The Husker bats that were silent in a loss to Arkansas Saturday came alive against NJIT (27-24, 23-17 American East) Sunday afternoon.
Nebraska (33-13, 31-12 Big Ten) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning and added another in the third. After the Highlanders scored in the top of the fourth, the Huskers ran up eight runs in the bottom half before tacking on six more in the fifth.
Both teams added runs in the final third of the game en route to an 18-4 final score, eliminating NJIT.
Shay Schanaman had perhaps his best outing of the season, going 7.0 innings with five strikeouts and giving up just four hits and one earned run. Caleb Feekin (1.0 IP, 1 hit, 2 ER, 2 Ks) and Braxton Bragg (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K) combined to finish off the game.
At the plate, Nebraska ran up 19 hits on the game. A total of 11 Huskers notched a hit, with six of them putting together multi-hit efforts.
Joe Acker led the Huskers with his 4-for-5 day, knocking in two runs and scoring four himself. Cam Chick went 2-for-5 and led the team with four RBIs.
Acker, Chick, Jaxon Hallmark, and Brice Matthews all hit home runs in the game. Chick’s home run was an inside the park effort as part of the eight run fourth inning.
The 18 runs scored ties a Nebraska school record for runs in the NCAA Tournament. The last time the Huskers scored so many runs was in the 2003 Lincoln Regional as the home team beat Eastern Michigan 18-2.
This is the first time since 2007 that Nebraska has recorded two wins in a regional.
The win puts Nebraska into the Regional Final against Arkansas. The Huskers need a win to force a winner-take-all game on Monday.