Baseball Weekend Preview: Ohio State and Iowa

Nebraska baseball (3-1) is headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a weekend series where they will play two games each against Ohio State (3-1) and Iowa (1-3). The Huskers will start the series on Friday with a matchup against the Buckeyes, Saturday will be an early game against the Hawkeyes, and Sunday will be a double-header against each team once.

The Big Red will be looking to pick up where they left off after a 3-1 series win against Purdue. The series started with a back and forth game that went the way of the Boilermakers, however, NU bounced back with three straight wins to finish the weekend. In the final three games of the last weekend’s series, the Huskers outscored Purdue 21-2, only giving up runs in one of the games.

The last time Nebraska faced Iowa, the Big Red took the largest margin of victory the matchup had ever seen, winning 11-1. This win came in the Big Ten Tournament where they went on to play in the championship game. The all-time record between these two teams is 19-19.

The last matchup against Ohio State was also in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament, but this one did not go in favor of NU. The Buckeyes got the better of Nebraska in a hard-fought championship game 3-1. However, the Big red holds the all-time series over Ohio State 13-12.

Friday, 3:00 p.m. vs. Ohio State: LHP Cade Povich (0-0, 9.0 ERA) vs. RHP Garrett Burhenn (0-0, 3.00 ERA)

Saturday, 9:00 a.m. vs. Iowa: RHP Chance Hroch (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. RHP Drew Irvine (0-0, 9.00 ERA)

Sunday, 10:00 a.m. vs. Ohio State: RHP Shay Schanaman (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. TBD

Sunday, 2:00 p.m. vs. Iowa: LHP Jake Bunz (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Duncan Davitt (0-0, 10.80 ERA)

Freshman talent

The Huskers had three freshman step in and make their debut in the series against Purdue, and each showed up in big moments. The most impressive of the three was Max Anderson, who led the team in hits going 8-15 and hitting a homerun in his first collegiate at-bat. Brice Matthews also showed off his talents with a huge Game 3 performance against the Boilermakers. Matthews went 2-3 with a double and four RBIs which led the team. Jack Steil is the third freshman, and his only appearance came in the fourth game of the series where he seized his opportunity. Steil had a double and a two-run home run that helped Nebraska take Game 4 4-0. Look for these guys to continue settling into this squad.

Pitching Success

Nebraska found lots of success from the mound in the final three games of the series. After an uncharacteristic start from Cade Povich, the starters on Saturday both went six innings deep and only gave up six runs. Both Saturday games also only needed one reliever each, which allowed for the Big Red to use the entire bullpen on Sunday when necessary. With Jake Bunz being on a limited pitch count coming back from injury, he only got three innings in, and NU used six relievers throughout the next six innings. These great starts and relief pitching is what Nebraska needs to keep finding success

Starter Schanaman

Shay Schanaman made 25 appearances for the Big Red in his first two seasons, however, none were starts. On Saturday, Schanaman debuted as a starter and looked like he was an experienced veteran. In the six innings, Schanaman allowed no runs and only one hit while also striking out five. More starts like this from the junior are what the Huskers are looking for and will want to see on Sunday.

Ohio State

***The Buckeyes beat Illinois in their four-game series 3-1. OSU took the opener in a 13 inning thriller 6-3, then swept the double-header on Saturday with 6-5 and 12-6 wins. On Sunday the Fighting Illini shutout Ohio State 8-0.

***The only starting pitcher for the Buckeyes that went more than four innings was RHP Garrett Burhenn who allowed two runs on four hits in the six innings he pitched.

***True freshman outfielder Kade Kern went 8-for-17 from the batter’s box with five RBIs in the series against Illinois.

Iowa

***The Hawkeyes dropped their opening series to Michigan 3-1. The Wolverines took the first game 4-2, then Iowa snagged the second with an 8-3 win. Michigan then came back to grab the series with 7-0 and 11-4 wins in the final two games.

***Iowa did not go yard in any of the four games in their opening series. They combined for 11 doubles, but no triples or home runs.

***The Hawkeyes also only had one pitcher go deeper than four innings. Of the four starters, only LHP Trent Wallace went more than four, giving up two runs on three hits and striking out eight in his five innings pitched.