Knutson submits royal outing, beating Kansas at Kauffman

Kansas did just about all it could to hand Nebraska a victory Wednesday night. The Jayhawks' pitchers were all over the place, the defense was suspect and the offense scant.

The Huskers were more than happy to accept KU's gifts.

Max Knutson dazzled in a game played at Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball Kansas City Royals, shutting down the errant Jayhawks as Nebraska improved to 26-15 with the 3-1 victory.

"He's a horse," Darin Erstad said of Knutson during his postgame appearance on the Husker Sports Network. "He pitched great in Manhattan (against Kansas State last Tuesday) and he came out today and just pounded the fastball. He was a little erratic, but the life was there.

"I'm just proud of him for competing with his stuff. He won a lot of those 3-2 battles. He did a real nice job of going pitch to pitch, using his velocity and throwing some real quality changeups as well."

Originally scheduled to start Tuesday, Knutson was pushed back to Wednesday as the threat of weather washed out the Creighton game. Knutson didn't seem to mind pitching in a big league park - after laboring a bit early, the lefty lasted a career-best 5.1 innings, allowing just four hits and one run.

Maybe most importantly was the control Knutson displayed. The junior entered the contest with 17 walks in 18.0 innings but issued just two free passes against the Jayhawks.

"You can see he's more in control on the mound," Erstad said. "He's not rushing down the hill. He's gathering himself and just letting it go."

It was a good thing Knutson was so sharp, because the Huskers couldn't take advantage of most of the chances gifted them by KU. Kansas walked seven batters, hit three more and unfurled four wild pitches. The Jayhawks also committed a pair of errors and threw just 50.7 percent of their pitches for strikes.

But NU had just five hits, stranded 11 men on base and was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Luis Alvarado was the lone Husker with more than one hit.

Nebraska did find some success in the second when Scott Schreiber kicked off the scoring with an RBI single in the third inning, and soon after a wild pitch allowed Jake Meyers to score from third.

The Jayhawks got on the board in the bottom of the frame, but the Huskers got that run back in the sixth on an RBI single by Steven Reveles.

It was a paltry contribution, but it turned out to be all the Nebraska pitchers needed. Reece Eddins took over for Knutston in the sixth and submitted an excellent 1.2 innings, striking out a trio of hitters. Robbie Palkert worked a scoreless eighth and, though he loaded the bases in the ninth, Chad Luensmann was able to wiggle free and earn his ninth save.

"We made a real big focus on trusting your routine and going pitch to pitch," Erstad said. "If you do well, great. If you do bad, so what? Just go to the next pitch. It takes the 'Oh, here we go again out of it,' or 'We can't walk somebody here.' It takes a lot of the noise out of it and lets them just pitch. If it gets whacked, it gets whacked and you go to the next one."

Winners of three of their last four, the Huskers now travel to Rutgers for a three-game series beginning Friday at 2 p.m.

Starting pitcher Max Knutson: The lefty has struggled with control for much of his career, but he had some of his best stuff Wednesday night. Knutson hurled 66 of his 98 pitches for strikes, striking out five and allowing a single run. The junior did throw a pair of wild pitches in the first, but he managed to strand a runner on third in the frame and was otherwise on point.

***Jake Placzek was hit by a pitch in the second inning. It was the seventh time he's been plunked this year, tying him with Meyers for the team lead.

***Eddins and Luensmann each made their 19th appearances of the season, tied for the second-highest total on the team.

***Reveles stole his ninth base of the season in 14 tries.