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Offense disappears again as Huskers suffer series sweep

Ben Miller hit an RBI single in the sixth but it wasn't enough.
Ben Miller hit an RBI single in the sixth but it wasn't enough.
Tyler Krecklow

For most of its existence in the Big Ten, Nebraska has owned Michigan. The Huskers swept the Wolverines last year and were 10-4 overall against UM coming into the weekend since joining the conference in 2011.

If Michigan had any bottled-up frustration from that history, it certainly took it out on Nebraska this weekend.

In what figured to be a critical conference series for Nebraska, the Wolverines uncerimoniously swept the Huskers, ending the weekend with a dominant 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon as NU's once-dominant offense continues to sputter.

Losers of five straight, Nebraska fell to 22-14 and 7-5 in Big Ten play.

"It hasn't changed. We've made the same mistakes in a lot of areas, but now we're facing quality pitching," Darin Erstad said during his appearance on the Husker Sports Network. "Their pitcher threw very well and I thought Meyers matched him.

"We knew the chances would be small and unfortunately it's those little things, which I haven't been able to correct yet and get across how important that is."

The Huskers were limited to just four hits, just the latest in a series of disappointing offensive performances. Nebraska hit just .214 as a team in the series, scoring a total of nine runs. The Huskers are batting .236 over the five-game losing streak.

No NU player had more than one hit and Nebraska didn't have a hit until the fifth.

No one can fault Jake Meyers for his effort. Filling in for the injured Matt Waldron, Meyers, the team's everyday right fielder and occasional spot starter, threw a career-high 3.2 innings. The sophomore allowed just one hit and punched out a career-high four batters, keeping the Huskers in the game.

Ben Miller finally got the offense into gear in the sixth, using a two-out single to score Ryan Boldt and tie the game 1-1. With Reece Eddins looking strong, the Huskers appeared to have grabbed the game's momentum.

But the Wolverines got to Eddins in the bottom of the frame, scoring twice and snatching the lead right back.

Derek Burkamper appeared to have things under control in the seventh as he retired the first two batters. But Michigan worked a walk and a single with two outs, ending Burkamper's day. The next two hitters hit a single and double respectively off of Chad Luensmann, ballooning the lead to 6-1.

"We're going to have to take it to another level," Erstad said. "That's unacceptable and it's on me for not having them ready to go. I have to do a better job."

The Huskers' offense went back into the grave after Miller's clutch hit. Nebraska went down in order in each of the final three innings, completing the sweep. NU will try to get back on track with a midweek game at Kansas State before returning to Haymarket Park for a three-game series with Nicholls State.

"We're going to find out what the identity of this team is," Erstad said. "We talk all the time about 'What is this group? Who are you?' You can talk all you want until you face some adversity. It was all fun and games and we laughed off the walks when we're hitting bombs all over the place and scoring eight or nine runs a game.

"Now we're going to find out who we really are and what this team is made of, and I love it. This is a great challenge for us. This was a tough weekend. A couple of those games could have went the other way and they didn't. This is when you find out who you really are. This is when you grow as a team and as a group, and we'll find out on Tuesday."

Around the horn

***Jeff Chesnut's appearance was the 83rd of his career, putting him second on NU's all-time list.

***Eddins appears to be tiring badly down the stretch. The sophomore compiled a 0.62 ERA through his first 13 appearances. But Eddins has allowed two earned runs in each of his last three appearances, during which he has a 10.80 ERA.

***Catcher Jesse Wilkening threw out a potential base stealer to end the fifth. It was the seventh runner the true freshman has thrown out this year.

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