Will Walsh Throws Gem, Huskers Keep It Rolling Over North Dakota State

Nebraska baseball went 4-4 against the Summit League a season ago.

This week, the Huskers got some revenge on two of the teams responsible for a pair of those losses.

First, they took down Omaha on Tuesday, cruising past the Mavericks in an 11-5 victory. On Wednesday, they made it a perfect showing in midweek games this week with a 3-1 win over North Dakota State.

Nebraska went 1-2 to Omaha last year, sandwiching a 6-3 victory in between a 10-6 loss and 6-5 loss in 10 innings, and the Huskers split their two games to the Bison last season – a 4-1 win in March and 6-5 loss in May – while also losing to South Dakota State and going 2-0 against Northern Colorado.

They can finish things off with some more redemption against the Summit League later this spring when South Dakota State comes to Lincoln on May 8.

For now, though, the Huskers continue to roll. Nebraska has now won eight of its last nine games – including five straight wins – to improve to 15-5 this season while the Mavericks (3-16) and Bison (5-15) continued to show struggles.

Starter Mason McConnaughey was the one leading the charge against Omaha behind a career-high nine strikeouts. Against NSDU, it was Will Walsh showing some dominance on the mound. The lefty also fired nine strikeouts (a season-high) across six shutout innings while allowing just six hits and issuing no walks.

The Huskers, who scored their three runs against the Bison on seven hits, were led by Garrett Anglim (2-for-3, two RBI) while Tyler Stone tallied two hits, and Joshua Overbeek, Ben Columbus and Dylan Carey each recorded one hit.

Walsh (2-0) recorded his second straight quality start, reliever Kyle Froehlich allowed one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of work, and Jalen Worthley struck out the lone batter he faced. Rans Sanders picked up his first save with the Huskers after dealing a scoreless inning in the ninth.

Some wild pitching in the first loaded the bases for the Huskers, while a four-pitch walk to Anglim gave the Big Red the 1-0 lead in the opening frame.

Walsh kept the Bison off the board in the second and third innings to keep NDSU scoreless through the first time through the order.

Nebraska doubled its lead in the third, tacking on a second run behind a pair of hits. Case Sanderson was hit by the pitch and moved to third on a one-out single from Stone. Anglim came through with his second RBI of the night, this time lacing a 1-1 pitch to center for an RBI single to plate Sanderson.

Walsh hung scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth, before recording three strikeouts in the top of the sixth to move his strikeout total for the night to nine.

The NU offense generated its third run of the night in the seventh to stretch the lead to 3-0. Sandersson drew a leadoff walk, while Bryce Hughes entered as a pinch-runner and stole second. Anglim followed with a single up the middle to put runners on first and third with one out. Hughes plated Nebraska’s third run on a play where Anglim was caught stealing second to make it 3-0 through seven innings.

NDSU plated its lone run of the night after a two-out RBI triple to the wall in right-center brought the Bison within two. Worthley replaced Froehlich on the mound and struck out the lone batter he faced to keep it a 3-1 advantage for the Big Red.

Sanders took the mound in the ninth and retired the Bison in order to preserve the 3-1 win for the Huskers.

Nebraska wraps up its eight-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against New Mexico State on Friday-Sunday, March 22-24. First pitch of Friday’s series opener between the Huskers and Aggies is set for 6:05 p.m.