push.

“Any good team, you’re gonna have moments in the season where the breaks aren’t going your way, where you are not winning games that maybe you won earlier in the season, but great teams always find a way to finish strong,” Bolt said. “That’s our goal. We’ve got half the conference season left. We’ve got a handful of midweek games left. Can we finish strong? Because if we can start strong and finish strong, then you’ve got a chance to be a championship type team.”

Here’s more on another critical Big Ten series and the dark shroud of inclement weather that will likely hang over the entire weekend.

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Projecting Nebraska’s pitching matchups

Friday, 6:05 p.m., RHP Brett Sears (Stats: 7-0, 1.58 ERA, 68.1 IP, 68 K) vs. LHP Cade Obermueller (Stats: 3-2, 3.75 ERA, 48.0 IP, 56 K)

Saturday, 1:15 p.m., RHP Mason McConnaughey (Stats: 4-3, 3.41 ERA, 37.0 IP, 46 K) Vs. RHP Marcus Morgan (Stats: 2-3, 7.44 ERA, 42.1 IP, 51 K)

Sunday, 1:05 p.m., LHP Will Walsh (Stats: 4-2, 4.97 ERA, 41.2, 36 K) Vs. RHP Brody Brecht (1-2, 4.11 ERA, 48.0 IP, 84 K)

What to watch for the Huskers

A rivalry renewed

Bolt believes Iowa has started to turn the corner. A sweep of Rutgers last week and a pair of midweek wins means the Hawkeyes will ride a five-game winning streak into Lincoln. Iowa starting pitching allowed six earned runs in 18 1/3 innings against the Scarlet Knights.

Strong starting pitching is a regular characteristic of Rick Heller’s squads according to Bolt. That wasn’t true at the beginning of the year, but the Hawkeyes have begun to pull it together over the last month.

“I think they’re playing as good as they’ve played all year right now,” Bolt said. “They’ve got three high-level starters, I think they’re starting to figure some things out in the bullpen, they have a lineup that’s hitting over .300, they steal bases and they lay down bunts.”

As far as last year’s series in which Iowa swept Nebraska in Iowa City and outscored the Huskers 25-7, the past is in the past. Bolt said NU events that occurred a calendar year ago have little bearing on this weekend and how the Huskers prepare.

The team is still very aware of the importance of a rivalry weekend. Iowa leads the all-time series 29-25. Newcomer Tyler Stone spent his last season at Iowa Western Community College.

“Before even coming here I knew Iowa is a huge rivalry,” Stone said. “I know all of the guys are excited definitely to get out there. It’s going to be a big series and we’re all going to be really competitive and ready to go.”

Eyes on the weather

Rain and severe weather will be a major factor this weekend. Storms are possible both Friday and Sunday.

“I think we’re going to be fine,” Bolt said. “There’s going to be some thunderstorms and obviously there’s going to be lightning in the area so that might be something that delays us a little bit.”

The Husker skipper added that pushing Friday’s game back to miss weather could be on the table. Because of the spring game and Saturday’s broadcast on the Big Ten Network, moving that game up is highly unlikely. The 1:15 p.m. start time makes getting two games in difficult as well.

On the bright side, Iowa is bussing to the Star City. That gives some flexibility regarding Sunday’s start time. Bolt said the game could be played much later in the afternoon if needed.

Ping pong is a popular activity among players during a delay. Stone said Dylan Carey and Tyner Horn are two of the better players on the team. Jalen Worthley said he is likely in the upper echelon alongside fellow southpaw Will Walsh.

“I love competing with ping pong in the locker room with the guys,” Worthley said. “I’ve been beating Garrett Anglim a lot so, I hope everyone watching this knows that.”

Bolt said the coaches kill time with MLB TV, a new addition to the office. Delays will certainly be a possibility.

Data Dive: Nebraska’s success holding runners

Nebraska’s success on the base paths (largely due to Riley Silva) is fairly well documented. Of course, the Huskers are doing an excellent job controlling opposing running games as well.

Josh Caron and the NU pitching staff have allowed just 13 stolen bases in 38 games this year. That’s good for a four-way tie with Oregon, Wofford and San Diego for the third fewest swipes allowed in the country. Only Texas A&M (11) and Coastal Carolina (nine) have surrendered fewer.

The Huskers are +52 on stolen bases this season. That’s the 16th-best margin among the NCAA’s 305 Division-I programs.

This is the last dumbbell chart for a while, I promise. Each of the country’s top 20 teams in stolen base margin are below and listed with the fewest stolen bases allowed from the top down. The red dot is opposing stolen bases while the green is team stolen bags.

Nebraska averages 1.32 more stolen bases per game than its foes. That’s still less than NCAA stolen base leaders Wofford (+2.63 per game), Oakland (+2.52) and VMI (+2.11).

Bolt attributed the Huskers’ success in limiting opponent stolen base opportunities to both personnel and coaching. Josh Caron has done a good job executing while Rob Childress has put an emphasis on calling pickoffs with a purpose.

“It has to do with the pitchers on the mound executing the timing,” Bolt said. “You don’t just come set and pick the same way every time. You’ve got to mix up your looks. Obviously Josh has done a good job as well. I think all of those things play into it.”

Iowa has given up the third-most stolen bases in the Big Ten (43) while stealing the fourth-most (62) just behind Nebraska at 65.

Know the foe: Iowa

***Iowa is 0-10 when trailing after six innings this season and that stretches to 0-12 after seven frames. When leading in those instances the Hawkeyes are 20-4 and 22-2 respectively.

***Six different batters in the Iowa lineup are above .300 and all have more than 115 at-bats. Raider Tello leads the group with a .365 batting average. He also has a team-high 49 RBIs.

***Anthony Watts is one of the Hawkeyes’ top bullpen arms. He is 2-0 with a 3.62 ERA in 27 1/3 innings of work with 37 strikeouts to 20 walks.

***Players to watch: RHP Brody Brecht

It’s been a bit of an up and down season for the preseason All-American candidate. Brecht has allowed three or more runs in four of his last five starts. His Big Ten Pitcher of the Week worthy start against Rutgers last weekend is the only outlier. The right-hander tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings (his longest outing of the season) while allowing one hit and striking out 12.

His ratio of 2.34 strikeouts per walk is by far the best of his career.

Around the Big Ten

Here are a few Big Ten series to keep tabs on this weekend as well as the conference standings. Records are as of Wednesday evening:

Series:

Illinois (24-13, 10-2) @ Maryland (26-16, 6-9)

Rutgers (24-16, 3-9) @ Indiana (22-18-1, 7-5)

Michigan State (17-20, 5-7) @ Ohio State (19-18, 6-6)

Standings:

SCHOOL	CONF	PCT	ALL	PCT	HOME	ROAD	NEUT	STREAK
Illinois	10-2	.833	24-13	.649	15-1	4-8	5-4	W8
Nebraska	8-4	.667	25-13	.658	13-5	11-6	1-2	L1
Purdue	8-4	.667	26-15	.625	13-8	4-5	8-2	L1
Michigan	10-5	.667	20-21	.488	11-7	7-8	2-6	W1
Iowa	9-6	.600	23-15	.605	16-3	5-8	2-4	W5
Indiana	7-5	.583	22-18-1	.550	12-10	8-5	2-3	W1
Ohio State	6-6	.500	19-18	.514	7-5	8-12	4-1	L2
Michigan State	5-7	.417	17-20	.459	9-6	3-5	5-9	L1
Maryland	6-9	.400	26-16	.619	11-3	14-12	1-1	W1
Penn State	6-9	.400	19-17	.528	8-5	6-10	5-2	W1
Minnesota	4-8	.333	18-18	.486	6-4	8-10	3-4	W1
Rutgers	3-9	.250	24-16	.600	10-5	14-11	0-0	W1
Northwestern	2-10	.167	13-23	.361	4-6	9-17	0-0	W1

Broadcast Information

TV: Big Ten+/Big Ten Network: HERE

Radio: Huskers Radio Network (Radio simulcast found HERE)

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