Derek Burkamper struck out six in a career-high 8.1 innings.
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska (21-7, 3-0 Big Ten) completed a three-game sweep of the No. 11 Texas Longhorns (17-11, 5-1 Big 12) on Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field with a 6-2 win. The Huskers have posted sweeps in each of their last three weekend series and are now 14-1 at Hawks Field in 2015.
Nebraska’s pitching staff shined over the series, limiting the Longhorns to three runs on 12 hits in 33 innings of work, including one run over the first 32 innings of the series.
Nebraska’s arms notched 33 strikeouts, while issuing just five walks. The 33 punch outs are the most by a Huskers staff in a three-game series since 2008, when NU totaled 43 strikeouts against Texas A&M, including 19 in the 16-inning series opener. Including four-game series, the 33 strikeouts this weekend are the most during Darin Erstad’s coaching era.
Derek Burkamper continued NU’s starting pitching success on Sunday, as the sophomore struck out a career-high six batters in a career-long 8.1 innings. He retired the Longhorns in order five times and sat down 10 consecutive from the third through sixth innings. Burkamper shut out the Longhorns over the first eight innings of the game, and exited in the ninth after giving up a one-out single to Tres Barrera.
The Huskers offense feasted on UT starter Chad Hollingsworth. He lasted a season-low 2.2 inning after giving up six runs on 10 hits, both career highs for the 6-2 right hander. The Huskers totaled a season-high 16 hits on the afternoon, as all nine batters notched a hit, including a pair of hits by seven different players.
Jake Schleppenbach got the Huskers started in the first with a one-out single and then scored the game’s first run on a double to deep centerfield by Blake Headley. Austin Darby, stepped to the plate and pushed NU’s lead to 2-0 with a single on the first pitch we saw from Hollingsworth.
After Burkamper retired nine of the first 11 UT batters he faced, all nine of NU’s batters came to the plate in the bottom of the third and NU hung four runs on the board on six hits, all with two outs. Elijah Dilday came through with his first career double to put NU on top 3-0. Scott Schreiber and Wes Edrington each followed with RBI singles and the Longhorns turned the ball over to Travis Duke. Ryan Boldt kept the hit train rolling with a RBI single before Duke stopped the bleeding with a fly ball off the bat of Schleppenbach.