Nebraska baseball lost two of three in its weekend series at Iowa. A late-inning rally lifted the Huskers 6-4 in the finale, but opportunities in the first two contests were missed.
Here are some metrics from the weekend series in Iowa City:
Pitching
Nebraska’s arms were inconsistent for the three-game series. Senior lefty Will Walsh delivered quite the performance in Friday’s 1-0 loss. Walsh went seven innings, allowing only one earned run off of two hits. The Huskers’ three hits didn’t give Walsh any support.
Sophomore righty Tucker Timmerman made his first appearance since the second game of the season after being out due to getting hit in the face by a line drive. Timmerman took over in the finale for Senior lefty Jackson Brockett, who significantly struggled in his start. Timmerman posted 2.2 solid innings, allowing no earned runs and one hit.
For the pitching staff as a whole, Nebraska allowed 13 earned runs, 16 total. Three unearned runs came in the series finale, as the four Huskers’ fielding errors kept the Hawkeyes in it. The biggest letdown from Nebraska was its six runs allowed in the eighth inning on Saturday. The Huskers led 6-5 entering that inning, yet the crooked inning allowed led to an 11-6 game-two loss.
Hitting
The Huskers’ hot bats didn’t necessarily travel to Iowa City. Nebraska went 16-for-94 (.170) at the plate in its series defeat. Six of its 16 hits came from homers. The strikeout numbers grew back to the norm for the Huskers this season. Nebraska struck out in 33 of its 94 at-bats, which equates to a 35% rate.
Senior third baseman Joshua Overbeek was the highlight at the plate. Overbeek hit his first two homers of the season this past weekend, one apiece in games two and three. He finished with three of the Huskers’ 16 hits and two RBIs.
Overall, the Big Red had opportunities in each contest, yet the critical mistakes on the mound and missing at the plate led to Nebraska returning to Lincoln with a series defeat.
The Huskers (16-20, 5-10) will face Creighton again on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on FS1, this time in Omaha for the in-state showdown.
Schneider is a sports journalist who covers Nebraska baseball and football. Follow him on X @bschneider33 for more coverage.