Nebraska baseball continued to not have a response to adversity. The Huskers had a 3-0 lead, but they couldn’t answer UCLA’s five accumulated runs leading to a series sweep in Los Angeles.
“It’s tough to win when you score three runs a game in conference play,” head coach Will Bolt said postgame. “That’s what it boils down to right now.”
Here are three takeaways and a question following the Huskers’ 5-3 loss to UCLA:
Bats continue to swing and miss
Nebraska came out hot at the plate. Unlike the first two outings ofbeing 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position, the Huskers went 2-for-5 with the opportunity through three innings to grab its 3-0 lead.
It seemed as if they were going to have many chances to advance runners, but only had one other runner in scoring position the remainder of the contest. Nebraska went on a three-inning drought without recording a hit until senior outfielder Cael Frost hit a two-out single in the top of the sixth.
“When their counter-punch came, there was punch-back on our side offensively,” Bolt said.
Similarly to Nebraska’s last two outings, the Huskers are striking out at a high rate. Nebraska was rung-up 11 times in 32 plate appearances in its Sunday loss. The Huskers struck out 33 percent of the time in its 98 at-bats over the series.
“Our two-strike hitting is not good enough,” Bolt said. “We’re striking out way too much.”
Pitching gave the Huskers a shot
Senior left-handed pitcher Jackson Brockett dominated his first three innings of his start. The Omaha native delivered to his strength. It only took 15 pitches to get Brockett through two innings.
The senior pitcher allowed a solo home run on his first pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brockett got out without any more damage, but the fifth inning was where he crumbled. The lefty allowed three of his six total hits in the fifth. It didn’t help that junior center fielder Robby Bolin mishandled a single to allow the lead runner to advance to third base.
Brockett finished with 4.1 innings pitched and allowed three earned runs. Junior left-handed pitcher Caleb Clark took over for Brockett and helped Nebraska escape the inning after Brockett allowed two runs prior.
Clark remained on the mound to start the sixth inning, but the junior pitcher allowed two runs, including a solo home run. The four consecutive allowed hits from Clark forced the Huskers to turn to senior right-handed reliever Drew Christo.
Christo posted 2.1 flawless innings to give Nebraska’s bats a chance to win the game. The Elkhorn native fanned four of the seven Bruins faced. The Huskers only used three pitchers on the day, the third-consecutive Nebraska loss was not on the pitching.
“You have to play perfect defense (and) perfect pitches when you don’t score a whole lot,” Bolt said.
Stone has respectable series at the plate
Senior first baseman Tyler Stone single-handedly was the Huskers’ offense in driving in runners. Of Nebraska’s eight runs scored over the series, Stone batted in 50 percent of them.
The 2024 Second Team All-Big Ten selectee recorded four hits, including his home run on Friday. For a team that is currently lackluster at the plate, Stone heating up could spark some fire out of his peers batting.
Will the Huskers get it together?
Nebraska has been inconsistent in its first 18 games of the season. The series sweep now puts the preseason-top 25 Huskers in a tough situation with one-third of the baseball regular season already in the books.
“We just have to be better,” Bolt said. “At the end of the day it wasn’t a mindset thing. We came out with a lead the last two games, but just staying on it offensively, especially.”
Nebraska (7-11, 1-5 Big Ten) will continue its West Coast trip on Tuesday and Wednesday, taking on (4-14) Pepperdine at 5 p.m. each day. The Huskers could pick up some much-needed momentum before heading back to Los Angeles to take on USC for another three-game series.