While a number of winning teams, particularly from the southeast and northwest part of the country, cancelled games because they did not want to risk damage to their RPI, Nebraska faced off against rival Creighton for the final game of their season series tonight at The Chuck in Omaha.
Arguably the most positive thing that took place tonight, other than winning the game, was the performance by Cooper Katskee. The transfer from Miami (OH) had really struggled in his most recent starts and had fallen
into a frustrating habit of giving up home runs in the first or second inning of each game. To make a run over the next few weeks, this teams needs Cooper Katskee to be good.
Nebraska didn’t waste any time tonight as they posted two runs in the top of the first. Jeter Worthley singled and scored on a Case Sanderson single. Dylan Carey was hit by a pitch and scored on a Drew Grego double.
The Cornhuskers scored again in the second inning as Jett Buck led off with a double, advanced to third on a Rhett Stokes sacrifice bunt, and then scored on a throwing error by the first baseman. Going to the bottom of the second, Big Red was up 3-0.
While the Nebraska offense was methodically putting runners on base and scoring runs, Katskee was perhaps putting together his best start of the second half of the season. Through five innings he only gave up two hits and did not surrender a run. His breaking pitch tonight was very good and he used it effectively. He only had one Bluejay runner reach second base.
The Cornhuskers did heavy damage in the top of the fifth when they sent ten batters to the plate. Jeter Worthley started it off with his second base hit of the night and then Carey walked. With Case Sanderson at the plate, they executed a double steal to put two runners in scoring position.
Sanderson eventually struck out, bringing Drew Grego to the plate. He smacked his second double of the game to score Worthley and Carey. Max Buettenback got hit by a pitch to keep the rally going. That led to a Joshua Overbeek single that scored Grego.
Before they ran out of gas, Mac Moyer ripped a single up the middle to score Buettenback and Overbeek. That put Nebraska in front 8-0 and at that point it seemed like they were in cruise control.
Katskee started to miss a lot in the seventh inning and after falling behind 3-1 to Teddy Deters, he put one right down the middle and Deters sent it into the Bluejay bullpen for a three-run homer. That was Katskee’s only mistake of the night and Creighton made him pay for it.
Jalen Worthley came in and gave up a single, then threw eight straight balls to walk two and load the bases. Coach Childress brought in another lefty, Caleb Clark and he promptly walked in a run with the third walk in a row. Fortunately for Nebraska, Isaac Wachsmann flew out to Grego in rightfield for the third out. Creighton had gotten back into the game and cut the lead to 8-4.
Two Cornhusker runners reached base and were actually in scoring position with one out but the top of the order could not produce the timely hit to grab back a couple of runs in the top of the eighth.
Ryan Harrahill came in with one on and no outs in the seventh and took control back for the Big Red. He faced eight batters in the seventh and eighth innings and only gave up one hit. He steadied the ship before he gave way to J’Shawn Unger in the ninth.
Unger had struggled in his last two outings, but tonight he was back to his dominant ways, setting the Bluejays down in order to finish it off. Ball game! Nebraska 8, Creighton 4.
Drew Grego had quite the night at the plate tonight. He went 3-4 with three doubles and three RBI. The freshman from Bellevue West has continued to hit and drive in runs. He’s one of those guys that no one knew when the season started, but has had a big impact on the team.
Nebraska pitching wasn’t great, but it was good enough. The staff surrendered eight walks, but fortunately, none of those walked Jays scored.
This was an important win for Nebraska in terms of keeping them in the conversation to host a regional. Next up is a trip to Minneapolis for the final series of the season against the Golden Gophers, starting Thursday evening. Nebraska will go with the same rotation as last weekend and will take on a team that will be motivated to grab a spot on the conference tournament.
Notes:
- This version of the Nebraska Cornhuskers set a team record tonight. When Max Buettenback was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, that was the 112 time a Nebraska batter has been hit by a pitch this season. I’m not sure if they call that the Daniel Bruce or the Riley Silva Award, but they should!
- Mac Moyer has cooled a little bit the past few weeks, but he’s still hitting .377. He is also 6 for 14 this season with bases loaded. That’s the guy you want coming to the plate in big situations.
- The first time since 2015 that Nebraska has swept the season series against Creighton.
