Early Lead Fuels Huskers to 9-2 Win

Nebraska jumped out to a massive lead with nine runs in the second inning and never looked back, as the Huskers clinched the weekend series against Northwestern with a 9-2 win on Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.

The Huskers (20-11-1, 6-2 Big Ten) scored nine runs on 13 hits, while the Wildcats (5-24, 3-5 Big Ten) were limited to a pair of runs on five hits.

Jackson Brockett improved to 2-0 on the season after dealing a career-high six shutout innings. The sophomore struck out four and walked three while holding the Wildcats to three hits. Drew Christo pitched a scoreless seventh inning, while Austin Berggren allowed two runs on two hits in 0.2 innings of work. Jalen Worthley toed the rubber for the final 1.1 innings for the Huskers.

Gabe Swansen led the Husker at the plate, falling a triple shy of the cycle. Swansen was 3-for-4 with a double, home run, two RBI and a pair of runs scored. With Swansen’s home run, the Huskers have homered in 13 consecutive games, which is the longest streak by the Big Red in a single-season since Nebraska homered in 21 straight games in 1988.

Casey Burnham went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run, while Ben Columbus had a two-hit day after going 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a run. Charlie Fischer was 1-for-4 with a three-RBI triple and a run, while Max Anderson and Cole Evans recorded one hit apiece.

Swansen reached on a one-single and came around to score on Columbus’ RBI double into the gap in right-center to break the scoreless tie in the second. The Wildcats picked up their second out, before three consecutive RBI hits had the Big Red out front 4-0. Evans singled home Columbus, followed by an RBI double from Matthews and an RBI single by Burnham gave the Huskers the four-run lead.

The Huskers had the bases loaded in the second until Fischer ripped a bases-clearing RBI triple down the right-field line into the corner. Swansen cleared the Northwestern bullpen in right field with a two-run homer for his second hit in the inning to stretch the lead to nine.

Brockett responded to the offensive outburst in the second inning by blanking the Wildcats in the next four innings, surrendering just a double in the third and a single in the fourth.

Christo replaced Brockett in the seventh and worked around a leadoff four-pitch walk to keep Northwestern off the board through seven innings.

A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for Northwestern in the top of the eighth, while a sacrifice fly to center plated the Wildcats’ first run of the game. With two outs and runners on first and third, the Wildcats doubled their run total in the inning on a wild pitch.

Matthews began the bottom of the eighth with a single, and Burnham was hit by pitch, before the pair moved up a base on a wild pitch to put runners on second and third with no outs for the Husker offense. The threat came to a halt for the Big Red after the next three Huskers were retired by strikeouts to keep it a 9-2 game.

Worthley retired the Wildcats in order in the ninth to clinch the series and preserve the 9-2 win for the Huskers.

Nebraska and Northwestern wrap up the series tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.