Nebraska baseball breaks out the big bats to close out first weekend
The Nebraska baseball team had problems getting started offensively on Sunday. When they did get going they hit the long ball.
The Nebraska baseball team knew it needed to dig deep and come up with a good game after losing Saturday evening’s contest. For a while, it looked as though the opposite was happening.
The Cornhuskers had problems manufacturing runs through the first six innings. They could only plate two and heading into the seventh inning, they were tied with an inferior Washington State team.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t something to be excited about in the second inning. Catcher Jesse Wilkening has had himself a very good weekend. That good weekend continued on Sunday as he hit a solo homer in the second frame. That was the first homer any Husker has hit this season.
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Wilkening went 2 for 4 with two RBI and boosted his average in the early part of the season to .429. If he can keep that up, it would make a nice complement to first baseman Scott Schreiber.
Schreiber had a bit of a down year in 2017, but he’s started off 2018 nicely. The slugger blasted his first homer of the year as well and finished the weekend hitting .357.
Wilkening and Schreibers’ performances carried a Cornhusker club that wasn’t getting a ton of hits outside the duo. In fact, no other Huskers is hitting .300 after the team’s first four games.
If the Huskers’ offense was a bit Jekyll and Hyde, then the pitching staff was as well. While the starters did relatively well, the bullpen appears to be something that might be a concern moving forward.
Matt Warren pitched a decent, if not outstanding five innings, allowing four hits and two runs, while striking out two. The zero walks, in particular, were a good sign.
The bullpen, while holding the Cougars down, were not as sharp. Robbie Palkert managed to go 1.1 innings of shutout ball, but he walked three and allowed a base hit.
Following him, Matt Waldron pitched for the third straight day, and allowed a run for the second straight game. This time Waldron went 1.1 innings, allowing three hits and a run. That bumped his ERA on the season to 6.75.
One piece of good bullpen news was Jake Hohensee, who logged his first save of the season thanks to perfect ninth inning.
The 3-1 weekend against UC Riverside and Washington State is a nice warm up but the Nebraska baseball team will have their work cut out for them in their next stretch. Starting Thursday, the Cornhuskers will play four games (two each) against Utah and Oregon State.