Former Nebraska Cornhuskers star posts career-high strikeouts

As the Atlanta Braves try to shore up their roster for the stretch run, one former Nebraska Cornhuskers star might be one of the reasons they stay in the playoff race. Spencer Schwellenbach has had a bit of an up and down rookie season, but it looks like it’s trending back up after this weekend.

On Saturday, the pitcher had what was clearly the best start of his rookie campaign, though it’s worth pointing out that he’s had some other very good starts that are comparable. Most of those very good starts came not long before this rookie best.

In his latest start, Schwellenbach pitched seven innings of two-hit ball. He threw a shutout and struck out 11. The performance and what it meant to his overall season numbers shows just how much the rookie and former Nebraska Cornhuskers star has struggled at times.

Nebraska Cornhuskers star has best rookie outing to date

Despite that incredible outing, the win allowed Scwellenbach to improve his record to 4-5 on the season and lower his earned run average to 4.06 on the year. 

What’s more important is that the performance likely means that the former Husker is going to be able to stick with the major league club. That’s noteworthy if for no other reason than the Atlanta Braves are busy trying to compete for the NL East or at least a wild card bid.

His performance was also important for the Braves because Atlanta has been struggling lately. Even with that victory, they’re just 3-7 in their last 10. While they seem to be falling out of the division race, they’re still very much in the Wild Card hunt.

The former Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball star was able to keep them in that hunt by the way he pitched. Here’s hoping Spencer Schwellenbach can keep it going.