Nebraska Pummels Colonels in 17-1 Rout

Nebraska scored a season-high 17 runs to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 17-1 win against Nicholls on Friday in Manhattan, Kan.

Nebraska (11-5-1) plated 17 runs on 17 hits and an error, while Nicholls (11-10) had one run on three hits and committed a trio of errors.

Jace Kaminska tossed five three-hit innings to improve to 4-0 on the season. The junior allowed one run on the three hits and had three strikeouts. Jackson Brockett pitched two perfect innings, while Jake Bunz and Will Rizzo threw one inning each. The three Huskers combined to not let a Colonel reach base in the final four innings.

Eight Huskers had a hit in game two, including five with multi-hit games. Max Anderson was 3-for-5 with two home runs, four RBI and a pair of runs scored. Dylan Carey went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI and three runs. Charlie Fischer, Josh Caron and Ben Columbus tallied two-hit games for the NU offense, while Brice Matthews was 1-for-4 with a home run, five RBI and a run. Efry Cervantes went 1-for-1 at the plate with a homer.

Nebraska jumped ahead 2-0 in the first after an error scored Cole Evans, and Caron’s RBI single through the left side brought home Fischer.

Carey had a one-out double in the second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, while Matthews reached on a fielding error that plated Carey to give the Huskers a 3-0 lead after two.

Anderson began the bottom of the third by lifting a solo homer over the wall in right field to extend Nebraska’s lead to 4-0.

A walk and a pair of singles loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fifth for Nicholls. A wild pitch allowed the Colonels to score their lone run of the game and trimmed the NU lead to 4-1.

The NU offense answered immediately in the next half inning, scoring seven runs on three hits to expand the lead to 11-1 after five innings. Back-to-back RBI singles from Columbus and Carey brought home three runs for the Big Red to make it a six-run game.

Casey Burnham was hit by pitch to load the bases with one out, while a sacrifice fly from Matthews plated Nebraska’s seventh run of the game. Evans followed with a walk, setting up Anderson’s two-RBI single down the right-field line. Fischer capped the scoring in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Evans.

Columbus drew a walk, Carey singled to left and Burnham was hit by pitch to load the bases for the Huskers with one out in the sixth. Matthews followed by slugging a first-pitch grand slam down the left-field line to make it a 15-1 game.

Anderson lifted a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right for his second homer of the game in the seventh, while Cervantes smacked a solo home run into the Colonels’ bullpen in the eighth to clinch the 17-1 win for the Huskers.

Nebraska and Nicholls are set to play the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan. First pitch between the Huskers and Colonels is set for 2 p.m.