The Nebraska baseball team (25-11) will travel to the home of the Hoosiers this weekend in Bloomington, Indiana for a four-game pod series against Indiana (24-13) and Ohio State (19-16). The Huskers will take the field on Friday to start the series against IU, followed by a doubleheader on Saturday against the Buckeyes first and the Hoosiers second, then a final game on Sunday against OSU.
NU had a shortened series last weekend after Northwestern ran into issues related to COVID-19. The Big Red won the first two games of the series before Sunday’s game was canceled. In the games that were played, Nebraska showed out in Game 1 with a dominating 12-2 win. In Game 2 the Huskers fell behind early, but nine late runs gave them a convincing 11-5 win.
Indiana is coming off a rare mid-week game against Illinois that was rescheduled after being postponed earlier in the season. The Hoosiers fell 3-2 in 10 innings after leading 2-0 early on. Over the weekend prior to the Illinois game, IU played Michigan in Ann Arbor in a three-game series. Indiana fell 2-1 in the series with their only win coming in game two 13-8. The Wolverines took games one and three by scores of 10-3 and 6-1 respectively.
Ohio State is also coming off a 2-1 series loss to a team out of Michigan, but theirs came at home to the Spartans of Michigan State. The Buckeyes fell in Game 1 of the series 10-7 and were shut out in the second game 2-0. In the final game of the series, OSU was able to avoid the sweep and take a 7-3 win.
Friday, 7:00 p.m. vs. Indiana: LHP Cade Povich (5-1, 2.74 ERA) vs. LHP Tommy Sommer (5-3, 3.88 ERA)
Saturday, 12:00 p.m. vs. Ohio State: TBA vs. LHP Seth Lonsway (3-5, 3.86 ERA)
Saturday, 5:30 p.m. vs. Indiana: TBA vs. LHP McCade Brown (5-2, 3.23 ERA)
Sunday, 12:00 p.m. vs. Ohio State: TBA vs. LHP Griffan Smith (1-0, 5.79 ERA)
***For TV/Streaming, the Friday and Sunday games will be on Big Ten Network while Saturday will be on BTN+ against OSU and ESPNU against IU. All four games can be heard on Husker Sports Network.
The home stretch
NU is heading into the penultimate series of the season, and they are currently sitting atop the conference standings. The two teams that are closest to the Big Red are Indiana and Michigan, who both sit one game back. Nebraska plays the Hoosiers this weekend twice and then finishes up their season with a three-game series against the Wolverines. The best regular-season finish from the Huskers since joining the Big Ten came in 2017 when NU edged Michigan with a 16-7-1 conference record while the Wolverines finished 16-8. With the Big Red controlling their own destiny, they could be setting up to host a conference deciding series in Lincoln next weekend.
Unfamiliar pitchers
Although Nebraska has faced both teams in this pod series twice, they have only faced one of the four pitchers that are projected to start. Griffan Smith from Ohio State didn’t start, but did pitch one inning in Nebraska’s 6-4 loss to the Buckeyes in the Minnesota pod series. The lefty allowed no baserunners and struck out two Huskers in the one innings pitched. Having faced none of the starters this weekend, it makes for more unpredictability throughout the series.
Chip on their shoulder
NU seems to be playing with a chip on their shoulder ever since being swept by Rutgers. Three weeks ago, the Big Red were swept in three games by the Scarlet Knights and since then, Nebraska has won four out of five games. Two of those wins were against Rutgers themselves. The Huskers not only bounced back from the worst series of the season, but they have heated up at the right time.
Indiana
***The Hoosiers have offensive threats of Cole Barr and Grant Richardson. Barr leads the team in batting average (.336), runs scored (35), home runs (8) and RBI (33). Richardson leads in hits with 44 and stolen bases with 10.
***This season, Indiana has pitched three shutouts, allowed one run or less six times and surrendered two runs or less 12 times. The Hoosier pitchers have also posted five games this season allowing two hits or less.
***Indiana is ranked No. 25 in the nation by Perfect Game.
Ohio State
***The Buckeyes have the second-best fielding percentage in the conference, behind only NU. OSU’s is .975 and the Big Red’s is .980.
***Seth Lonsway is third in the conference in strikeouts with 85 and has allowed the third-lowest hits, with 32.
***Last time the two teams played, they split games in the Minneapolis, Minnesota pod series.
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