Nebraska matches program record in 14-3 win against Northern Colorado

Even on a cold, foggy day in early March, Nebraska’s bats remained scorching hot.

Inside the Husker dugout, players turned to cups of hot chocolate and chicken broth just to stay warm. But it only took two innings for Nebraska to launch the first of its five home runs en route to a 14-3 run-rule win against Northern Colorado on Wednesday at Haymarket Park.

Left fielder Gabe Swansen made the first splash for NU (7-4-1) with a towering, 442-foot blast to center field in the bottom of the second inning, soon followed by another two-run shot from right fielder Cole Evans.

Evans also hit a solo homer in the fifth during his 3-for-4 day. He was just 1-for-7 entering Wednesday.

For Nebraska coach Will Bolt, seeing a player come off the bench and slug two homers in a mid-week game was the perfect illustration of the team’s depth.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys that we feel like have a chance to help the team, so we’re trying to pick spots for them,” Bolt said.

Another player who Bolt hoped would pick up momentum against Northern Colorado (2-10) was sophomore right-hander Drew Christo, who made his first start of the year. Coming off a scoreless relief inning against Hawaii last weekend, Christo faced some of the same struggles that kept him out of games as a freshman.

Christo pitched out of trouble despite loading the bases in the first inning, but exited after 1 2/3 innings after giving up runs on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly.

“He’s got good stuff and it’s coming; you can see he’s made a lot of good strides,” Bolt said. “You’ve got to get ahead in the count and put them away when you have a chance.”

While Nebraska trailed 2-0 early, the second-inning power explosion gave the Huskers the lead for good. Left-hander Caleb Clark, typically Nebraska’s Sunday starter, entered in relief of Christo and picked up the win by throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Following up on a disastrous outing against Mississippi, when he allowed eight runs, Wednesday’s outing represented a step in the right direction for Clark. However, Bolt said it may rule him out of starting Sunday against Illinois State after throwing 42 pitches.

“I thought the fastball attack was good, the change-up was working for him and he landed a few sliders in there as well,” Bolt said. “That’s more of what we’re accustomed to seeing from him.”

Mason Orenlas threw two scoreless innings, and two-way player Will Walsh closed out the run-rule win in the seventh.

In addition to Evans’ two homers and Swansen’s early blast, Brice Matthews and Griffin Everitt also hit homers.

Nebraska has now homered in 11 consecutive games, which ties a school record. The Huskers will try to make it 12 in a row Friday in the first of a three-game series against Illinois State.

NU has won seven of its last eight games thanks to a power surge that doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

“We’ve got a lot of power on this team,” Swansen said. “We’ve got some great bats, even on the bench. We just have to keep barreling up balls like that and we’ll be fine the rest of the year.”