Baseball Weekend Preview: Loyola Marymount
The first 11 games of Nebraska's season have been a curious whirlwind of ups and downs. The team's starting pitching has inconsistent (to put it nicely), the bullpen has been mostly terrific, the offense is leaving all kinds of runners on base and Scott Schreiber has evolved into Babe Ruth.
Darin Erstad's young club is clearly still figuring itself out and this weekend should help further show what it's made of. Loyola Marymount (6-6) is a solid team but one that the Huskers should be able to take two or three games from in their first home weekend series of the season. Will NU rise to the occasion and start to display some consistency?
Weekend schedule
Friday game one, 1:35 p.m.: RHP Colton Howell (0-1, 9.31 ERA) vs. RHP J.D. Busfield (1-0, 4.58)
Friday game two (beginning 45 minutes after game one ends): RHP Derek Burkamper (0-0, 0.00) vs. TBA
Saturday, 2:05 p.m.: RHP Matt Waldron (1-1, 5.68) vs. RHP Cory Abbott (1-1, 3.50)
Sunday, 12:05 p.m.: TBA vs. RHP Tyler Cohen (1-1, 3.00)
What to watch for
Will the power binge continue?: Schreiber went nuts against Northern Colorado this week, homering three times in two days to give him five on the season, more than any Husker has had in a year since 2012. But the sophomore isn't the only one swatting the ball this spring. Nebraska already has 13 home runs in 11 games (1.2 average) compared to 22 in 57 games last season (0.38). It's a small sample size, but the Huskers might be trying to go long more frequently with Erstad running the offense this year.
The long relief from the pen: With four games in three days and its starting pitching far from reliable, Nebraska will likely need strong contributions from its relievers, and two in particular have been excellent in those situations this year. Reece Eddins (1.46 ERA in 12.0 innings) and Jake McSteen (1.59 in 11.1) have on several occasions been asked to rescue the Huskers after the starter flamed out early and both have proven up to the task. They'll likely need to each appear at least once this weekend and NU needs them to keep up their strong starts.
How Howell starts it off: Colton Howell has had three turns as the Friday night starter and the results have ranged from terrific (five scoreless innings on opening night) to awful (eight earned runs in 0.1 innings against San Diego) to average (4.1 innings, two earned runs last weekend). The Huskers need the senior to start the weekend off on the right tone Friday night. Howell must display better control, as he's averaging almost a walk per inning.
Know your enemy
***Loyola Marymount is 6-6 with wins over TCU and San Jose State. The Lions were 33-21-1 last year, finishing third in the West Coast Conference. Only 19 of the 34 players on LMU's 2015 roster returned this season.
***The Lions have been pretty pedestrian offensively so far. They've hit just six home runs and are getting on base at a .352 clip. LMU is a patient group, however - the team has drawn 43 walks and has been hit by a pitch 19 times.
***Loyola Marymount sports a 3.53 team ERA and allows opponents to hit .288. Reliever Michael Silva was one of the team's most dependable bullpen arms in 2015, but he has a messy 7.11 ERA in five appearances this year.
He said it
"We're trying to get it stirred up a little more on the base paths and get it moving. Having an aggressive mindset on the base paths is definitely what coach Erstad has been preaching to us."
- Ryan Boldt on how Nebraska is attempting more steals this season. The Huskers are averaging two attempts per game and have succeeded on 14 of their 22 steals (63.6 percent).