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baseball Edit

King comes through in Nebraska's 3-2 victory

Ryan Boldt paced the Huskers with a pair of doubles.
Ryan Boldt paced the Huskers with a pair of doubles.
Tyler Krecklow

After three straight subpar Friday starts by Derek Burkamper, Darin Erstad decided to make a change for the opener of the Northwestern series. The Huskers turned to Garett King, who bombed in his first two starts of the season but appeared to straighten things out in the bullpen since.

It turned out to be a very sage decision.

King was bumpy early, giving up two runs on three hits in the first. But he settled in nicely after that, shutting out Northwestern over the next five frames, as Nebraska settled for a 3-2 victory.

"It's pretty obvious we need our pitchers to go deeper into games, and that starts with throwing strikes," Erstad said. "It was better. What did we walk, four guys today? That's still not good, but compared to what it has been on Fridays, it's a step in the right direction."

The Huskers are now 21-9 on the season and are 6-1 in Big Ten play. They have won 12 of their past 14 games.

The first inning looked like Nebraska's Friday struggles would continue. The Wildcats tagged King for three hits and a walk, putting the Huskers in a 2-0 hole.

But the sophomore rebounded nicely. Outside of a scary third inning in which King had to escape a bases-loaded jam, the righty performed nicely. He finished with a career-high seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings, allowing five hits and three walks.

"I've been working with coach (Ted) Silva a lot on the game's mental side, just coming out and attacking hitters and expecting that every throw is going to be a strike instead of hoping," King said. "It's wasn't great, but better.

"As long as there are eight zeros at the end of the scoreboard, that's what matters."

It didn't take long for the Huskers to erase Northwestern's early lead. Ryan Boldt led off the bottom of the first with a ringing double and came in to score on a fielder's choice by Jake Meyers. Then Boldt tied the game in the second, plating Steven Reveles with another double.

That concluded the scoring until the fifth, when Jake Placzek snuck a two-out single through the left side to give the Huskers their first lead.

The game turned out to be quite light on offense overall. The Huskers had just eight hits, but that turned out to be enough. Jeff Chesnut submitted two efficient innings in relief before Chad Luensmann stranded the tying run at third to earn the save.

"Just pound the zone," Erstad said. "If (King) gives up hits, that's fine. He found a groove there a little bit and looked like he was executing his pitches.

Nebraska and Northwestern will meet again Saturday at 2:05 p.m. before Sunday's finale at 1:05 p.m.

Friday standout

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Outfielder Ryan Boldt: In a quiet night offensively, Boldt provided most of Nebraska's pop. The junior had a pair of doubles, knocking in a run and scoring one himself. It was Boldt's second career game with multiple doubles and he now has 195 career hits. Five more will make him the 24th member of Nebraska's 200-hit club.

Around the horn

***Reveles continues to be one of Nebraska's best and most aggressive base stealers. The senior swiped his eighth bag in 11 tries Friday night.

***Chesnut made his 79th career appearance, tying him with Dylan Vogt for fourth all-time at Nebraska.

***Placzek failed to walk, snapping a six-game streak with a free pass. Placzek still easily leads the team with 34 walks.

***The attendance was 2,990.

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