Nebraska (34-18) vs. Michigan St. (22-27) Series Game Thred

[hskr4life]

Our inability to win slugfests doesn’t bode well for post season.

[brfrad]

Borst missed with 3 pitches right down the middle to the 1st batter in the 7th leading to a walk.

[throwback]

Disappointing way to end a really good season, but the three-headed monster that has bit us all year struck again - shaky defense, shaky offense, and a bullpen that loves gasoline.

 

It's just tough for us to survive without a great start on the mound, and Brockett didn't have it today, unfortunately. Of course, he made a huge error and Brumbaugh dropping that double play ball in the 2nd to make things look way worse. Maybe Brockett gets it going if he puts up a zero like he should've in the 2nd.

 

Hope we can get hot next week, but asking this team to win 4 games in a week with our current lack of pitching depth is going to be really, really tough unless we start Sears twice if we get to Sunday. Which we may do. Honestly, I wouldn't hate it. I wouldn't mind starting Mac against a #3 seed Friday in the NCAA regional and saving Sears for the Saturday game against hopefully the #1 seed. So you could use Sears twice next week and give him the extra day of rest by using him Saturday in an NCAA regional. Of course, if you lose Friday and have to start Sears against a #4 seed on Saturday, you look like idiots. But I think it's worth the risk.

 

It would appear we have zero chance if we end up in the losers bracket in any tournament, so we might as well shoot for the moon. Our bullpen past the first few guys isn't going to completely shut anyone down, and we're not going to outscore most teams, and you usually have to do both at least once if you end up in the losers bracket.

 

[throwback]

50 minutes ago, brfrad said:

Borst missed with 3 pitches right down the middle to the 1st batter in the 7th leading to a walk.

Ha, that dude was a mess back there today. Not sure I've seen Caron look backward after a missed call like that the entire season. A bouncing strike zone didn't cost us the win, but it was bad. 

 

I loved when Overbeek was taking his time to get in the box to start the at bat in the 5th or 6th - you could see the ump getting agitated. Then he rings him up on the first pitch of the at bat that was almost a foot outside.

 

I also loved how he was going to call a pitch clock violation out of the blue in the middle of the game. He clearly wasn't paying attention to it all weekend, because whoever was pushing the button for the clock had no idea what they were doing. It didn't get reset correctly most of the weekend. But he decides in the middle of game 3 that it's time to peek at it. 

 

[brfrad]

21 hours ago, throwback said:

Disappointing way to end a really good season, but the three-headed monster that has bit us all year struck again - shaky defense, shaky offense, and a bullpen that loves gasoline.

 

It's just tough for us to survive without a great start on the mound, and Brockett didn't have it today, unfortunately. Of course, he made a huge error and Brumbaugh dropping that double play ball in the 2nd to make things look way worse. Maybe Brockett gets it going if he puts up a zero like he should've in the 2nd.

 

Hope we can get hot next week, but asking this team to win 4 games in a week with our current lack of pitching depth is going to be really, really tough unless we start Sears twice if we get to Sunday. Which we may do. Honestly, I wouldn't hate it. I wouldn't mind starting Mac against a #3 seed Friday in the NCAA regional and saving Sears for the Saturday game against hopefully the #1 seed. So you could use Sears twice next week and give him the extra day of rest by using him Saturday in an NCAA regional. Of course, if you lose Friday and have to start Sears against a #4 seed on Saturday, you look like idiots. But I think it's worth the risk.

 

It would appear we have zero chance if we end up in the losers bracket in any tournament, so we might as well shoot for the moon. Our bullpen past the first few guys isn't going to completely shut anyone down, and we're not going to outscore most teams, and you usually have to do both at least once if you end up in the losers bracket.

 

If we get to Sunday in the BTT, it won't be a must win game.  I would still start Sears (if we start him Tuesday).  Just to make sure he can stay sharp.  I would have him on a pitch count of 40 or so, though.  Enough to get him some work, but not too much that he won't be available for Friday of the Regionals.

[throwback]

2 hours ago, brfrad said:

If we get to Sunday in the BTT, it won't be a must win game.  I would still start Sears (if we start him Tuesday).  Just to make sure he can stay sharp.  I would have him on a pitch count of 40 or so, though.  Enough to get him some work, but not too much that he won't be available for Friday of the Regionals.

That's probably what we'll do, if they even decide to start Sears on Sunday - but I do know the coaches want to win this tourney very badly. There's nothing quite like celebrating a title and hosting that trophy ... and to do it before 15000+ Husker fans on Sunday in Omaha would be unreal. Once you're in that tourney mentality, you don't want to give off the vibe that it's OK to lose or that you're 'saving' something.

 

If they have a chance to win Sunday, they'll go all out to win it. Kind of that "put everything into winning today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow" mentality that you have to have in the postseason. 

 

We'll see what happens. If they manage to get to Sunday and give Sears the ball, he may not give it back.  I've heard he's a bit of a competitor.

 

Edited May 19 by throwback

[hskr4life]

You can bet that if we make it to Sunday... with it being memorial day weekend... I'll be doing everything in my power to get the Mrs. to go to Omaha with me and the kiddos.

[AuroranHusker]

Let's get a Chip! GBR!!