Nebraska Baseball vs San Diego Toreros: What to know, who to watch
The Nebraska baseball team starts the 2023 season on Friday in the first of a four-game set against a very talented San Diego Toreros team.
This kind of series could help set the tone for what Nebraska baseball fans hope is a resurgent season after Will Bolt’s crew missed the Big Ten tournament a year ago. It could also lead to a very rough start to the season but provide some valuable experience for a team that is opening up against a good California school that is coming off a WCC conference tournament championship.
The San Diego Toreros posted one of their most successful seasons in more than a decade in 2022 with a 37-20 overall record last year. They’re expected to finish at the top of the WCC heap after finishing second in the regular season last spring and summer.
The Huskers are trying to reload instead of rebuilding and are hoping to look more like the team that gave Arkansas all it could handle in the regional after the 2021 regular season.
Nebraska baseball vs San Diego pitching matchups
Friday: LHP Emmett Olson vs. RHP James Sashin
If the Huskers are going to have any success at all, they will need Emmett Olson to pick up where he left off in 2022. At first glance, Olson didn’t wow, considering he posted just a 3-3 record but he also had a 2.86 earned run average and was late to the game when it came to the rotation. He’s expected to be one of the best pitchers in the Big Ten this year and the Nebraska Cornhuskers will need him to shine right out of the gate.
James Sashin will be making just his second career start for San Diego, but it’s pretty clear that the Torreros are hoping he can have a big season after a sort of up and down 2022 season. This might be the opening for a good start for the Huskers if Olson can outduel the less experienced Sashin.
Saturday: RHP Jace Kaminska vs. RHP Garrett Rennie
Kaminska is going to be a very big wild card in the Nebraska baseball rotation. In 2021, he was dominant for the Wichita Shockers. That year he went 8-1 with a 2.32 ERA and two complete games. In 2022, he saw his record fall to 3-9 and posted an earned run average north of 5. If he can recapture his 2021 season, he might be the staff ace by conference season.
Rennie was San Diego’s Friday night starter a year ago, but he’s been pushed to Saturday for at least this series. He was an innings eater for the Torreros last year, posting a -4 with a 4.01 ERA, 50 strikeouts, and 25 walks in 67.1 total innings pitched. He logged the second-most innings on the team. Considering this is a four game series, Rennie going deep into Saturday’s game might be important for San Diego.
Sunday: LHP Caleb Clark vs. RPH Ivran Romero
True freshman Caleb Clark was one of the best players coming out of Canada and there is quite a bit of excitement surrounding the lefty hurler as he starts his first college season. It wasn’t a slam dunk that he’d be in the rotation this winter, but he’s gonna get a shot, clearly.
Ivran Romero mostly worked out of the pen for San Diego a year ago, but he did make five starts. Overrall, he posted a 4-4 record with 2.53 ERA, 44 strikeouts, 16 walks, and three saves in 46.1 total innings pitched.
Monday: Mystery Guest vs RHP Morgan Lunceford
If you’ve noticed a trend with San Diego’s rotation so far in this season opener, it’s that they are having to rebuild the starting pitching staff. That includes Lunceford, who will be making his second career start. As of now, it’s not clear who the Nebraska baseball team will be throwing out there on the Monday afternoon game. It could be a committee effort or it could be chance to see who Bolt thinks could be a mid-week starter later in the season.
Hitters to watch for Nebraska baseball
Right at the top of the list of Nebraska Cornhuskers’ offensive players that will be counted on to have a big weekend is Max Anderson. The third baseman led the team in homers (10) and RBI (46) and was third on the team in batting average a year ago.
Shortstop Brice Matthews is the other big bat in the lineup that most experts expect to improve on his 2022 season with a big 2023 campaign. It would be nice to see both of these guys get off to a fast start. There are also a ton of newcomers to the lineup who could all contribute quickly and if they do, the Nebraska baseball team could be a force.
Hitters to watch for San Diego
First baseman Kevin Sim is considered one of, if not the best player in the WCC as evidenced by being D1Baseball’s top 2023 draft prospect for the conference. Last year he hit .291 with 12 homers and 57 RBI. He’s expected to see an improvement over those numbers in 2023 and the Nebraska Cornhuskers are going to have problems keeping him off the base paths in the opening weekend series.
Gabe D’arcy started his college career with the Arkansas Razorbacks, but didn’t appear in any games for the SEC power. This year, he’s expected to be one of the best players in the WCC and the young outfielder could pose real problems for the Nebraska baseball team.
Nebraska baseball fans will have to wait until 8 pm on Friday before the season’s first pitch is thrown. Saturday night will feature a 7 pm matchup, but the last two games of the series will take place in the afternoon with a 3 pm Sunday first pitch and a 2 pm Monday game.