Nebraska’s Will Walsh (30) pitches the ball during the second game of their double header against Washington at Haymarket Park on March 8, 2025, in Lincoln.
Nebraska’s Will Walsh (30) pitches the ball during the second game of their double header against Washington at Haymarket Park on March 8, 2025, in Lincoln.
Nebraska baseball opened conference play on Saturday with a doubleheader against the Washington Huskies at Haymarket Park. The Huskers dropped the first by a score of 11-5, before losing the second game of the day 6-3.
Their inability to keep Washington from driving the ball and the Huskies’ ability to put up crooked numbers ended up costing Nebraska in game one. In game two, a couple of home runs gave the Huskies the lead, and three late errors by the Huskers helped them extend it.
Nine of the Huskies’ 15 hits in the first matchup of the day were of the extra-base variety. Eight of their 11 runs were driven in by doubles. The other three were a result of a three-run home run by Washington senior designated hitter Braeden Terry to cap off their five-run first inning.
“We didn’t set a tone at all on the mound,” head coach Will Bolt said. “We knew they were going to come out aggressive…the hit by pitch cannot turn into a five-spot.”
Sophomore Ty Horn started game one for the Huskers and struggled mightily in the first. His final line included seven runs on seven hits. It was the fifth consecutive start in which Nebraska’s starting pitcher did not complete more than five innings of work. The Huskers have lost four of those five games.
Bolt said that the pitching staff as a whole is leaving too many pitches in the middle of the zone. As a staff, they walked just two hitters in the first game, but Husker pitchers could not keep the ball off the Huskies’ barrel.
Nebraska had some tough luck when it was trying to mount a comeback in game one. Freshman Devin Nunez hit a ball in the bottom of the third to the deepest part of the park and got robbed by Washington center fielder Malakhi Knight. The senior transfer from UCLA leaped high into the air to take what would have been a two-run home run off the board.
“When you’re chasing those things tend to happen,” Bolt said. “We’ve got to throw the first punch.”
Senior left fielder Gabe Swansen and senior infielder Rhett Stokes each had two hits in the first loss of the day. Swansen put one over the wall for his second home run of the year and broke out of an ice-cold 3-for-30 slump at the plate in the multi-hit performance.
Game two started off as a pitcher’s duel.
Senior left-hander Will Walsh gave the Huskers six scoreless innings to begin his first start back in the weekend rotation after coming out of the bullpen in Frisco, Texas. The Huskies’ starter senior Jackson Thomas matched him through five. Then, junior infielder Cayden Brumbaugh smacked a ball onto the left field berm to open the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run shot.
“We finally get the big swing there and Will’s pitching incredible,” Bolt said. “We’re playing great defense and a hit by pitch turns into a three spot because we don’t make a play. There’s been a lot of that.”
Walsh hit a batter to lead off the top of the seventh and Washington put the tying run on due to a throwing error by the Nebraska second baseman Stokes. Then, Knight made another game-changing play for the Huskies. The senior lined a three-run home run onto the concrete sidewalk above the berm in left field to give Washington its first lead of game two.
Walsh said he let some mistakes compound in that inning before giving up the home run, which gave the Huskies the lead.
“You can look back early in the inning when I hit a guy,” Walsh said. “You can’t start an inning like that.”
Walsh finished the day with nine strikeouts but gave up three runs on three hits over seven innings of work.
Freshman right-hander Carson Jasa took over for him in the eighth. A lead-off home run by sophomore second baseman Blake Wilson stretched the Huskies’ lead to two runs. It was the sophomore’s first home run of the season and second of his career.
“The game of baseball right now is very frustrating for this group,” Brumbaugh said. “We’ve got to turn it around.”
Two runs off of errors helped Washington extend the lead to four. Nebraska managed to push across one in the bottom half of the eighth, but it was not enough to get them the momentum back. The Husker offense left eight runners on base in game one and six runners on base in game two. Washington left five total runners on between the two matchups.
“There’s no consistent approach that’s the problem,” Bolt said. “We’re not really sticking to any one thing in particular. We’re not really hanging our hats on anything.”
The Huskers’ head coach said he’d like to see his guys get a little more upset about the way they are playing.
“The culture is pretty strong,” Bolt said. “It can withhold and upstand a little bit of tough talk…I think that would be a really nice thing to have happen.”
Nebraska takes on Washington at 12 p.m. on Sunday, looking to avoid a sweep in its first home series of the season.
sports@dailynebraskan.com
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