Huskers Take Series, but Drop Finale to Northwestern

Lincoln – With a series victory already secured, the Nebraska baseball team (22-10, 7-2 Big Ten) was unable to complete a sweep of the Northwestern Wildcats (8-24, 2-7 Big Ten) on Sunday, as the Huskers fell 11-3 at Hawks Field.

Matt Waldron was scheduled to start on Sunday, but was a late scratch and was replaced by Zack Engelken, who started and went 2.1 innings on Wednesday at Omaha. The sophomore went 3.1 innings, allowing four runs on three hits and a walk, while striking out two. Nebraska used five pitchers on Sunday.

The Wildcats went by committee as well in the victory. Starter Jake Stolley threw 3.0 scoreless innings and was backed up by four Wildcat relievers.

Four Huskers accounted for eight and NU’s hits, including two each from Ryan Boldt, Ben Miller, Luis Alvarado and Jesse Wilkening. With Boldt’s single in the ninth, he became the 24th player in school history to record 200 career hits.

After hitting three home runs on Saturday, the Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the second with a two-out solo shot by Willie Bourbon.  With the wind blowing out to right field, Bourbon’s high fly ball carried into the visitors bullpen.

Stolley stranded a pair of Huskers in scoring position in the bottom of the second and then his offense gave him a 2-0 cushion. Engelken hit Ben Dickey to start the third, and Dickey was soon at third following a two-base throwing error on a failed pickoff. Mat Jones followed with an RBI single before Engelken put the top of Northwestern’s lineup down in order.

The Huskers got their leadoff man on in the third when Steven Reveles singled, but he was soon cleared when Stolley picked him off, the lefty’s second of the day. Stolley also picked off Jake Meyers in the second.

Northwestern broke the game open in the fourth and knocked Engelken out of the game. Engelken started the frame by retiring the leadoff hitter, but then gave up a single and walk, resulting in a bullpen call to Robbie Palkert. The freshman right hander hit the first batter he saw to load the bases, then gave up a RBI single and a two-RBI double. After striking out leadoff hitter Jack Dunn for the second out of the inning, Nebraska went to lefty Max Knutson to face left-handed hitter Zach Jones with two runners in scoring position. Knutson struck out Jones swinging, but the three-run inning had pushed the Wildcat lead to 5-0.

The Wildcats put up a second straight three-run frame in the fifth, stretching their lead to 8-0. Northwestern need just three hits in the inning, including doubles from Matt Hopfner and Connor Lind. After scoring in four straight innings, the Wildcats went scoreless in the sixth and seventh before tacking on two runs in the eighth for a 10-0 lead.

The Huskers avoided the shutout with a run in the eighth. The Wildcats loaded the bases with one out on three walks and Jake Schleppenbach drove in Cole Klemke with a sac fly to center field. Nebraska left a pair stranded through for the fifth time in the game when pinch hitter Angelo Altavilla flew out to left field. Northwestern got the run back in the ninth on its fifth homer of the weekend, a solo home run from Mat Jones.

The Huskers hung three runs on the board in the ninth, but it was too little too late.

Nebraska will be back in action on Tuesday at 7 p.m., when it battles the Creighton Bluejays at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. It’s the second of three games between the instate teams this season and will be carried nationally on CBS Sports Network.