Huskers Clinch Series Win with 11-2 Win
Huskers.com
State College, Pa. – Chance Hroch scattered five hits over a season-high seven innings, while Nebraska jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back in posting an 11-2 victory over Penn State Saturday afternoon.
Hroch improved to 3-0 on the season, allowing two runs on five hits in a 91-pitch effort, as Nebraska clinched its sixth straight series win. The win was Hroch's first since March 13, snapping a string of four straight no-decisions for the senior right-hander.
For the second straight day, Nebraska (17-6) used the big inning to take control, scoring five runs in the first and pushed across runs in six of nine frames en route to its ninth double-figure outing of the season.
Jaxon Hallmark paced the 17-hit attack by going 4-for-5 with three runs scored, while Cam Chick and Max Anderson added three hits apiece. Chick, Hallmark, Spencer Schwellenbach and Luke Roskam all drove in a pair of runs for Nebraska, which has won 12 of its last 14 and will remain in first place in the Big Ten heading into Sunday's action.
NU jumped on Penn State starter Conor Larkin early, scoring five runs in the top of the first. The Huskers jumped to a 2-0 lead three batters in as Joe Acker and Hallmark reached after back-to-back singles before coming home on Schwellenbach's two-run double. After a one-out double by Anderson put runners on second and third, Roskam cleared the bases with a two-run single to stake NU to a four-run lead. Brice Matthews continued his hot stretch with an RBI single to make it 5-0 before the Nittany Lions got to the plate.
Chick stretch the Huskers' lead to 6-0 in the second, belting a two-out RBI double to score Acker, who opened the frame by reaching on a catchers' interference and moved to third on a Hallmark single.
Penn State got on the scoreboard in the third against Hroch, stringing together three hits, capped by a run-scoring infield single from Parker Hendershot. The Huskers got the run back in the fourth as Chick delivered another two-out RBI single to stretch the lead to 7-1.
Larkin (2-4) took the loss, allowing seven runs – five earned – on nine hits in four innings.
The Nittany Lions cut the Husker advantage to 7-2 in the fourth, as Josh Spiegel singled with two outs before coming home on Curtis Robinson's double to the gap in right center, but that would the final hit Hroch allowed, as he retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced before exiting after seven innings.
Nebraska put the game away with one run in the sixth on an Anderson single and two more in the seventh on Hallmark's fourth hit of the afternoon, a two-run double. Jack Steil capped the Huskers' day with an RBI single in the ninth.
The Huskers will for the road sweep Sunday morning, as right-hander Shay Schanaman (3-0) toes the rubber. First pitch is set for 10 a.m. (central) and the game will be carried on the Learfield IMG College Husker Sports Network and on BTN+.
