Nebraska baseball pounds GCU 11-1 to take 2-0 lead in series

Nebraska baseball (3-2) followed its 7-2 series opening win over Grand Canyon (4-2) with a dominate 11-1 showing in the series’ second game on Friday night.

Head coach Will Bolt’s squad threw the first punch and didn’t look back en route to claiming a 2-0 series lead and the skipper’s 100th win in his Husker career. Nebraska outhit the Antelopes 17-4 and stretched its lead to double digits with two runs in the final frame. Seven different Husker bats recorded multi-hit games including three hits each from Riley Silva and Cayden Brumbaugh.

Here’s more on the Nebraska’s third win of the season.

S/O to the skipper.

Tonight's win marks #100 for Coach Bolt at NU. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/bhCDsiePW3

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) February 24, 2024

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Nebraska set the tone from the jump on a one-out single off the bat of Silva which setup Josh Caron. The junior catcher blasted his first home run of the year to straightaway center to put the Huskers in front 2-0. Two innings later, Silva initiated the action again with a leadoff single and scored along with Caron with the help of a Tyler Stone double that made it 4-0.

“(Brumbaugh) pieced a ball right off the bat,” Bolt said on the Huskers’ Radio Network. “We hit three balls hard to start the game and it looked like, ‘Well, are they going to get out of it?’ and Caron obviously with a big blast right there. That was the theme of the night. We cashed in just when it looked like they may get off the field we had some big hits.”

Small ball played a major role in the Huskers’ next scoring opportunity. Garrett Anglim got aboard via a walk and moved into scoring position after a sacrifice bunt from Rhett Stokes. Brumbaugh tallied his second RBI of the season with a single up the middle to extend Nebraska’s lead.

Meanwhile, Husker starter Brett Sears built off his Opening Day start against Baylor by working through six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts a walk and two hits allowed.

Nebraska pieced together a two-out rally in the seventh after singles from Stone and Evans. Pinch hitter Will Jesske tallied his first hit and RBI of his Husker career to make it a six-run game. GCU finally broke through in the home half against reliever Ty Horn. An RBI groundout with runners on the corners allowed the Antelopes to scratch across a run and draw within 6-1.

“Jesske was catching down in the bullpen for the entire game and we radioed down and said, ‘Hey, hustle down you’re getting ready to hit,'” Bolt said. “He rolls out and first-pitch backside single and a hustle double later in the game. That’s what we want to be known for. A guy like him, local kid, bleeds Husker red, his hit sparked us to put the game out of balance.”

Caron’s second home run of the night blew the game open in the eighth. A three-run shot to centerfield with two away gave the Huskers a 9-1 advantage. Horn bounced back with a 1-2-3 bottom half and Nebraska added even more insurance in the ninth. The Huskers scored two runs on three hits including a double from Jesske and a RBI single off the bat of Anglim.

Horn hung one more zero in the home half of the frame and Nebraska closed out its third victory of the season.

Caron, Sears keep the pressure on

Nebraska was in control of this one from the word go.

Caron’s home run followed by a 1-2-3 shutdown inning from Sears was the first page of a script that seemed to repeat over and over all night long. Even in the midst of some early missed opportunities at the plate, it seemed the Huskers could do nothing wrong offensively. That effort was complemented by another stout start from Sears which kept the momentum with the Nebraska dugout.

With the exception of the ninth, all of the Huskers’ multi-run innings were followed by 1-2-3 shutouts by NU pitching. Two of those innings below to Sears while the third came from Horn in the third.

The start for Sears is the Huskers’ second consecutive quality start following Drew Christo’s six-inning showing last night. For a team that’s greatest unknown entering the season was its starting pitching, that’s about as good as a sign as Nebraska could have early in the season.

“You don’t need a pitch clock with Brett Sears on the mound,” Bolt said. “He’s throwing a pitch about every four seconds. It felt like he threw 80% strikes. I don’t know what the numbers were but just the suffocation of the zone. He was changing speeds with the fastball and the changup. He had a couple different breaking balls he was throwing and just really competitive. There were a couple of moments in the game where it could’ve gotten sideways. A lot of 3-2 wins that he had on his side and a double play he had early in that game helped him settle in.”

Meanwhile, it seems the bats in the middle of the Husker order are starting to heat up. Caron was relatively quiet during opening weekend but through two games of this series his line features a 3-for-8 mark at the dish with six RBIs and six home runs.

Now Nebraska nearly has a stranglehold on this series with a stocked bullpen for the final two games.

Tyler Stone’s strong homecoming continues

Stone has treated his family and friends to an incredible weekend through the first two nights of a four-game set.

The Scottsdale, Arizona, native is hitting .444 for the weekend with five RBIs, a home run and two doubles. It hasn’t just been the slugging element for the 6-foot-3, 235-pound junior. After grounding into a heavy shift to the right side of the field, Stone laid down a bunt up the third-base line and motored on to first with an infield hit.

That helped setup a two-out rally for Nebraska and allowed the Huskers to stretch the lead in the seventh. Stone’s two-RBI double in the third gave NU its first true separation of the evening in the same way he delivered on Thursday.

Stone was close to extra-base hits in both Friday’s game against Baylor and Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma. If not for a pair of outstanding plays by opposing outfielders, his numbers could be even better. A consistently dominate bat in the middle of the order combined with the speed at the top could add a new layer to the Husker attack.

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska baseball returns to Brazell field seeking a series win on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. CT. Left-handed arm Will Walsh (4.76 ERA) will get the start for the Huskers against right-hander Connor Mattison (3.00 ERA).

The final two games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network.