HuskerOnline – Baseball Weekend Preview: Illinois

The Nebraska baseball (11-4) team is headed to Champaign, Ill. this weekend to take on Illinois (7-8) in a three-game series. The Huskers are coming off their home-opening series against Minnesota where they swept all four games. Having won all four against the Golden Gophers and taking the final two games against Iowa, the Big Red will look to improve upon six straight wins.

In last week’s series against Minnesota, NU dominated in almost every aspect. The Huskers outscored the Gophers 39-12 over the four games. The most dominant performance came in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday, when Nebraska won 17-5, forcing the game to end after seven innings. Things looked shaky earlier in the day on Saturday as the Big Red trailed until the sixth inning when they scored five runs on just two hits with help from plenty of Minnesota mistakes.

In the series against the Hawkeyes, NU struggled to hit the ball early and was shut out in the first game 3-0. Following that, Nebraska scored 23 runs in the final two games with a 10-8 win on Saturday and a 13-8 win on Sunday.

The Fighting Illini are coming off of their home-opening series against Northwestern, where they lost the series 2-1. Illinois won the opener 12-8, but lost in a 16-14 slugfest on Saturday and were beat 12-5 on Sunday.

Friday, 6:00 p.m.: LHP Cade Povich (2-1, 3.68 ERA) vs. LHP Nate Lavender (3-0, 0.75 ERA)

Saturday, 5:00 p.m.: RHP Chance Hroch (2-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. RHP Ty Rybarczyk (1-2, 11.81 ERA)

Sunday, 12:00 p.m.: RHP Shay Schanaman (2-0, 4.43 ERA) vs. RHP Riley Gowens (1-1, 6.17 ERA)

Povich on fire

Cade Povich is coming off a huge performance on Friday against Minnesota where he pitched seven shutout innings and struck out 10 batters. This showing earned the junior the title of Big Ten Pitcher of the Week. Against the Gophers, Povich allowed just four hits and no walks. The lefty has recorded double-digit strikeouts in two of his last three outings, including 12 against Ohio State earlier in the season. Povich started the season with an out-of-character performance against Purdue, but since then has been lights out.

Defense matters

The Huskers rank fifth nationally with a .986 fielding percentage. The next closest Big Ten school is Indiana in 15th place with a .978 fielding percentage. Nebraska has committed just seven errors in 15 games, and the lack of mistakes has given them the advantage over teams like Minnesota who made a plethora of mistakes.

Continuing the streak

The Big Red have won six straight games after winning all four against the Golden Gophers and winning the last two against Iowa. The last time NU had a winning streak of six games was in 2019, and it lasted just those six games. Before that, in 2016, the Huskers won eight straight games with three wins over Purdue, two over both Indiana State and Wichita State and one win over Creighton. In 2015, Nebraska had an even better streak after they won 10 straight games. The series against the Illini could possibly bring the streak to nine wins if the Big Red sweep.

***The Illini offense leads the Big Ten in hits with 149 on the season. They rank second in batting average at .284 and second in doubles with 32 this season.

***Nate Lavender, Friday’s scheduled starter for Illinois, will be making his first start of the season. Lavender has made four appearances as a reliever and has struck out 21 batters with just one walk in just over 12 innings pitched.

***Five Illini batters are averaging over .300, including a team-high .370 from Branden Comia.

***Northwestern hit nine home runs off the Illinois pitchers last weekend.