Nebraska baseball came out of its season-opening series with a bit of a limp but was able to leave the next one with a bit of a strut.
The Huskers lost two of their first three games in the ninth inning, but their bats came alive last weekend in a 3-1 series win over Grand Canyon in which they averaged over eight runs per game and outscored the Lopes, 33-18, on the road.
Now, Will Bolt’s club will look to keep things rolling in a four-game road swing against College of Charleston. The series begins on Thursday (1 p.m. CT) as Nebraska (4-3) looks to put the first tally in the loss column of the Cougars (7-0).
Charleston ranks in the top 70 nationally in team batting average (.319), home runs (8), total runs (59), runs per game (8.4) and stolen bases (12) while also ranking 15th in on-base percentage (.473) and top 50 nationally in slugging percentage (.528). The Cougars are also ranked fifth in team ERA (1.86), fifth in WHIP (0.98) and 21st in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.29).
It’s a quality opponent, to be sure. Here’s everything Bolt said ahead of the four-game set before the Huskers eventually head back to Lincoln for their first home series against South Alabama next week (March 8-10).
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Injury Report
Bolt said the Huskers will be rolling with the “same rotation” and “same order” in the lineup for the four-game series.
That means the Huskers will be rolling with RHP Drew Christo on Thursday, RHP Brett Sears on Friday, LHP Will Walsh on Saturday and LHP Caleb Clark on Sunday.
The first five in the lineup for most, if not all, of the four games will be Cayden Brumbaugh, Riley Silva, Dylan Carey, Josh Caron and Tyler Stone with a combination of – most likely – Gabe Swansen, Garrett Anglim, Cole Evans, Case Sanderson and Dylan Duft in the 6-9 spots.
Beyond them, are there any additional injuries to report? How about the availability of pitchers Casey Daiss and Kyle Froelich?
BOLT: “We’ll see how they feel (Tuesday). Neither one of them were feeling great last weekend, probably why you didn’t see either one of them. There were going to be some opportunities to get them in there.
“Daiss, they (Grand Canyon) were very left-handed as well in their lineup, so him not feeling like a 10 was not going to be a great matchup. Froelich was probably available, but we wanted to give him the weekend to see how he feels this week. And it’s nothing real concerning, but I guess it does speak to our depth that we feel like we have on the mound. We had some guys kind of make their first appearances this weekend and didn’t even need to use two guys who are going to be big parts of our bullpen.”
Was that a product of the staff setting itself up better earlier in the series with strong starting pitching?
BOLT: “Yeah, that helps. I mean, your starting pitcher goes six the first two games of a four-game set, that certainly helps set you up for success. I’d point to Tyler Horn as well being able to get the three-inning save, that one played out like we hoped it would. Get some of our other guys (in there) and kind of helps in the middle innings, and then you go to your leverage guys. I thought Cleavinger came in in a big spot. Obviously wasn’t the cleanest, but he got a big punch out there to get the second out of the inning. J-Dub (Jalen Worthley), obviously, in the middle innings of Sunday’s game.
“I mean, there was a lot of guys that really contributed, but it certainly helps when your starting pitchers (perform well) in the front. That’s why they’re there is to get you deeper into the games, but also if they don’t have it that day, you feel like you got some guys that can step in and piggyback off of that.”
Was Drew Christo’s outing (6 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 4 K, 1 BB on 86 pitches in Thursday’s series-opening win) representative of how he pitched during fall ball?
“Yeah, that’s what we saw. What we had seen early in the spring that was a little concerning was just the velo was down, and the velo on the slider was down. So he wasn’t able to kind of get the same finish on his pitches. What you saw this weekend was more 94s, up to 95. Slider was more in the 85-87 range. He’s a guy that, now, he’s learned the fastball command part of his game. But he’s also a guy that if he’s throwing 90, it’s not going to be nearly as effective as 94. So it was good to see him back there, and that’s what he was in the fall. I mean, pretty much every time out, he was 92-95 in the fall with an upper 80 slider and a change. So his stuff is trending in the right direction.”
What does winning a series like the 3-1 win over Grand Canyon – and the fashion with which they did it – tell Bolt about his team?
BOLT: “I think you saw just the the toughness of the group. And what the challenge was, after the tough finish to the first weekend, I think we all saw that we had a lot of interesting pieces of the puzzle and felt like we played at a high level. And even though the record didn’t show that, we felt like there was a couple of little tweaks that we needed to make to get over the hump.
“And some of that was mental, some of that was just being a little more aggressive offensively. We were more aggressive on the bases (against Grand Canyon), we executed the offense better. And then you get in those middle innings, that’s when you have a chance to run away from people. Really liked the way we responded. I thought we showed a lot of moxie, this group did (last) weekend. I just want our team to be known as mentally tough. You gotta be very present, you gotta be resilient to be able to do that.”
How do you carry that over into the next series?
“By being present. By just making today the most important day even though it’s going to be a lighter day. I mean, we got in at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday. (Monday) was off, (Tuesday’s) going to be a lighter day, but just making sure that the intent is there. We’ll get back on the plane again (Wednesday) and just being very, very present is something that you have to be (in order) to be mentally tough. You can’t get too high or too low, you’ve got to be very, very determined each and every day.”
Are strikeouts at the plate a concern?
BOLT: “After, I believe, the first four games of the year, we hit with two strikes in 67 percent of our at-bats. That’s an astronomically high number. It’s usually about a flip of a coin every other at-bat, 50-50 is about college average. So part of that is just being more aggressive early in the count. We had a lot of two-strike hits, two-strike RBI on Sunday. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on, for sure. But you can’t be hitting with two strikes in almost 70% of your at-bats. You’re gonna strike out. The stuff is too good in college baseball now.
But a lot of that is just being more ready early in the count, which I think we saw some of that (last) weekend. You have games where you score 11 or 12 runs, I don’t really care how many times you strike out, to be honest. I mean, you’re gonna have a lot of at-bats. So there are some adjustments that have been made already and we need to continue to make.
“But I just want to score runs. I want to beat the other team, to score more runs than the other teams. So if we strike out, maybe that’s just part of it. I want to be aggressive at the plate, and if you’re aggressive at the plate, you don’t miss your pitches and you don’t hit with two strikes in 70 percent of your at-bats.”
How important were Cayden Brumbaugh and Riley Silva in setting the table for the offense in the top two spots in the order last weekend?
BOLT: “Huge weekend for Silva, just moving up from the nine hole with (Josh) Overbeek being out. I mean, Overbeek was far and away our best player in the first weekend, and we didn’t miss a beat (against Grand Canyon) with Silva moving to the two-holte. What you get there, I guess, you get two guys that if you’re in the opposing dugout you’re like, ‘Gosh, those guys are up again?’ That’s kind of the feeling that you want to have at the top of the order – guys that are just kind of pesky.
“(Silva) was all over the bases, and Brumbaugh was all over the bases. The thing that’s great about those two is they’ve already put enough film out there that doesn’t allow the defense to know where to play them. Brumbaugh’s hitting balls to the four hole, he’s hitting balls in the six hole, he’s hitting balls up the middle. Silva’s doing the same thing. Silva’s got the bunt game going, Brumbaugh’s already laid down a couple of bunts. So there’s some holes out there in the defense where they can’t shift you. Both of those guys, they’re putting the ball in play, they’re putting pressure on the defense, and they’re doing a nice job really setting the table.”
How have the Huskers been performing in the bunt game and in sacrifice situations, including Tyler Stone’s bunt down the third-base line against a shift versus Grand Canyon? Can pretty much anyone on the team lay one down?
BOLT: “(Stone’s bunt) started a rally with two outs. We scored a couple of runs that inning just from him laying down that bunt. And that’s something that goes on a report now. They want to shift him, they know that he can lay down a bunt. We haven’t seen DC (Dylan Carey) bunt this year, I don’t think, but we know he can because he’s done it in the past.
“And, again, it just opens up holes with a defense if they’ve got to honor it. Kind of joking with Anglim that he’s the best batting practice bunter we have. But we wanna see him get one down in the game. But, yeah, it’s part of the game, and there’s some other things that can be opened up as well with that, besides just the sacrifice – the fake bunt-steal, some of that stuff. So it’s definitely a part of what we’re attempting to do as a team.”
What’s it going to take to get Gabe Swansen going again offensively?
BOLT: “A couple times last year, with Gabe, we’d sit him for a game, and then he’d come back with a vengeance. He was pressing. There’s no doubt about that. He wasn’t really dictating his at-bats. I’m talking about just not being aggressive enough. So I wanted him to be able to kind of … sometimes it’s good just to get a different perspective. Not because of lost confidence in Gabe or that his teammates have lost confidence in Gabe. He’s a great player. But sometimes you need to sit and watch a little bit and realize that you’re making the game maybe a little bit harder than it needs to be. So I’m hoping he gained some of that (perspective) this weekend.
“And we don’t need him to carry us. We just need him to be a piece of the cog in the wheel, not the feature piece. Because we’re not going to do it this year with one or two guys. It’s going to be a collective effort. So he’s gonna be fine. I think just him being able to sit and watch and get that hunger back inside of him (will be important). I mean, he’s a guy that came to Nebraska as a walk-on who was recruited by nobody, right? He’s got to have that – that edge – to be the guy that he can be. And he had nothing to lose last year. This year, spotlight’s on him a little bit more, just reassuring him that we just need him to be a piece of the puzzle. He’ll get going.”
What Bolt expects to see from an unbeaten College of Charleston team
BOLT: “Well, they’re a lot more right-handed at the plate than what we saw with GCU. So maybe some different matchups there. They’re very athletic, they’ve got some guys that can really, really run. They’ve obviously gone undefeated up to this point, so they’re doing a lot well. They’re pitching at a high level, they’re swinging the bats really well, they’re taking their walks, they’re not striking out, and they’re used to winning. They win at, I think, a 73 percent clip then they win. I think it’s 73% clip in their ballpark. So it’ll be another really good challenge, and we can’t get too high or too low based on one weekend. We’ve gotta continue to prove ourselves every day.”
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