Nebraska Baseball: Huskers Clinch Critical MSU Series

Brock Minert-Husker Corner

Sparty, no! Nebraska baseball (34-17, 15-5 Big Ten) denied yet another conference team a series win by defeating Michigan State (26-22, 8-12 Big Ten) on Sunday 4-1. The games have been as tightly-contested as expected.

Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad has called the Spartans perhaps one of the top three most talented teams in the conference despite their record.

The Big Red struck first once again as a Steven Reveles groundout helped eventually bring Pat Kelly around to score for the Huskers in the top of the second.

Michigan State would respond in the bottom of the third as shortstop Ryan Richardson started the inning off with a double. He’d advance to third on a sacrifice bunt before being brought home on a fly out.

Nebraska stepped up in the sixth as Jake Placzek reached first base on a walk before Michael Pritchard sent a pitch flying out of right field for a two-run homer. The Huskers worked the bases again bringing in Reveles for the final run of the game.

The highlight of the game goes to Austin Darby’s effort in the bottom of the eighth. He made a spectacular diving catch to not only rob the Spartans of a hit, but prevented anyone from moving into scoring position.

Aaron Bummer upped his record to 6-3 on the season while Josh Roeder recorded save No. 12.

In other Big Ten news, Indiana has claimed at least a share of the Big Ten championship after bludgeoning Penn State once more by a tally of 9-2. They travel to Louisville on May 13 before wrapping up Big Ten play at home against Minnesota.

As of this writing, the final game of the Illinois-Iowa series is delayed by lightning with the Illini leading 4-2.

Should they close out that game, Big Ten baseball’s top three in the standings remain static. Even with a loss tomorrow, Nebraska would remain in third place as Minnesota currently holds a 10-9 record in conference.

Nebraska baseball will close out its series against the Spartans tomorrow with the first pitch scheduled for 12:05 p.m. The game can be seen on BTN and BTN2Go.

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