Nebraska baseball routs Hawaii 12-3 to secure winning weekend
MINNEAPOLIS – Nebraska baseball avoided a letdown on Saturday following Friday’s win over No. 7 Vanderbilt. The Huskers (5-3-1) handed Hawaii (5-4) its fourth loss of the season and routed the Rainbow Warriors at US Bank Stadium for a 12-3 victory.
Nebraska’s offense shined once again, and this time it came through in both the hit and run columns. The win sets of a titanic showdown with No. 4 Ole Miss on Sunday as the Huskers shoot for a 3-0 weekend in the Twin Cities.
It was all zeros on the scoreboard for the first three innings. Both Nebraska and Hawaii put base runners on, but both starters were stingy. Jace Kaminska stranded three Rainbow Warriors on base while Randy Abshier left two Huskers on the paths.
Controversy struck in the top half of the fourth inning.
Josh Caron was picked off at first base following what the Husker dugout thought was a balk from Abshier. Then Anglim drilled a pitch to deep center as Nebraska fans screamed for a pitch-clock violation. The umpires awarded Anglim the ball on a late call and wiped out the homer.
Head coach Will Bolt said he hadn’t seen anything like it.
“It did hit zero before he threw the pitch so by the letter of the law it was a ball,” Bolt said. “Maybe it’s something to speak to that you play it like a balk. If the pitch is thrown, you get to take the result of the play.”
But, the Huskers would get those two runs back.
Anglim worked a walk and Swansen stepped to the plate. The right-fielder sent a line drive off the wall in right scoring Everitt from second and Anglim from first. Kaminska protected the 2-0 Husker advantage with a 1-2-3 bottom half of the fourth.
Nebraska added another in the fifth. Carey poked a two-out single through the left side and that setup Anderson. The second baseman had been having a quiet 0-2 day entering the inning. Anderson made his mark on the game, and the baseball, with a scorching triple to right-center that brought in Carey and made it 3-0 Huskers.
Kaminska got in a spot of trouble during the bottom half allowing two Hawaii hitters on base. Yet again, he was able to hold the Rainbow Warriors off the board with the help of two fly balls to center field and a runner caught stealing by Caron.
“Kaminska set the tone on the mound,” Bolt said. “When we had some hard-hit balls and they we’re making some great plays defensively, he kept it at zero. Every time we scored, he did a nice job of getting a shutout inning.”
Nebraska blew it open in the sixth.
The Huskers batted around in the inning, plating five runs on six hits. Brice Matthews got the party started with a two-RBI single and Carey plated another run with a single through the left side. A failed pickoff attempt scored another run and Anderson added his second RBI with a single moments later to make it 8-0 Nebraska.
What remained of the ballgame was an absolute tail thrashing apart from a Husker hiccup in the seventh.
Nebraska added a pair of runs in the top half of the inning, but Kaminska exited the game and Brett Sears made his second relief appearance of the season. The right-handed pitcher allowed a solo homer and an additional run before getting the Huskers out of the inning without any further damage.
Nebraska got those two runs right back in the eighth off a Swansen home run to left. Hawaii cut the Husker lead to 12-3 with a solo bomb in the home half of the inning. That brought in Jake Bunz, who stopped the bleeding ending the frame with a strikeout.
Drew Christo took the hill in the bottom half and protected his nine-run cushion to give the Huskers their fifth win of the season.
“We’ve got a pretty mature team,” Bolt said. “We’ve got a team that’s pretty dialed in. They don’t make it too high or too low. Too much or too little. They’re pretty process oriented just as far as showing up everyday. That’s what I said after the first weekend, the second weekend. We just need to keep getting better and better and we’ve incrementally done that.”
Nebraska has bona fide dynamic duo in Kaminska and Olson
The Huskers got back-to-back quality starts on Friday and Saturday of this week. That’s the first time Nebraska has achieved the feat in nine-inning games since 2021.
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That’s a big deal.
Despite the fact that the Huskers lost both of these pitchers’ first starts (Olson is the only one to take a loss on the record), each outing showed what Nebraska’s rotation was capable of. Kaminska and Olson have the makings of a Cade Povich-Chance Hroch type combination. Kamkinska completed 6.0 scoreless innings on Saturday with three strikeouts.
“I thought I had a little bit of everything working,” Kaminska said of his performance. “It was down in the zone and the breaking pitch was pretty good today.”
Stability is the most important piece to Kaminska and Olson’s start to the season. Nebraska had seven different pitchers start a weekend game in 2022. It’s clear the Huskers feel good about their rotation.
That trickles down to the bullpen, too. Nebraska has used six relief arms in the last four games. The Huskers have plenty of arms behind freshman Caleb Clark for tomorrow’s meeting with Ole Miss. It’s a luxury Nebraska has because the starters have taken care of business.
“Today’s the best I’ve been by far as far as control wise, getting ahead and working with tempo,” Kaminska said. “I don’t know how you’d describe it, but I’m further along than I was two weeks ago.”
Swansen provides a major lift for the bottom third
Nebraska’s best hitter was in the No. 7 hole Saturday.
Swansen has started the last four games for the Huskers. He’s hitting .384 in those games and went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs in the win over Hawaii.
“You just always have got to stay ready,” Swansen said. “You never know what’s going to happen. Your name can get called whenever. My name got called and I’ve just been ready.”
Swansen is one of many options in Nebraska’s batting order. Charlie Fischer and Ben Columbus have been sidelined thus far this weekend. If the Huskers want to go a bit more defensive, Cole Evans is an outfield option. Bolt said its difficult to find at-bats for everyone.
“They’re having team at-bats,” Bolt said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. If guys stay within themselves and stay with the team when it comes to their approach and how they go about it, they’ll continue to get opportunities.”
What’s next for Nebraska?
Nebraska closes out the weekend on Sunday against No. 4 Ole Miss. The Huskers meet the Rebels at US Bank Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. tilt.
The game will be streamed on BTN+ and can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network.
