Nebraska baseball took its first Big Ten series of the season this past weekend. The Huskers were poised for a series sweep over Rutgers, but a lackluster team performance in the series finale led to a 7-5 loss.
Here are some metrics from Nebraska taking two of three:
Hitting
An interesting statistic was the Huskers cutting down their strikeout rate. In the Oregon State series, Nebraska struck out 35% of the time. This past weekend they only struck out 15% of the time in its 104 at-bats. If the Huskers can continue to put the ball in play, more crooked innings will occur.
Nebraska made solid contact over the weekend, highlighted by 13 hits in Friday’s 8-5 and 12 on Saturday’s 10-5 victories. In Sunday’s loss, they still went 9-for-36 at the plate, but couldn’t put together a crooked inning offensively.
Overall, the Huskers had a .327 batting average on the weekend. The 34 hits in 104 at-bats were what Nebraska was anticipating from their offense this season.
Nebraska racked up 10 walks and got hit by a pitch six times, but could only steal two bases over the three-game series.
Pitching
The Huskers’ pitching wasn’t terrible, yet it wasn’t up to par. Starting with the number of Scarlet Knights fanned. Nebraska could only strike out Rutgers at a 13% rate, coming out to be 14 total.
Looking at the hits allowed, the Scarlet Knights recorded 33 hits in its 106 at-bats, highlighted with its 15 in the series finale. The .311 batting average allowed by the Huskers’ pitching staff created too many baserunners for a struggling group.
Nebraska walked 13 Rutgers batters and only hit one by pitch in the three contests. They did not allow any stolen bases. The walk-to-strikeout ratio of 14-to-13 isn’t ideal.
The Huskers (14-18, 4-8) will return to action at Kansas on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT. They will follow with a three-game series at Iowa this coming weekend.
Schneider is a sports journalist who covers Nebraska baseball and football. Follow him on X @bschneider33 for more coverage.