Huskers grab early lead to finish sweep
Someone said they ran out of hot chocolate on a cold and rainy Sunday at Haymarket Park.
Nebraska thrived on a 40-degree day with a north wind howling, while UC Riverside wilted. The Huskers hammered out a 13-1 triumph in a game that ended in the seventh inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Nebraska jumped to an 11-0 lead after three innings, allowing junior college transfer Aaron Pribanic to settle in and fire his impressive fastball in his first Division I start. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Texas native surrendered a run on five singles while striking out five and walking two.
“He’s very composed,” said Nebraska coach Mike Anderson, whose team improved to 5-2 with a four-game sweep of UC Riverside. “When you got a day like this — it’s kind of a tough day to pitch — and he’s still letting it fire. That’s four quality starts for us this weekend. I’m feeling really good about that, and we got some very good relief pitching.”
In recording the series sweep, 10 Nebraska pitchers combined to hold UC Riverside to nine runs. The Huskers struck out 37 batters and walked only 12.
Since losing 17-7 to Stanford in the season opener, the Huskers have compiled a 1.76 earned run average.
“It’s very easy to play defense behind our pitchers,” third baseman Jake Mort said. “They get a good tempo going, and that helps us out offensively, just because you’re not standing out there playing defense for very long. You’re in the flow of the game a lot better.”
Pribanic said he didn’t pay much attention to the weather, instead trying to focus on making good pitches with a comfortable lead.
“(Pitching coach Eric) Newman was coming up to me between innings and saying to pitch like it was a 0-0 ballgame,” Pribanic said.
Nebraska chased UC Riverside freshman starter Eddie Orozco (0-2) in the second inning, sending 11 batters to the plate in a six-run outburst. Cody Neer, a transfer from Florida, was the catalyst in the inning, going 2-for-2 with a double and a two-run single. Craig Corriston, DJ Belfonte and Jake Opitz all added run-scoring hits.
“We knew they had a pretty good pitcher (6-foot-6 junior right-hander Stephen Penney) in the first game (Friday), and then had some younger guys,” Anderson said. “We got through that first game and the feeling was, ‘Go get them offensively. Let’s start attacking.’”
Nebraska returns to action Tuesday, facing Nebraska-Kearney at 1:35 p.m. at Haymarket.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
Nebraska thrived on a 40-degree day with a north wind howling, while UC Riverside wilted. The Huskers hammered out a 13-1 triumph in a game that ended in the seventh inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Nebraska jumped to an 11-0 lead after three innings, allowing junior college transfer Aaron Pribanic to settle in and fire his impressive fastball in his first Division I start. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Texas native surrendered a run on five singles while striking out five and walking two.
“He’s very composed,” said Nebraska coach Mike Anderson, whose team improved to 5-2 with a four-game sweep of UC Riverside. “When you got a day like this — it’s kind of a tough day to pitch — and he’s still letting it fire. That’s four quality starts for us this weekend. I’m feeling really good about that, and we got some very good relief pitching.”
In recording the series sweep, 10 Nebraska pitchers combined to hold UC Riverside to nine runs. The Huskers struck out 37 batters and walked only 12.
Since losing 17-7 to Stanford in the season opener, the Huskers have compiled a 1.76 earned run average.
“It’s very easy to play defense behind our pitchers,” third baseman Jake Mort said. “They get a good tempo going, and that helps us out offensively, just because you’re not standing out there playing defense for very long. You’re in the flow of the game a lot better.”
Pribanic said he didn’t pay much attention to the weather, instead trying to focus on making good pitches with a comfortable lead.
“(Pitching coach Eric) Newman was coming up to me between innings and saying to pitch like it was a 0-0 ballgame,” Pribanic said.
Nebraska chased UC Riverside freshman starter Eddie Orozco (0-2) in the second inning, sending 11 batters to the plate in a six-run outburst. Cody Neer, a transfer from Florida, was the catalyst in the inning, going 2-for-2 with a double and a two-run single. Craig Corriston, DJ Belfonte and Jake Opitz all added run-scoring hits.
“We knew they had a pretty good pitcher (6-foot-6 junior right-hander Stephen Penney) in the first game (Friday), and then had some younger guys,” Anderson said. “We got through that first game and the feeling was, ‘Go get them offensively. Let’s start attacking.’”
Nebraska returns to action Tuesday, facing Nebraska-Kearney at 1:35 p.m. at Haymarket.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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