Husker Baseball Team Projected as a No. 2 Seed in NCAA Tournament

(Photo – Kenny Larabee)

After the Husker’s lackluster performance Tuesday night that saw them lose 2-1 to Creighton, the Bluejays have now won the  season series for a second straight season, marking the first time in 26 years that Creighton has won the series in back to back seasons.

However, that’s no reason for Husker fans to despair. Losing to Creighton is nothing to sneeze at, frustrating as it may be for those who follow the Big Red. The Bluejays, ranked 16th in the RPI, are well on their way to host a regional. The latest Baseball America NCAA Tournament projections currently have Creighton as a two seed, playing in a Lubbock regional with UNO, Sam Houston State, and Texas Tech.

That same projection though, has the Huskers as a two seed as well, grouped with Vanderbilt, California, and Jackson State in a Nashville regional. While it is true that Nebraska has underperformed in their last few midweek games, with the exception of an 8-5 win over the Mavericks last Wednesday, the Huskers are in the midst of a very successful season.

In the Big 10 standings, Nebraska is a half game back out of first place with an 11-4 conference record. Indiana is sitting atop the standings, but the Hoosiers have played three less conference games than NU. The Huskers have a couple of tough games left on their schedule, but those will also be opportunities for Nebraska to improve their RPI. Currently, WarrenNolan.com lists the Huskers at a respectable 44th place in the RPI.

Statistically speaking, Nebraska has had decent offensive output in 2019, despite what it may seem. They’re ranked 44th in the whole of Division 1 NCAA baseball in runs per game, averaging 6.9 runs a game. However, they’ve failed to put more than three runs on the board seven times in their last 10 games. That isn’t nearly enough for NU head coach Darin Erstad.

“We’re playing decent defense but we just have to get the bats going,” Erstad said on the Husker Sports Network following their loss to Creighton. Erstad also said they’ll be shifting their focus to working on some small ball this week in practice. “It’s safe to say we’ll be doing a lot of bunting,” Erstad said.

Just four more series remain on Nebraska’s schedule, then it’s off to the Big 10 Tournament in Omaha. If the Huskers can take care of business during the home stretch of their season, they’ll have won their second conference title in three years. Not too shabby for a team that looked listless Tuesday night.

*Coverage of every Husker baseball game can be found on KLIN.