Baseball Weekend Preview: Michigan State

The Nebraska baseball team (18-6) will play three games in East Lansing, Michigan this weekend against Michigan State (11-15) starting Friday. The Huskers are coming off a three-game sweep of Penn State and have won four straight games.

Last weekend went according to plan for NU, although it may not have been as smooth as they would have liked. The Big Red won game one of the series in a tough fought match where it was 2-2 heading into the eighth inning. Nebraska was able to break the game open in that inning and win 8-2. On Saturday, the Huskers took charge immediately and scored five runs in the first inning. After that, they cruised to an 11-2 win. The final game was lower scoring, and NU pieced together a 5-3 win. The Big Red scored in four straight innings to complete the sweep of PSU.

Michigan State is coming off five straight losses, four of which came in last weekend’s pod series against Illinois and Purdue. The Spartans lost the final game to Purdue in a series prior to last weekend as well. MSU fell in the first two games of their pod series last weekend to Illinois 13-4 and 15-8. Following that, they played two against Purdue and lost 2-1 in 11 innings and then 8-3. Some highlight wins that the Spartans have had this season are when they took one of the two games they have played against Michigan 3-0 and a win in a three-game series against Indiana 5-1.

Friday, 4:05 p.m.: LHP Cade Povich (3-1, 3.66 ERA) vs. RHP Mason Erla (3-2, 3.02 ERA)

Saturday, 2:05 p.m.: RHP Chance Hroch (3-0, 5.11 ERA) vs. LHP Nick Powers (3-2, 4.15 ERA)

Sunday, 11:05 a.m.: RHP Shay Schanaman (4-0, 4.89 ERA) vs. RHP Wyatt Rush (1-1, 3.07 ERA)

***All three games can be heard on Husker Sports Network. Friday’s game can be watched on Big Ten Network and the following two will be on BTN+.

Series win streak

Nebraska has won six straight conference series to start the season, not including the pod series games they split. The last time the Huskers won six straight conference series was in 2006 after falling in two of three to Oklahoma State. NU has never won seven straight series. In their time in the Big Ten, the Big Red have never won more than three straight conference series. With a win this weekend, Nebraska can make history as the first time winning seven straight conference series.

Comparing matchups

The Huskers and the Spartans have played five of the same opponents. NU beat Purdue to start the season 3-1, then swept Minnesota 4-0. They beat Illinois 2-1, Maryland 2-1, and swept Penn State 3-0. Michigan State in the same matchups is 1-3 against Purdue, 2-1 against Minnesota, 1-3 against Illinois, 3-1 against Maryland and 1-1 vs. Penn State. Comparing past games, the Big Red have played substantially better against similar opponents.

Top of the lineup

Nebraska has stuck with the same six guys in the top of the batting order for the majority of this season. With little change recently, those six guys have settled into their places nicely and have hit the ball well. All six are hitting above .300, the leader being Jaxon Hallmark who is averaging .383. Joe Acker leads off for the Huskers and has gotten on base in the first at-bat of the game in 10 of the last 16 games. Together, they have 112 RBI and 172 hits. The front of the lineup will want to stay hot and settle even further into a permanent position in the lineup.

***Michigan State has lost their last five games – three to Purdue and two to Illinois. Nebraska won three of four against Purdue and two of three against Illinois.

***The Spartans have two batters averaging over .300. Zaid Walker is hitting .344 and Joe Steward is averaging .333. Walker has 32 hits this season, ranking him sixth in the conference.

***MSU is 3-4 at home this season. They hosted Penn State and Purdue where they split games with both teams and lost a series to Indiana 2-1.

***Michigan State has allowed the second-most hits in the Big Ten so far this season with 256 allowed.