Nebraska Baseball's 'Get Right' Series Sweep of Pepperdine Bodes Well for Weekend at USC

The Husker bats finally got going this week, which could mean success this weekend.

Nebraska first baseman Tyler Stone swings at a pitch against Pepperdine at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu, Calif., on March 19, 2025. / Nebraska Athletics

On the latest HuskerMax Today, Nick Handley and Kaleb Henry discussed Nebraska baseball's sweep of Pepperdine and what that could mean for the team going forward.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation

Nick: This was the get-right moment that this team, I think, desperately needed, and for more emphasis on the offensive side of it, too. So many things happened with this team in two days that I think you look at the weekend before against UCLA and thought, okay... Strikeout numbers were abysmal going into the series against Pepperdine. Runners in scoring position was was really bad. I mean, at one point that UCLA game, Nebraska was over fourteen with that situation. So it wasn't a matter of getting guys on base. It was being able to drive them in. That all changed against Pepperdine.

Ben (McLaughlin) and I talked about this in the broadcast. This wasn't an apples-to-apples conversation when it came to comparing Nebraska, the struggles against UCLA, and the success they had against Pepperdine. Because Pepperdine is not nearly as good of a team as UCLA. Pepperdine is struggling on their own. But there were things about Pepperdine that we did walk away from that series somewhat impressed. For a team that has a really bad collective batting average, they were scrapping at bats. They were getting some swings on some good pitches. So it wasn't like all of a sudden Nebraska played just the most inept team in the world. But the bottom line is you had an opportunity against a team that was going to throw a bunch of different arms that also was struggling on the mound a little bit, could Nebraska finally take advantage of that.

Nebraska shortstop Dylan Carey swings at a pitch against Pepperdine at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu, Calif., on March 19, 2025. / Nebraska Athletics

You think about this one too, the success that Nebraska had offensively, they did so without key bats in their lineup. Guys that they're sitting right now. A guy like Gabe Swanson. We didn't see a lot of Case Anderson either, you know? So those are two guys that you would hope that at some point are going to be back in this lineup and are going to be able to contribute. But great to see Dylan Carey with the multi home run game yesterday. He was the only guy who didn't have a hit in Tuesday's game, but he had some hard hit balls. And then yesterday he he's able to be like, okay, well, here's what I'm going to do today. Tyler Stone is swinging a hot bat right now, too. Watching guys like Devin Nunez as a freshman continuing to do some good things.

That seven through nine on Tuesday was a collective 6-of-9 at the plate. And then seven through nine collectively in this series had 10 hits. You just saw production all throughout the lineup but it also came down to situational hitting too when Nebraska got runners on, they had two perfectly executed hit and runs where you get from first to third and and they were able to attack the vacated hole in the in the sixth hole over by the shortstop when he had to cover the bag with the runner taking off.

Nebraska - this is kind of a crazy stat - going into the Pepperdine series, they did not have a sacrifice bunt. They had a couple of bunts for hits, but they did not have a sacrifice bunt. They were able to get one and two of the season in this series, too. So it was the situational hitting more than anything for Nebraska. And it came from so many different players.

And they got a big challenge starting tomorrow night against USC. USC is no joke, but you needed to take care of business. You needed to get right both physically and mentally in the batter's box, and I think Nebraska definitely was able to use this two-game series against Pepperdine to do exactly that. Not a great Pepperdine team, but a team that, hey, that's who was on your schedule, and Nebraska took care of that, especially offensively.

Nebraska outfielder Riley Silva scores a run against Pepperdine at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu, Calif., on March 18, 2025. / Nebraska Athletics

Kaleb: How many times over the first month-plus of this season had we seen a situation where, which happened yesterday, and Nebraska didn't take advantage of it, but yesterday they did. Riley Silva stretching a sliding double, you get an overthrow, turns it into he's now on third, and there's no outs. And there are plenty of other times, not that exact situation, but other times you're in similar situations and he doesn't score.

Nick: Right. And that's, yes, it's Pepperdine, but that's who's on your schedule. But yesterday, you got that guy home. And as you were saying, the timely hitting finally showed up both the last couple of days.

Kaleb: I saw this stat yesterday, and I can't remember who shared it. But is this right, that Nebraska had no strikeouts yesterday for the first time a game since 2014?

Nick: Nope. They did not and they only had two the day before. So think about that, the strikeout numbers that were so high, and I know that this was something that this entire coaching staff was really working hard on trying to address, trying to to get through to the hitters look at that approach and everything that they're seeing and be able to communicate back and forth that way. That was, I know, a heavy emphasis going into this Pepperdine series. And you get two in two games compared to at one point, I don't know what the final number was against UCLA, but in the three games, it was 31. So to not strike out once and to do so the only two times was the first inning of Tuesday's game. They had two Ks. And after that, so you essentially, you go, what, sixteen innings without a strikeout? You're going to take that without question.

Nebraska outfielder Robby Bolin looks on against Pepperdine at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu, Calif., on March 18, 2025. / Nebraska Athletics

You mentioned the you mentioned the play there of Silva, that one was hilarious because the ball gets away from the first baseman. He had to try to pick it, and so it gets into shallow right field. And so Riley Silva just does not hesitate. And so he's rounding first, and all of a sudden, they probably have him dead in the water at second, but then they overthrow that. I mean, he pops right back up, but then he's motoring into third base. So that's how you lead off an inning.

And then it's Hogan Hellisgso who hits the ball on the screws, but right to the shortstop, and so the run doesn't score. But then Joshua Overbeek comes back up, hits a little bit more of a soft ground ball over to the right side that does score it, but then Hogan Hellisgso able to drive in a couple of runs as well.

It was almost like the game found everybody that was putting in the work at in the batter's box. Dylan Carey, who hit some hard balls on Tuesday, he was rewarded on Wednesday with with two home runs. I just I can't feel better for this team of what they were struggling with it offensively where they were able to almost kind of vent at the plate, if you will, kind of let out their frustrations against Pepperdine pitching.

And here's the other thing. It was one thing to get out on top early in the game, but so many times we've seen Nebraska maybe go through innings three, four, five, six, and seven, and there's no offense at all. They were relentless. They were putting up multiple crooked numbers, but then every time Pepperdine had an answer, Nebraska came right back and took it back. And so they were just absolutely killing the will of that team with what they were able to do offensively. They were bullying Pepperdine offensively, which we can't say we've seen a whole heck of a lot with this team.

Kaleb: Scored in seven of the nine innings yesterday.

Watch the entire conversation below.

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