Waldron deals Huskers to series win
Exiting Friday night's win, the Huskers have now won 14 of their last 18 games to go along with their 4th straight conference series win.
They have gotten timely hitting along the way, but it has been the starting pitching that has helped to carry the team. A recently solidified weekend rotation has made all the difference in the world to Nebraska's fortunes on the field.
After throwing a complete game shutout in his last start, true freshman Matt Waldron followed that up with an eight inning effort of three-hit shutout ball to secure a series win over Indiana Friday evening.
"Yeah, you know, we always knew," NU head coach Darin Erstad commented on Waldron's performance. "Anybody who watched him pitch in high school [knew] when he threw 150 pitches in a game, have one day off, and come back and throw the next day. So he has that.
"We saw him down in one of the biggest events in Jupiter, Florida face one of the best teams in California with three first rounders on it, and he didn't back down one bit. And he, you know, he loves those situations and just seems to really lock in his focus. He's obviously in control of his breathing and going pitch to pitch, and just doing a really good job of not letting things affect him."
Waldron isn't a fireballer by any means, but he is adept at keeping hitters off balance and guessing in the batter's box.
"Well, he doesn't give free passes for one and the ability to three pitch mix - and sometimes four actually with the slider, curveball and change - but he can just get them off balance. And he does a great job of speeding it up and slowing it down on guys.
"Having them thinking away and popping one inside. Having them thinking inside and popping one away. And really, no real pattern to it so, yeah, you're not all going to throw it 95-97, but when you have that pitch-ability you can do a lot of great things. And he's been very sharp the last few outings."
Red-hot Husker cleanup hitter Scott Schreiber was scratched from the lineup due to tweaking his groin after hitting a triple Thursday night, but other players stepped up in his stead.
NU started off the game scoring in the bottom of the first when Ryan Boldt and Jake Placzek singled and they were sacrifices into scoring position by Jake Meyers. Ben Miller then drove in Boldt on a fielder's choice.
In the fifth inning, NU added their second run in the contest when Steven Reveles doubled to lead off and Jake Schleppenbach beat out a bunt to put runners on the corners with no outs. Cole Klemke came through with am RBI single to plate Reveles.
"Great and off of a lefty too!" Erstad said of Klemke's clutch hit. "You know, hitting one into the right-center field gap and being ready to hit. Just a great job by Cole.
"This time of the year you're going to have little nicks and bruises, and things pop up, and, obviously, you want your best players who have played all year in there, but that's just not the way it works. You have to have other guys step up and it's just great to see him contribute. I'm happy to put him in there any time."
Chad Luensmann entered in the ninth with one on and induced a 6-4-3 double play on his first pitch. A ground out to second gave the Huskers the series win as the freshman recorded his 11th save of the season.
Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Nebraska will go for the series sweep and the game will be televised on NET. With a win, NU would secure a sole second place finish in the Big Ten regular season.
It will also be senior day for the 36-18 Cornhuskers and they want to finish the season on a high note, according to Coach Erstad.
"Yeah, we have five [seniors] and they've been through the fire," Erstad stated. "They've been with us the whole time, especially Taylor Fish. It's just really cool to, you know, see them grow. That's probably the thing I've enjoyed more about this job than I ever thought -- seeing these kids grow up right before your eyes.
"I'm sure that a lot of coaches say that, but I've never been a coach so I'd never been through it. But, like I told the guys, it would be great to get them a win on senior day and leave them with a win and a sweep, and just a nice feeling in the stomach. I think the boys are going to be excited to play tomorrow."