Nebraska baseball enters regular-season finale with postseason hopes still on the line

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska baseball has arrived at the final stop of an unusually twisted season. The Huskers will open a three-game series Thursday at Michigan State within reach of their third Big Ten championship in the past seven opportunities.

Nebraska is 32-18 and 14-7 in conference play. Its case for a spot in the NCAA postseason, to be unveiled May 27, appears strong, though it’s not entirely secure with the visit to MSU and a Big Ten tournament in Omaha still ahead.

On the surface, this is a satisfying position. Beneath the appearance of that smooth ride, Nebraska has endured a turbulent spring.

A window opened in March and April for the Huskers to earn an inside lane to go deeper into the postseason since they last won a regional in 2005. But now if Nebraska is to make a run, its path likely must resemble what coach Will Bolt’s team nearly pulled off in 2021. After winning the Big Ten, it pushed national power Arkansas to the final innings of a winner-take-all game in the Fayetteville regional.

“When you get knocked in the face,” outfielder Garrett Anglim said, “one thing you’ve got to do is get back up and show up the next day with that fight.”

Nebraska has absorbed its share of punches.

It’s not alone. The national picture entering the final days of the regular season is clouded. In some cases, it looks upside down. Perennial College World Series participants Vanderbilt, Florida, LSU, TCU and Texas are jumbled near Nebraska with RPIs from Nos. 28 to 44, according to warrennolan.com.

The Huskers come in at No. 31.

“Everybody has more access to talent than we’ve ever had in this sport,” Bolt said. “And it’s hard to win.”

Bolt’s team has won just three of seven series finales against Big Ten foes. Nebraska dropped all three games against in-state rival Creighton and lost 10-6 against lowly South Dakota State on May 8, surrendering six runs in the ninth inning. The midweek defeats crushed hopes the Huskers might sneak into a spot to host an NCAA regional next month.

Two days after the SDSU meltdown, the Nebraska bullpen surrendered seven runs in the ninth against Indiana to lose 10-5.

But, true to the roller-coaster form, the Huskers followed with a pair of clutch wins against the Hoosiers to capture the series and stay alive in the Big Ten race. Nebraska needs to perform one game better than Illinois in this final week to secure a share of the regular-season title and snag the No. 1 seed next week in Omaha.

The Illini (30-17, 15-6 Big Ten) play at Purdue (33-19, 13-8) to end the regular season.

When these Huskers convened before the season, they established a set of defining characteristics. Among the words they selected was resilient.

“Having done this for a while now, the teams that typically are the best are the ones that don’t get too high or too low,” Bolt said. “Baseball can lend itself to being such an emotional roller coaster if you allow it to — because there’s so much failure.”

High moments for Nebraska have included:

• A solid first month that featured a stockpile of road wins against opponents out of conference to boost the Huskers’ RPI.

• Six series wins in seven chances in Big Ten play, powered in weekend openers by ace right-hander Brett Sears, who takes a 7-0 mark and a 2.11 ERA into his next trip to the mound Thursday.

• A no-hitter against Kansas State on May 1 thrown by lefty Jackson Brockett, the first by a Nebraska pitcher in 70 years.

• Last weekend’s showing to close the home season. Cole Evans hit a walk-off, three-run homer in the 10th inning to even the series against Indiana on Saturday. Then Brockett and reliever Drew Christo pitched Nebraska to its second Sunday victory since the start of April.

When the midweek losses accumulated or when the relievers struggled, Anglim said the Huskers didn’t dwell on the negativity.

“If things don’t go our way,” he said, “it’s not the end of the world. It’s time to focus on the next thing.”

Nebraska has advanced to the NCAA regional round five times in the past decade. Bolt, as a player with the Huskers, was a four-year starter and played on the first two CWS teams in program history in 2001 and 2002.

In teams ready to make a run in June, he said he’s seen the kind of resiliency evident in the Huskers — and a tendency for older players like Brockett, Christo and Anglim to emerge from the shadows to play major roles.

Bolt played his best baseball over the final few games of his collegiate career, he said.

“You’ve got nothing to lose at that point.”

Left-handed reliever Caleb Clark, effective over his past nine outings since mid-April after a rocky start to his sophomore season, said the vibe among the Huskers is one of “pure excitement” as they head to Michigan State.

The series opener Thursday in East Lansing is scheduled for 5 p.m. First pitch is planned for 4 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. The Big Ten Network will televise the final two games of the series, presumably for the Huskers with a lot at stake.

“These were the goals that we set forth at the start of the season,” Clark said. “Being in this position is something that we expected of ourselves.”

(Photo of Cole Evans courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)