Huskers take advantage of Omaha's mistakes in 11-6 win

Unlike Tuesday night, Nebraska was able to win despite not appearing to be very sharp or locked in.

Of course, getting a good deal of help from Omaha certainly didn't hurt.

The Huskers capitalized on a series of Maverick miscues, scoring three runs on wild pitches, one on a passed ball, one on an error, one on a bases-loaded walk and one on a bases-loaded hit by pitch to win 11-6 at Werner Park.

"It's a sloppy baseball game. Let's just say what it was," Darin Erstad said. "In these type of games you have to stay focused and just score more runs than the other team."

NU, which had just five RBIs, is now 20-9 on the season.

"You kind of do what you can do and you take what the game gives you," Jake Meyers said.

Nebraska left 15 runners on base and was just 3-for-16 (.188) with runners in scoring position. But Omaha, playing without its starting catcher, was a mess and gave the Huskers plenty of help.

And Nebraska needed it. For the second straight night, the pitching was shaky at best. Zack Engelken was erratic, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks in 2.1 innings. Derek Burkamper, previously NU's Friday night starter, wasn't much better, allowing a pair of runs in 2.2 frames of work.

The Huskers, who have struggled with their collective control lately, walked another six batters and produced just two 1-2-3 innings. The Mavericks constantly put pressure on the staff and scored in six separate innings.

Fortunately the offense took advantage of Omaha's wild ways. The Huskers had 14 hits, and the Mavericks didn't respond well to the added activity on the bases. Nebraska, which put its leadoff man on base nine times, scored at least one run in each of the final seven innings.

"You can't control passed balls and dirt-ball reads. You play the hand you're dealt," Erstad said. "I just like to see us playing hard... you just keep the pedal down. We're going to go hard on the base paths and make them play catch.

"Any time you can get free runs, you take them."

Ben Miller led the team with three hits and Meyers Scott Schreiber and Angelo Altavilla all chipped in two. Every starter had at least one hit and a run scored.

The Huskers return home for a weekend series with Northwestern, starting Friday at 6:35 p.m. Garrett King, Jake McSteen and Matt Waldron will start, in that order.

***Altavilla made his first career start, taking over second-base duties and batting ninth. He collected his first hit with a single in the fourth.

***Meyers stole three bases, improving to 8-for-9 on the season.

***The attendance was 3,085.