Considering that both teams demonstrated offensive firepower the past couple of games, today’s 3-0 Nebraska win was out of character for this series. It happened in large part to outstanding pitching from starting pitchers and the respective bullpens.
Gavin Blachowicz rebounded from his rough start last weekend and pitched into the seventh inning, giving up six hits, and most importantly, only one walk. All of the hits surrendered were singles. The Kansas righthander had four strikeouts and three 1-2-3 innings. Only three Illini batters reached scoring position.
Nebraska’s offense was opportunistic today against the lefty starter Aidan Finn and the Illini bullpen. They were able to put at least one runner on base in every inning except the 8th, but took advantage of the chances they were given.
Jett Buck crossed the plate in the second inning to post the first Cornhusker run. He led off the inning with a single and scored two batters later off a Rhett Stokes two-out double.
Nebraska held that 1-0 lead thanks to Blachowicz, and a huge double play in the bottom of the sixth started by Joshua Overbeek that went 5-4-3 to put out Illinois’ first real threat in the game.
Jeter Worthley provided the only blast in the game hitting his first collegiate home run in the top of the seventh inning. The Lincoln East grad has shown all kinds of offensive skills, but had not put one out of the park until today. That put the Big Red up 2-0 going to the bottom of the seventh.
Blachowicz gave up a couple of singles and a fielder’s choice in the Illinois half of the inning, leading Coach Rob Childress to go to the bullpen and bring in Ty Horn.
Horn was all business today, getting two outs to prevent Illinois from putting a run across and then shutting down their offense the remaining two innings. No one reached based in his 2.2 innings pitched.
Horn helped himself with a great defensive play in the bottom of the 8th inning. Lead-off man Nick Groves hit a chopper toward first base. Horn charged off the mound and gloved it off his back hip and out-ran Groves to the base to record the first out of the inning.
The Cornhuskers added their final run in the top of the ninth inning with a Mac Moyer one-out triple. He scored on a wild pitch, the second time that happened for him in this series.
With Horn shutting the door in the bottom of the ninth, it was ball game! Nebraska 3, Illinois 0. It was also another B1G series win for the Cornhuskers, who remain solidly in second place in the conference standings behind UCLA.
With this win, Gavin Blachowicz now 4-1 on the season. He showed the same form fans saw earlier in the season, around the plate with every pitch and doing an outstanding job of mixing up his pitches and locating them.
The offense was able to generate nine hits, five of them for extra bases, but because Illinois pitching did not give up too many free passes, the big innings did not happen.
Nebraska has a quick stop back home with a Tuesday night game against Kansas State, the final of three games against the Wildcats. Then they will head out to Columbus for their second Big Ten road trip in a row against Ohio State.
Notes:
- Jeter Worthley’s home run today was the only round-tripper for Nebraska on the weekend.
- After a three-and-a-half-hour marathon game yesterday, today’s two-hour and nineteen-minute game was a welcome change. Good pitching makes that happen!
- I’ve mentioned previously that I think Mac Moyer is the best lead-off batter Nebraska has had for years. Most Nebraska fans know he is the son of former MLB pitcher Jamie Moyer. What I found out for the first time today is that he is the grandson of Hall of Fame basketball coach Digger Phelps, who coached Notre Dame for years.
- Speaking of Moyer, he extended his on-base streak to 43 games.
- Illinois wore a very attractive blue camo jersey today, a tradition they have apparently had for a few years. It started with military appreciation, but had extended to emergency services. Today, those jerseys would be auctioned off to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Beautiful jerseys for a great cause.