Schreiber's moonshot powers Huskers to 7-1 win

It would have been difficult for Scott Schreiber to improve on his performance Tuesday, when the sophomore hit two home runs and a double in Nebraska's 10 win over Northern Colorado.

Give Schreiber credit for trying. His home run in the third inning was a no-doubt moonshot that helped propel Nebraska to a 7-1 win over the Bears, sweeping the midweek series.

The Huskers improved to 5-6 on the season.

"It was OK," Darin Erstad said. "We took care of business and did what we were supposed to do. We played clean baseball outside of one bobble.

"Offensively I felt we still wasted quite a few at-bats today, personally. It was good enough to get the job done."

Northern Colorado starter Luke Haynes was a mess right off the bat, getting just one out while giving up a pair of hits, walking two and hitting a batter. The Huskers turned his wild ways into two runs, but after a pitching change NU left the bases loaded.

Ben Miller led off the third with a rare single, then Schreiber cranked the two-run shot. Both of Schreiber's home runs Tuesday clearly the fence by a few feet, but this homer landed on the sidewalk a good 20 feet beyond the wall.

With five homers, Schreiber already has more than any Husker in a single season since 2012. He matched his 2015 season total in the past two games.

The Huskers put the nail in the coffin when two more runs came across in the sixth on an RBI single by Ryan Boldt and a Jake Placzek ground out. Then Miller hit a sky-high pop-up that dropped just inside the line in left for a run-scoring double.

The Huskers won comfortably, but Boldt felt they left some opportunities unanswered.

"There is always an opportunity to improve," he said. "We left some guys on the bases today. Sometimes we got out of our approach, but we found it again back in that sixth inning. It's just nice to put up a couple of runs and have our pitchers throw well both days."

With four games coming this weekend, Erstad opted to lean on his bullpen for the game. The strategy worked beautifully, as Jake Meyers, making his first career start, held the Bears in check for the first three innings.

Reece Eddins got into some trouble and gave up a run in the the fifth but avoided further damage by stranding a pair of runners. Sean Chandler ran into trouble in the seventh, loading the bases with one out. But Jeff Chesnut entered an fanned a pair to extinguish the threat.

The Huskers held the Bears to just four hits and struck out 11.

"We've got to get (the young pitchers) out there and continue to get those innings," Erstad said. "You're going to take some lumps along the way, but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Nebraska will host Loyola Marymount for a four-game series this weekend, beginning Friday at 1:35 p.m. Erstad said Colton Howell, Derek Burkamper and Matt Waldron will start the first three games and figure Sunday's pitching situation out after that.

***Pitcher Jake Meyers: Erstad said all he needed from Meyers was three effective innings, and the sophomore delivered. Meyers didn't blow the Bears away, but he threw strikes (26 of his 41 pitches were true), struck out a pair and allowed just two base runners.

***Boldt stole two more bases Wednesday, giving him five already this year. He was also caught stealing once, making him 5-for-9 in attempts this season.

***Schreiber was hit by pitches twice.

***Erstad wanted to keep Meyers' bat in the lineup, so Nebraska couldn't use a designated hitter. That placed Schreiber in right field, the first time in his career he played anywhere but first.

***The attendance was 2,330.