Chesnut Ties School Record, Huskers Win 6-3

East Lansing, Mich. – On a day when Jeff Chesnut tied Steve Hale’s school record with his 87th career appearance, the Nebraska baseball team (29-16, 10-6 Big Ten) took the series opener at #24 Michigan State (30-12, 10-6 Big Ten) with a 6-3 victory. The Huskers are now 4-0 at McLane Stadium since joining the Big Ten Conference.

Trailing 6-2, the Spartans mounted a rally in the eighth by loading the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a walk. NU went to freshman Chad Luensmann and the Altoona, Pa., native needed just three pitches to get three outs. Luensmann entered the game with a 2-0 count to Zack McGuire and Luensmann’s first pitch resulted in a 4-6-3 double play, but a run scored. With a runner still on third, Luensmann needed just two pitches to retire Marty Bechina to keep the Huskers on top, 6-3.

Luensmann then tossed a scoreless ninth for his 10th save of the season, tying him with Mike Bellows (1994) for sixth on NU’s single season saves list. Six of Luensmann’s 10 saves have come during league play.

Derek Burkamper improve to 5-1 on the year and recorded his 10th career win at Nebraska. Burkamper tossed 5.1 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits, including just one hit through the first five innings. The Muscatine, Iowa, native stuck out five, the sixth time he has struck out at least five in nine starts this season. The junior right hander has worked into the sixth in each of his last three starts and has allowed three earned runs over 21.1 innings in those starts.

After going a career-high 8.2 innings in a win over Michigan last weekend, MSU starter Ethan Landon couldn’t make it through the fifth, lasting 4.2 innings. The right hander had worked into the sixth inning in each of his previous five Big Ten starts this year. NU tagged the sophomore for six runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks. Landon entered Saturday with wins in each of his last five weekend starts.

NU’s offense pounded out nine hits on the day, with three coming off the bat of Ryan Boldt. The junior from Red Wing, Minn., notched his 18th multi-hit game of the year, including his team-high 11th three-hit performance. After going 11 straight games without a multi-hit day, Boldt has done it in each of his last two games.

Nebraska jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on three consecutive hits from Boldt, Jake Meyers and Ben Miller. Boldt singled up the middle and scored all the way from first on Meyer’s ninth double of the season, which also extended his hitting streak to nine games. Miller followed with a RBI single before Landon got a pair of outs to end the frame.

After the Huskers left the bases loaded in the second, the Spartans had a runner on third with no outs in the bottom of the frame following a leadoff double and a wild pitch. Burkamper looked to strand Matt Byars at third when he got a strikeout, a pop up and a ground ball, but on the potential inning-ending grounder Jake Placzek couldn’t field it cleanly and the error allowed an unearned run to score.

NU’s offense got the run back in the third, without getting a hit. Landon issued a leadoff walk to Miller and hit Scott Schreiber to put two on with no outs. Both runners moved up on a groundout off the bat of Luis Alvarado and Miller scored on a RBI groundout by Jesse Wilkening. Landon got a third-consecutive groundout from Jake Schleppenbach to end the inning, but the Huskers pushed their lead back to two runs, 3-1.

Burkamper retired the Spartans in order in the fourth and NU’s offense went back to work in the fifth, with three runs on three hits and a pair of Spartan errors. The Huskers had runners on first and second with two outs when Steven Reveles and Placzek delivered consecutive RBI singles, and on Placzek’s hit the Spartans committed their fourth error of the game, allowing Reveles to score all the way from first, pushing Nebraska’ lead to 6-1.

The Spartans started their half of the sixth with just their second hit of the game, but it was a big one as Dan Durkin launched his fifth homer of the season to centerfield. After a fly out, MSU got consecutive singles and the Huskers went to Chesnut. The senior needed just two pitches to get out of the jam, inducing a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Dan Chmielewski.

MSU’s bullpen limited the Huskers to just one hit, a double by Boldt, over the final four innings, but the Spartans were only able to manage one run on a pair of hits over the final three innings.

The Huskers and Spartans continue their three-game series tomorrow, with first-pitch set for 12:05 p.m. (CT).