How long can the Husker homer streak go? It’s at 11 consecutive games — tying a school mark dating back to at least 1992 — into the weekend that has Nebraska among the top 20 nationally in home runs per game (2) and 11th in slugging percentage (.597). Nebraska at its current rate would swat 110 home runs in the regular season, a mark that would obliterate its program best of 93 in 1985. No single NU batter has more than three but 11 have at least one. The Huskers overall own 24 round-trippers — they didn’t get that many last season until game 35.“We’ve got a lot of power on this team,” outfielder Gabe Swansen said. “We’ve got some great bats, a lot of talent even on the bench. We just keep barreling balls up like that we’ll be fine the rest of the year.” Nebraska is also on a six-game streak without an error (overall fielding percentage of .987, eighth nationally) and coming off a pair of run-rule midweek wins over Northern Colorado. Normal Sunday starter Caleb Clark will “probably not” fill that role this week, coach Will Bolt said, after the freshman lefty threw 42 pitches across 2 1/3 scoreless relief innings Wednesday. A likely candidate to step in is senior righty Michael Garza, a former weekend starter at Incarnate Word who is stretched out and has a 1.64 earned-run average in 11 innings this spring.
Scouting Illinois State (5-6)
The Redbirds are scoring runs in bunches — and so are their opponents. ISU has won slugfest series against Austin Peay and Arkansas State before dropping one at Central Arkansas last weekend. It has a 10-9, extra-inning midweek loss at Arkansas on the resume, too. Freshman Daniel Pacella was named a National Player of the Week by one outlet last week after slugging four homers while Greg Nichols (.319 average, four homers) and Adrian Flores (.500, nine RBIs) are also off to quick starts. A top-60 scoring offense is fueled by power (1.55 homers/game, T-47th nationally) and speed (1.82 steals/game, 43rd) as well as the bunt game. Illinois State’s defense has been merely mediocre (.961 fielding percentage, 199th) while the pitching (7.69 ERA, 234th) is performing worse — no hurler other than senior ace Derek Salata has an ERA under 4. ISU was most recently an NCAA tournament team in 2019 and finished 20-31 last season.
Dugout chatter
ISU pitching coach R.D. Spiehs was a three-year starter at Nebraska from 1999-2001 and is a former teammate of Bolt’s. … Nebraska is 4-0 against the Redbirds, with the Missouri Valley club last in Lincoln in 2007. … Two former Iowa Western outfielders and Nebraska high-school grads are on the ISU roster in Blake Stenger (Millard South) and Auggie Rasmussen (Blair). Stenger has a team-best five stolen bases and a .375 average in eight games while Rasmussen is hitting .224 with three homers in 11 starts. … NU second baseman Max Anderson is hitting .489, good for 13th nationally. The school season record for average is .478 by Ken Harvey in 1999. The highest Husker finisher in the Big Ten era was Michael Pritchard (.387) in 2012. … Forecasts call for highs in the upper-30s all weekend with a 65% chance of precipitation Saturday afternoon.
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