Nebraska baseball wins low-scoring affair, series with New Mexico State

Saturday’s snowy, cold weather trickled into Nebraska baseball’s bats through the first five innings of the second game of the team’s series with New Mexico State.

After scoring 14 runs on Friday, the Huskers’ managed just three hits (one which didn’t leave the infield) leading up to the sixth. Nebraska’s pitching staff stepped up to fill the void in the meantime. Drew Christo’s start lasted 4 1/3 innings and three different NU arms escaped jams in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

“That was reminiscent of several of our wins this year,” Bolt said. “The difference was the bullpen today. Obviously we had a couple of clutch hits there late but it was kinda a choppy day offensively and it was a really tough day to hit. We went with the guys out of the pen who have shown they can throw the ball over the plate, because the free passes were going to hurt today.”

Kyle Perry slammed the door with the tying run on third in the ninth and collected his third save of the year on his birthday.

Here’s how the Huskers extended their winning streak to seven games. Nebraska has won 16 of the last 19 games.

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Christo sailed smoothly through the games first three innings and retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced. With one down in the fourth, that all changed. A single led into a walk and hit batsman to juice the bases for the Aggies. The right-hander made a critical pickoff move to second that, with the help of a replay review, got the Huskers closer to hanging a zero.

Christo plunked another batter to reload the bases before coaxing a fly out to center and escaping the jam.

Nebraska’s bullpen turned away doubles from the Aggies in each of the next two innings. Kyle Froehlich used four pitches to record two outs in the fifth and strand a runner at second. In the sixth, it was Jalen Worthley who tallied a pair of critical outs and left a New Mexico State runner on third to preserve the 0-0 tie.

With two outs in the home half, Josh Caron delivered the Huskers’ first extra-base hit of the day on a double to left-center. Nebraska capitalized on its scoring opportunity four pitches later when Tyler Stone poked a ball through the right side, breaking the stalemate and giving the Huskers a 1-0 lead.

The Aggies made another serious push in the seventh. A one-out single and an error put runners on the corners and Nebraska went to the bullpen yet again for Evan Borst. The right-hander struck out the first batter he faced to hold the runners but reloaded the bases with a walk for cleanup man Mitch Namie. Borst perfectly played a bunt attempt from Namie and fired to first for the third out.

“I thought it was a hit off the bat,” Bolt said. “Borst came here as a two-way guy. He was an infielder in junior college. Really good athlete. Just very calm, cool and collected bounced off the mound quick, bare hand, through a strike to first base and he needed every bit of that fastball to get an out.”

NU picked up some much-needed insurance in the bottom half off the bat of Case Sanderson. The freshman punched his third hit of the day through the right side and made it 2-0.

“He’s just a very even-keeled young man,” Bolt said. “He’s always grinding in the cages and that’s what I told him there before that last at-bat I said, ‘This is why you get up and work hard every day when nobody is watching at times is so you can trust yourself in these types of situations.’ I think the guy has a knack for finding the barrel.”

New Mexico State put the leadoff man on second with an infield hit and a throwing error. A Titus Dumitru double down the left-field line brought the Aggies within one. With two down, Kyle Perry took the ball with the tying run on third and logged a looking strikeout to complete the series win.

“It’s phenomenal man, it’s so fun,” Worthley said of the 2024 Huskers. “We’ve got a group of guys that just love winning and will do whatever it takes to win and it’s good to be a part of that.”

The Huskers have put on a pitching clinic this week

Nebraska’s pitching staff has been beyond impressive this week. Starting pitching is yet to allow an earned run in the last 23 1/3 innings. That group has posted 31 strikeouts to five walks in the same stretch.

“It makes the game a lot more fun for us,” Worthley said of the Huskers’ starting group. “The starters are out there doing their job, putting up zeros. So we get in the game and we have to put up zeros, too. It makes our job that much more fun.”

The bullpen was the star on Saturday without a doubt.

“It says we have a pretty well-rounded team and that’s what we’ve shown to this point,” head coach Will Bolt said of the Huskers’ different styles of win in the last two days. “The line is very fine. We’ve got 17 wins now and I think 11 saves so there’s been a lot of good saves. We have, I want to say, six different guys who have saves for us so we’ve put a lot of trust in a lot of different guys.”

Nebraska stranded 12 different Aggies on base and left runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Overall, New Mexico State did not have a hit with runners on base until the ninth inning and finished the game 1-for-20 (.050) in such situations.

“It really boosts our confidence knowing that the guys, anyone that goes out there, they’re getting the job done,” Sanderson said. “It’s great to see having those guys on our side, doing their job, going in there and pounding on the zone and recording outs.”

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Sunday’s series finale game is set for a 1:05 p.m. first pitch with Mason McConnaughey (1.65 ERA) on the hill for the Huskers. Lefty Hayden Walker (4.30 ERA) will get the nod for New Mexico State.

The game can be streamed on Big Ten Plus and heard on the Huskers Radio Network. On Tuesday, Nebraska travels to Manhattan, Kansas, for a key midweek duel with the Kansas State Wildcats (15-6). First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.