Season-Opening Series Has Bolt, Huskers Encouraged

Far be it for Gareth Stroh to complain about his teammates mustering 11 runs of support before he even took the mound in his Nebraska pitching debut.
 
That's swell and all, but that it took 45 minutes for all of that scoring wasn't exactly ideal. It took so long, Stroh actually had to warm-up his arm a second time.
 
Not only that, but what mental approach does a pitcher take after handed an 11-0 lead in the first inning?
 
"On one end, it's easy because you know you have the run support, but on the other end, it's kind of nerve-wracking because you don't want to be the guy who blows it," Stroh said. "At the end of the day you just have to go out and pitch and try to not let the score affect you."
 
That's exactly what Stroh in retiring Baylor in order in the bottom of the first inning. The senior transfer from Purdue pitched 5 1/3 innings and earned the victory in Nebraska's 19-9 victory in the Huskers' season opener.
 
"Kind of a weird game," Stroh said, "but a good way to get the season going on a win."
 
Bolt's attention turned to Stroh during the long first inning, knowing his left-handed starter couldn't be sitting that long. He was pleased with how Stroh responded.
 
"Once you get a big lead like that, the last thing you want to do is walk somebody," Bolt said. "Baylor knows that. They're an aggressive team as it is. They were on swing. He was throwing the ball to plate and they were on swing."
 
Bolt said Stroh may not have been as sharp, overall, as coaches had seen from him leading up to the first game, "but I thought he would've given us a chance to win even if the game hadn't had been so lopsided."
 
Stroh will again start the first game of a three-game series Friday, when Nebraska (1-3) faces San Diego (3-1) in the Tony Gwynn Legacy in San Diego. The Huskers face San Diego State on Saturday and Arizona on Sunday.
 
Stroh, a graduate of Gibbon High School, earned the top starting role in part because he's Nebraska's most experienced pitcher. He hadn't pitched collegiately in two years but had a strong summer in the Northwoods League and impressed first-year coach Will Bolt in limited action in the fall season.
 
"Last year was good for me sitting out," Stroh said. "That allowed me to re-evaluate a lot of things, continue to improve and hopefully showcase that this year."
 
Stroh was among five pitchers who made his Nebraska debut in the Baylor series, joining transfers Cade Povich and Trey Kissack, redshirted freshman Caleb Feekin and true freshman Braxton Bragg.
 
Nebraska used 11 pitchers over the weekend, with mixed results. More consistency will come by making quality pitches and staying ahead in the count, Bolt said.
 
"I think that's what we saw from the guys who did have success, is they trusted their stuff," Bolt said. "When you get behind on a count, it's hard to hit. We didn't get ahead of the count enough, and when we did get ahead in the count, they hit. 150. But we were behind in the count too much."
 
Offensively, Nebraska showed some spark, especially for a season-opening series. The Huskers totaled 28 runs on 33 hits in the three games and hit .292 as a team. What's more, the hot bats helped the Huskers climb out of a 5-0 hole in game two, only to see a 6-5 lead evaporate in an extra-innings loss, 8-7.
 
"Saturday was definitely a test of our character, being down 5-0 and coming back in the sixth to get up one," said sophomore infielder Cam Chick, who had five hits in the series, including a triple and a home run, and four RBIs. "They did a good job at the end taking the game from us and everything, but honestly we didn't feel much doubt when we got down. We knew that we had the chance and we had the tools to come back. Just sticking to the approaches and everyone doing their jobs, it all came together."
 
The game-two rally also impressed Bolt, who stressed Nebraska earned its way back into the game, and that Baylor didn't cave.
 
"The only way you do that is to have consistent at-bats," he said.
 
Noting baseball is a game of failure, Chick emphasized this team's ability to respond to adversity.
 
"The competitive attitude on this team, this year it's above and beyond," Chick said. "This team, we didn't take no for an answer. We're going to come back and fight no matter what. We didn't get it done but that should show that this team go through a lot of adversity and come back and fight."
 
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.