Courtesy of Husker Athletics
Nebraska cruised to a 14-2 run-rule victory in eight innings at Purdue on Saturday afternoon to pick up the Huskers’ fifth consecutive series win.
Nebraska (28-27, 15-15 Big Ten) scored 14 runs on 15 hits, while Purdue (31-23, 11-19 Big Ten) recorded two runs, six hits and three errors.
Will Jesske led the Huskers at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a double and three runs scored. Cayden Brumbaugh was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Dylan Carey and Case Sanderson recorded a hit and two RBI each, while Cael Frostwent 1-for-1 with a homer and two RBI, leading a group of nine Huskers with one hit on the day.
Jackson Brockett improved to 3-3 on the season after dealing two innings in the scheduled shortened start on Saturday afternoon. The senior struck out two and didn’t allow a run on two hits and a walk. Gavin Blachowicz worked one inning, surrendering one run with one hit and a pair of strikeouts.
Pryce Bender allowed one run on two hits and two strikeouts in two innings of work, while Caleb Clark worked 1.1 shutout frames without a hit given up, recording three punchouts and a walk. Blake Encarnacion and Grant Cleavingercombined to deal the final 1.2 innings for the NU pitching staff, blanking the Boilermakers with three punchouts and just one hit allowed.
The Husker offense went to work early, as Nebraska scored runs in each of the first four innings on Saturday afternoon. The Huskers plated two runs behind a pair of hits to grab an early 2-0 advantage.
NU loaded the bases with two outs after Brumbaugh’s double, Swansen being hit by the pitch and a walk to Carey. Sanderson broke the scoreless tie on the first pitch with a two-RBI single up the middle that brought home Brumbaugh and Swansen.
Nebraska stretched its lead to six in the second behind three hits and an error. A full-count walk and a fielding error had runners on second and third with no outs, while Silva’s RBI single to shortstop plated Nunez. Consecutive RBI hits from Overbeek and Brumbaugh scored Bolin and Silva to give the Huskers a five-run advantage.
Swansen lifted a deep fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly, allowing Overbeek to come home for NU’s sixth run of the day.
The Big Red added two more to the lead in the top of the third with a sacrifice fly from Bolin, while a wild pitch scored Nunez and grew the lead to eight.
Purdue had a pair of baserunners with two hitters plunked, while a two-out RBI single up the middle plated the Boilermakers’ first run of the afternoon in the bottom of the third.
The Husker offense scored for the fourth consecutive inning with Carey’s sacrifice fly to deep left-center field after Swansen’s leadoff triple off the left-center field wall.
The Boilermakers scored their second run of the day with two hits in the bottom of the fifth. A one-out double put a runner on second, before a two-out RBI single through the left side made it a 9-2 game through five innings.
Nebraska scored a run in the top of the sixth on a double play, before piling on four more runs in the eighth to extend the lead to 14-2. A Leadoff double from Jesske, and a 408-foot two-run homer off the bat of Frost gave the Huskers a 12-2 lead.
Jaron Cotton was plunked on the first pitch, before consecutive singles by Rhett Stokes and Hayden Lewis expanded the lead to 11. Carey capped the scoring for the Big Red on the afternoon with an RBI double to the wall in right-center field.
Cleavinger worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of eighth to blank the Boilermaker and preserve Nebraska’s 14-2 run-rule victory in eight innings.
