Schreiber's bombs propel Huskers

Nebraska's early-season power surge continued Tuesday afternoon with Scott Schreiber supplying most of the surge. The sophomore popped two homers, combining with Garett King to help the Huskers top Northern Colorado 8-0 and improve to 4-6 on the season.

Nebraska has now won 38 straight home openers.

"He's got a chance to do some damage with the baseball," Darin Erstad said of Schreiber. "When he starts to understand pitch selection with certain pitches, you see what he's capable of doing.

"He's finding his way with his swing. He's still super raw, but he's starting to ask questions about hitting that are fun to talk about. He's got a lot of potential and it's fun to see him start to figure it out."

Schreiber kicked off the scoring with a three-run shot in the third inning, a drive to left-center that brought in Ryan Boldt and Ben Miller.

Neither team scored again until the fifth, when Boldt led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jake Placzek. Schreiber hit his second bomb - which landed in nearly the same location as his first - two batters later. Jake Meyers reached on an error by the third baseman and scored on a Taylor Fish double.

It appeared Schreiber might send another ball into retirement in the seventh, but his screaming line drive to left hit near the top of the wall and he had to settle for a double. After Jake Meyers singled, Fish brought Schreiber home two batters later.

Meyers concluded the scoring by coming home on a passed ball.

That would be more than enough for King, whose shaky first two starts of the season earned him a demotion from the weekend rotation.

But whatever ailed King in those outings vanished against the Bears, as the sophomore allowed just two hits and one walk in six innings.

King's ERA dropped from 15.19 to 7.30 Tuesday.

"He held his velocity," Erstad said. "What happened in his first few outings, he was OK the first couple innings, then he really dropped off to 83, 85 (miles per hour). He was still 86-89 in the fifth, so that's good.

"From a stuff standpoint, he kept competing and kept attacking. From a mechanics standpoint we know there are still a few things to iron out... But it was progress. He's still going to be a big part of what we do."

The Huskers and Bears will meet again Wednesday at 1:35 p.m. Meyers will start the game but Erstad said it will be a bullpen brigade contest.

***Outfielder Ryan Boldt: Off to a bit of a slow start, Boldt had his best game of the young season. He entered the day hitting .268 but banged out a trio of hits, including a triple, scored twice and swiped his third base Tuesday.

***Pitcher Zack Engelken: If the sophomore can tame his wild ways, look out. Engelken walked two and allowed a single in his two innings. But he also struck out five hitters and had Northern Colorado's hitters mostly off-balance. Engelken's stuff is good enough to make him a legitimate starting option, but he must develop better control.

***Schreiber now has four home runs this season, already surpassing his total of three from last year.

***Norris product Byron Hood made his first career appearance in the ninth and submitted a 1-2-3 inning.

"He's been waiting for his chance," Erstad said. "He came out and had a clean inning, which was fantastic to see. His stuff was good."

***The Huskers stole three bases, giving them 12 on the season. The Huskers averaged 0.7 steals per game last year.

***Boldt's triple in the fifth was the ninth of his career and first this season.

***The attendance was 2,800.