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baseball Edit

Huskers fall flat in series finale

Jake Schleppenbach drove in NU's lone run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
Jake Schleppenbach drove in NU's lone run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
Tyler Krecklow

Darin Erstad said he saw his team fall into a "lull" midway through Saturday's 8-7 victory over Northwestern as the Huskers did just enough to hold off a late charge.

If that was a lull, the effort Nebraska used Sunday represented full-blown hibernation.

To call the Huskers' effort "sloppy" would be an understatement. They were shut out until the eighth inning when the game was well in hand, falling 11-3 to Northwestern, an 8-24 team with one of the Big Ten's worst records.

"That's one me," Erstad, who gave the team an animated talking-to before meeting with the media, said. "I didn't have them ready to play today. I didn't coach well today. That's on me.

"That's my job and I didn't do it. Bad coaching today."

The Huskers, who fell to 22-10, hit three batters, were picked off first base twice, committed an error, issued six walks (including one with the bases loaded) and left 13 runners on base.

The day started poorly when expected starter Matt Waldron told the coaches just 20 minutes before the game that his arm felt sore. Nebraska had to audible quickly and move to Zack Engelken, who saw his 8.53 per-game ERA rise after surrendering four runs in 3.1 frames.

"(Waldron) didn't say a word to us, then he comes out to start warming up and said his shoulder was tight," Erstad said. "I appreciate him telling us that and not trying to fight through it, so we'll just have to see what it is. He said he didn't feel anything all week. I don't know if he slept on it wrong or what. I don't have much more information than that."

Engelken wasn't the only pitcher to blame. All five of NU's hurlers gave up at least one run as the Wildcats scored in all but three innings. Max Knutson (three runs on three hits in 1.1 innings) and Sean Chandler (two runs three walks, three walks in 2.0 innings) struggled in particular.

Northwestern had 14 hits for the second straight game and piled up 18 runs in the final two contests of the weekend.

Nebraska may be 7-2 in Big Ten play and sitting near the top of the standings, but Erstad isn't pleased with where the team's level of play sits after three weekends. And with a critical series at Michigan on the horizon, the Huskers needed to get straightened out quickly.

"I feel like we've played really average baseball," Erstad said. "I feel like we've competed really well outside of today. We've found ways to win when we're not playing very good and that's a credit to our team.

"But moving forward we have some quality people on our schedule and if we continue to play average baseball, we're going to get our heads beaten in."


Around the horn

***Ryan Boldt notched his 200th career hit in the ninth inning.

***Jake Meyers and Steven Reveles were picked off in the second and third innings, respectively. The duo game into the game having successfully stolen 17 of 21 bases this year.

***Freshman catcher Jesse Wilkening has multiple hits in four of his last six starts.

***Nebraska has gone five games without hitting a home run and has just two dingers in its past eight contests.

***The attendance was 5,013.

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