It was a feel-good day for the Big Red in Piscataway!

On another cold and windy day in Piscataway, New Jersey, Big Mac Mason McConnaughey took the mound with two goals: smother the strike zone with pitches and eat up as many innings as possible. After using all of their high-leverage relievers in last night’s eleven inning loss, Nebraska needed the big righthander to go deep into the game to give the bullpen a little relief.

In addition to needing a strong performance from the starting pitcher, Coach Will Bolt had to wonder how his team would bounce back from losing on a walk-off last night for their third loss in a row.

McConnaughey answered the bell today for the Cornhuskers as he accomplished both of the tasks he was asked to do. He pitched seven shutout innings and fired a lot of strikes, with the evidence being no walks, nine strikeouts, and pitching ahead in the count throughout the game.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Big Mac’s performance came in the sixth inning when the top three batters in the Rutgers lineup, seeing him for the third time, all jumped on early pitches for base hits, loading the bases with no outs. Coach Rob Childress paid him a little visit and Will Walsh got up in the bullpen to start throwing. All McConnaughey did was strike out the next two batters and got the third one to ground out to Joshua Overbeek at third to end the inning without giving up a run.

Prior to the game, Coach Bolt remarked that his team had only put the lead-off batter on base once last night and explained how important that is for the success of the offense. The only proof one needs is to look at what happened today. Each inning that happened, Nebraska scored runs.

Neither team got much going in the first two innings as both McConnaughey and Scarlet Knight starter Jake Marshall had the advantage. That changed in the top of the third when Nebraska’s lead-off man, Dylan Carey started things off with a single up the middle. He was thrown out at second when Riley Silva did not get the bat on the ball for a bunt. Despite that, the mojo was with the Cornhuskers as Silva then got hit by a pitch.

With Silva on and one out, Cayden Brumbaugh smashed a ball off the glove of third baseman Tony Santa Maria that was scored an error. Silva then swiped third and scored on a with pitch. Overbeek walked and with two on, Mr. Productive Cole Evans rapped a two-run single to rightfield to put Nebraska up 3-0. After that, Marshall served up a home run ball to Case Sanderson for the second of his career and the score was now 5-0 Cornhuskers.

As McConnaughey continued to cruise, Rutgers pitchers threw a number of balls in the dirt, many of them going all the way to the backstop. Nebraska added a run in the fourth inning when Dylan Carey stroked his second single of the game, advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on a passed ball, and came home on a sacrifice fly by Riley Silva off reliever Sonny Fauci.

In the top of the fifth inning, another lead-off batter, Case Sanderson, started things off with a single. Fauci then hit both Josh Caron and Gabe Swansen to load the bases. Ben Columbus, playing first base today, stroked a ground rule double to left-center, to score two more runs. Swansen eventually came around to score as well making it 9-0 Cornhuskers going to the bottom of the fifth.

Nebraska scored two more in the top of the sixth when lead-off batter Overbeek and Caron scored on a Gabe Swansen double. McConnaughey pitched that incredible bottom of the inning and Nebraska was up 11-0.

With the game in hand, and a Scarlet Knight threat quashed, the Big Red playing very relaxed added five more in their half of the eighth. After Overbeek grounded out, Evans walked and Sanderson got his third hit of the day. Josh Caron then extended his hitting streak to fourteen games with a single that scored Evans. After a Swansen strikeout, Ben Columbus then smashed his second career home run and added three more runs to the scoreboard. Then on the next pitch, it was back-to-back jacks as Carey stroked one of his own. 16-0 Big Red

Lefty Ty Horn came in for Big Mac in the bottom of the eighth. The youngster from Kansas, gave up a couple of hits and a run, erasing the shutout. Caleb Clark then came on in the ninth and struck out the side. With no pressure this kid is dynamite! Final score: Nebraska 16, Rutgers 1.

The team needed this kind of win today. Rutgers pitching was far from stellar and Nebraska capitalized on that, and most definitely put the bat on the ball on the pitches they wanted. McConnaughey was outstanding and has turned into a very dependable Saturday starter. His performance today should make it two Big Ten Pitchers of the Week in a row.

Tomorrow is an early start as first pitch will be thrown shortly after 11:00 a.m. CDT. Drew Christo (1-2, 4.84) will take the mound for Nebraska facing Christian Coppola (4-3, 6.38). Let’s see if the Elkhorn boy turns things around and regains his early season form. The game will be broadcast on BTN.

Notes:

· Coach Bolt noted that Tyler Stone is “a little nicked up” prior to the game, but would be available to pinch-hit if need be. Ben Columbus may have something to say about that after today!

· Josh Caron’s single in the eighth inning extended his hitting streak to a team leading 14. He was also hit by pitch twice today.

· Rutgers gave up five walks, four wild pitches, and hit four Cornhusker batters. Nebraska pitching combined for no walks and thirteen strikeouts.

· Gabe Swansen and Dylan Carey are starting to heat up. Both had extra-base hits today and Carey was 3-4.

· Cole Evans continues to drive in runs with two more RBI today, but he is cooling off a little bit as his average has been dropping a bit over the past few games.

· Having Cayden Brumbaugh back playing second base has been huge in terms of getting Case Sanderson into the lineup. Sanderson had three hits today, including that home run. Having those two bats in the lineup against righthanded pitching is a bonus.

· On the fashion front, nothing significant to note other than those stupid stripes on the side of Rutgers pants that don’t go the entire length. Nike thought that looked cool a few years ago. I just figured it cost too much to have a full stripe. Stupid. I’m keeping my fingers crossed no black is worn by the boys in the first base dugout tomorrow!