WESTCHESTER, Calif. - After dropping the Friday matchup to Loyola Marymount ace Colin Welmon, the Nebraska Huskers came back with two impressive wins on Saturday and Sunday to take the road series win. If this were football or basketball, Nebraska beating LMU would be a no brainer and in many years the same could be said of baseball.
But not this season. We're very high on this Lions and the job Jason Gill has done to build this program into a consistent West Coast Conference contender. Last year, they lost in the WCC championship game in a tight battle with Pepperdine, who went on to win the San Luis Obispo Regional and nearly the Fort Worth Super Regional against TCU.
It showed a lot of character for this Nebraska squad to come back and get the series win and the Huskers did it in impressive fashion, holding a team that was averaging over six runs per game to that many hits in the final two games of the series combined.
Here's five more observations from the LMU/Nebraska weekend series:
Five Key Players/Observations
Kyle Kubat and Derek Burkamper
Chance Sinclair, who won nine games for the Huskers last season, has struggled in back-to-back outings at the front of the rotation. He got hit hard by BYU in Peoria last week and gave up four runs in five innings on Friday, which was much more than Welmon needed as he struck out nine Huskers in 7.2 innings.
But the combination of Kyle Kubat and Derek Burkamper picked up their rotation mate with excellent performances. For the second week in a row, after losing Sinclair's start, Nebraska allowed only two runs in the final two games of the series. Kubat was fantastic once again, lowering his ERA to 1.93 with seven solid innings, allowing just three hits and one run.
Burkamper is the X-factor for this pitching staff. If he matures into what the coaching staff believes he can be, expect the Huskers to be a tough out for anyone in a weekend series. He did a great job of moving his 87-89 mph fastball around the zone. He topped out at 90 mph, but head coach Darin Erstad said he's got another three to four miles per hour in the tank. Burkamper is just getting back into the full swing of things after a broken arm in the offseason limited him. More impressive than his fastball was his ability to command his offspeed pitches.
"Just being able to locate with every pitch, it really takes a lot of stress of you," Burkamper said.
The 6-foot-2, 184-pound sophomore said that he's always been able to control his curveball and felt confident to throw it for a strike in any count, but the revelation was the changeup he dominated LMU with.
"At first, I was putting it in the dirt and wasn't really locating it where I needed to," Burkamper said. "Later in the game, I was able to find a grip that worked for me. I got a couple of strikeouts, got a couple of groundouts with it. When all my pitchers are working, it really helps out."
The Brothers Megill
Loyola Marymount's Tylor Megill gave up some early runs before settling in on Sunday. Five runs on a Sunday is not an impossible hole to come back from, but for LMU it seemed like 15 runs because of their inability to get anything going. The younger Megill left some balls up early, but settled in after Blake Headley's two-run double in the third inning made it 5-0. From there, Tylor retired the final 14 batters he faced for a more respectable 7 IP, 6 H, 5 R (4 ER) line.
Getting a 2-1 record and a 2.50 ERA the first three weeks of the season from a true freshman is something every coach will take. Tylor is going to be a special talent.
He followed his brother, Trevor, to Loyola Marymount. Tylor gave MLB teams a big dollar figure and didn't get drafted while Trevor was selected in the third round by the St. Louis Cardinals despite not playing last season after having Tommy John surgery. Trevor declined the overtures for a chance to return to LMU and potentially boost his stock even higher.
But the 6-foot-8, 245-pound righthander has struggled early with his command. It's still a work in progress. While players will often regain their velocity about a year after surgery, it is the command that often lags behind. After walking only 35 batters in his first 133.2 innings, Trevor has issued nine base on balls in his first 13.1 innings this season. He should only get better as the season progresses.
Hosepiece
Trailing 5-1 in the fifth inning, LMU had a great opportunity to get right back into the game. David Edwards drew a one-out walk and Chris Barnett followed with his second hit of the game, lining a double off the big Blue Monster in left field.
Nebraska catcher Tanner Lubach blocks the plate as LMU runner David Edwards tries to score. (Shotgun Spratling)
Nebraska catcher Tanner Lubach blocks the plate as LMU runner David Edwards tries to score. (Shotgun Spratling)
With runners on second and third, Ted Boeke sent a fly out to right field. Austin Darby settled under it and prepared to fire home. Darby delivered a strike that landed right in catcher Tanner Lubach's glove. Lubach had done a great job blocking the plate and there was nothing Edwards could do. He was hosed.
Instead of inching closer, the Lions' rally was over and they never threatened again.
"You make plays and you have a chance to win. Darby's been doing that for four years for us," Erstad said. "He's one of the best defensive outfielders I've ever been around and I think I've seen some good ones. He's right up there with them. He can play."
Team Offense
Jason Gill had a lengthy chat with his team following Sunday's loss and he wasn't happy with the way the offense has been playing. The Lions have to build around their small ball game. This season they have three legit young table setters in front of Tanner Donnels, who is hitting .361 this season, but you can't play small ball and steal bases when you aren't getting on base. "You can't steal first base."
Table Setting
Nebraska has a great 3-4 combination with Ryan Boldt and Blake Headley, but they can only do so much damage with no one on base. After being held hitless in Friday's 4-1 loss, Jake Schleppenbach and Scott Schreiber combined to reach base four times with two runs on Saturday. Sunday, it was more of the same for the top two hitters for the Huskers. They both were 1-for-3 and had two runs. Boldt is hitting .459 on the season, but he has only three RBIs so far. But if Schleppenbach and Schreiber can provided some consistency at the top, the Huskers lineup becomes that much more dangerous.
In Their Words
Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad talks about the team-building experience that this weekend provided for the Huskers as they bounced back from a Friday loss to take the series. Erstad also discusses starting pitcher Derek Burkamper's tremendous performance, the early offense and the defensive prowess of Austin Darby in right field:
Nebraska RHP Derek Burkamper talks about his strong performance (7 IP, 2 H, ER) against LMU to help the Huskers take the road series and what it meant for the offense to get him a 2-0 lead before he even took the mound:
Loyola Marymount head coach Jason Gill talks about the Lions' "extremely disappointing" series loss to Nebraska after LMU won the Friday opener. Gill also discusses his offensive lineup and how it hasn't completely meshed yet and accepted the team concept that the Lions need in order to be a complete team:
Photos:
D1: Nebraska-LMU Takeaways
But not this season. We're very high on this Lions and the job Jason Gill has done to build this program into a consistent West Coast Conference contender. Last year, they lost in the WCC championship game in a tight battle with Pepperdine, who went on to win the San Luis Obispo Regional and nearly the Fort Worth Super Regional against TCU.
It showed a lot of character for this Nebraska squad to come back and get the series win and the Huskers did it in impressive fashion, holding a team that was averaging over six runs per game to that many hits in the final two games of the series combined.
Here's five more observations from the LMU/Nebraska weekend series:
Five Key Players/Observations
Kyle Kubat and Derek Burkamper
Chance Sinclair, who won nine games for the Huskers last season, has struggled in back-to-back outings at the front of the rotation. He got hit hard by BYU in Peoria last week and gave up four runs in five innings on Friday, which was much more than Welmon needed as he struck out nine Huskers in 7.2 innings.
But the combination of Kyle Kubat and Derek Burkamper picked up their rotation mate with excellent performances. For the second week in a row, after losing Sinclair's start, Nebraska allowed only two runs in the final two games of the series. Kubat was fantastic once again, lowering his ERA to 1.93 with seven solid innings, allowing just three hits and one run.
Burkamper is the X-factor for this pitching staff. If he matures into what the coaching staff believes he can be, expect the Huskers to be a tough out for anyone in a weekend series. He did a great job of moving his 87-89 mph fastball around the zone. He topped out at 90 mph, but head coach Darin Erstad said he's got another three to four miles per hour in the tank. Burkamper is just getting back into the full swing of things after a broken arm in the offseason limited him. More impressive than his fastball was his ability to command his offspeed pitches.
"Just being able to locate with every pitch, it really takes a lot of stress of you," Burkamper said.
The 6-foot-2, 184-pound sophomore said that he's always been able to control his curveball and felt confident to throw it for a strike in any count, but the revelation was the changeup he dominated LMU with.
"At first, I was putting it in the dirt and wasn't really locating it where I needed to," Burkamper said. "Later in the game, I was able to find a grip that worked for me. I got a couple of strikeouts, got a couple of groundouts with it. When all my pitchers are working, it really helps out."
The Brothers Megill
Loyola Marymount's Tylor Megill gave up some early runs before settling in on Sunday. Five runs on a Sunday is not an impossible hole to come back from, but for LMU it seemed like 15 runs because of their inability to get anything going. The younger Megill left some balls up early, but settled in after Blake Headley's two-run double in the third inning made it 5-0. From there, Tylor retired the final 14 batters he faced for a more respectable 7 IP, 6 H, 5 R (4 ER) line.
Getting a 2-1 record and a 2.50 ERA the first three weeks of the season from a true freshman is something every coach will take. Tylor is going to be a special talent.
He followed his brother, Trevor, to Loyola Marymount. Tylor gave MLB teams a big dollar figure and didn't get drafted while Trevor was selected in the third round by the St. Louis Cardinals despite not playing last season after having Tommy John surgery. Trevor declined the overtures for a chance to return to LMU and potentially boost his stock even higher.
But the 6-foot-8, 245-pound righthander has struggled early with his command. It's still a work in progress. While players will often regain their velocity about a year after surgery, it is the command that often lags behind. After walking only 35 batters in his first 133.2 innings, Trevor has issued nine base on balls in his first 13.1 innings this season. He should only get better as the season progresses.
Hosepiece
Trailing 5-1 in the fifth inning, LMU had a great opportunity to get right back into the game. David Edwards drew a one-out walk and Chris Barnett followed with his second hit of the game, lining a double off the big Blue Monster in left field.
Nebraska catcher Tanner Lubach blocks the plate as LMU runner David Edwards tries to score. (Shotgun Spratling)
Nebraska catcher Tanner Lubach blocks the plate as LMU runner David Edwards tries to score. (Shotgun Spratling)
With runners on second and third, Ted Boeke sent a fly out to right field. Austin Darby settled under it and prepared to fire home. Darby delivered a strike that landed right in catcher Tanner Lubach's glove. Lubach had done a great job blocking the plate and there was nothing Edwards could do. He was hosed.
Instead of inching closer, the Lions' rally was over and they never threatened again.
"You make plays and you have a chance to win. Darby's been doing that for four years for us," Erstad said. "He's one of the best defensive outfielders I've ever been around and I think I've seen some good ones. He's right up there with them. He can play."
Team Offense
Jason Gill had a lengthy chat with his team following Sunday's loss and he wasn't happy with the way the offense has been playing. The Lions have to build around their small ball game. This season they have three legit young table setters in front of Tanner Donnels, who is hitting .361 this season, but you can't play small ball and steal bases when you aren't getting on base. "You can't steal first base."
Table Setting
Nebraska has a great 3-4 combination with Ryan Boldt and Blake Headley, but they can only do so much damage with no one on base. After being held hitless in Friday's 4-1 loss, Jake Schleppenbach and Scott Schreiber combined to reach base four times with two runs on Saturday. Sunday, it was more of the same for the top two hitters for the Huskers. They both were 1-for-3 and had two runs. Boldt is hitting .459 on the season, but he has only three RBIs so far. But if Schleppenbach and Schreiber can provided some consistency at the top, the Huskers lineup becomes that much more dangerous.
In Their Words
Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad talks about the team-building experience that this weekend provided for the Huskers as they bounced back from a Friday loss to take the series. Erstad also discusses starting pitcher Derek Burkamper's tremendous performance, the early offense and the defensive prowess of Austin Darby in right field:
Nebraska RHP Derek Burkamper talks about his strong performance (7 IP, 2 H, ER) against LMU to help the Huskers take the road series and what it meant for the offense to get him a 2-0 lead before he even took the mound:
Loyola Marymount head coach Jason Gill talks about the Lions' "extremely disappointing" series loss to Nebraska after LMU won the Friday opener. Gill also discusses his offensive lineup and how it hasn't completely meshed yet and accepted the team concept that the Lions need in order to be a complete team:
Photos:
D1: Nebraska-LMU Takeaways
