Burkamper comes up big in 6-1 series-opening victory

Friday night starts are typically a revered honor, reserved for a staff's most feared arm. But that's rarely been the case this year for Nebraska, which has unsuccessfully searched all season for a reason for a reliable series-opening option.

Derek Burkamper broke the streak Friday night against Nicholls State, submitting one of NU's best outings of the season. The junior held the Colonels to a single run over eight innings as the Huskers cruised to a relatively easy 6-1 victory, improving to 24-14 in the process.

"It's just a matter of finishing your pitches," Darin Erstad said. "You can talk about mechanics but it's all about mentality. It's all about just executing that pitch and worrying about all the other crap that's going on. The last two games, our pitchers have done a nice job of really focusing on that pitch and going on to the next pitch. We're at the bare bones of this thing right now. But it's nice to see them do it.

"That's what it looks like on Friday night... that was a big boost for us."

Burkamper was excellent from the outset. A player who's struggled with control at times this year, Burkamper issued just one walk while allowing seven hits as he held Nicholls State off the scoreboard for the first six innings. Kyle Knauth hit a solo homer in the seventh, but Burkamper recovered to last two more innings.

"The last couple weeks I've been struggling just to get my velocity back and get my control back," Burkamper said. "It was just competing, working hard in the weight room and waiting for my next turn. I knew it was going to come at some point and I took advantage of it."

Even with its hurler dealing, the Huskers struggled to get much going against NSU starter Justin Sinibaldi. Jake Schleppenbach roped a two-out RBI single in the second but Sinibaldi otherwise kept NU in check.

That changed in the fifth, when Nebraska sent its entire order to the plate. The Huskers loaded the bases with no outs, but Ryan Boldt and Jake Placzek both popped out to second. Just when it seemed NU would spoil the scoring opportunity, Ben Miller roped a two-RBI single and Scott Schreiber launched a three-run home run, his ninth homer of the season.

All six of Nebraska's runs came with two outs.

That was all Burkamper would need as the junior submitted Nebraska's longest outing of the season. The righty lived in the bottom of the strike zone, coaxing 11 ground outs before ceding the ninth inning to Reece Eddins, who submitted a perfect inning to secure the win.

"The way I saw it, their team tries to slap everything the other way," Burkamper said. "If I was able to get my fastball on the outside corner they would roll over, and they did that a lot. That's kind of my mentality.

"The majority of their hits came off some misplaced fastballs that they got some good swings on. But other than that, that's where it came from."

The two teams will meet again Saturday at 2:05 p.m. before Sunday's finale at 1:05 p.m.

***Erstad said reliever Jeff Chesnut's status is still up in the air. The senior was hit in the head by a line drive Tuesday. Erstad said Chesnut could potentially pitch as soon as Saturday, but the team doesn't know.

***Placzek walked twice, increasing his team-leading total to 43 on the season.

***Nebraska has now won 71 straight games when taking a lead into the ninth inning.

***The attendance was 3,084.