1 week Ago By Evan Bland World-Herald Staff Writer
One of the best Nebraska pitching performances of the season coincided with one of the lineup’s most frustrating efforts Friday night. NU starter Will Walsh cruised into the latter innings but Iowa’s Cade Obermueller matched his fellow left-hander and then some as the Hawkeyes secured a 1-0 victory at Banks Field in Iowa City. The shutout was the first for an NU offense since late in the 2023 season.
“We were a little bit on our heels tonight, which is not typically how we’ve been offensively here of late,” coach Will Bolt said during his postgame radio interview. “We played great defense, we pitched great, but didn’t do enough to win.” Iowa (22-10, 13-3 Big Ten) traded celebratory handshakes despite managing four total baserunners.
None advanced to second base except for Konnor Schulte, the reigning Big Ten player of the week who pulled a fastball 424 feet out to left field for a second-inning solo homer. A first-inning walk and singles in the sixth and eighth represented the only other damage against Walsh and reliever Drew Christo. Obermueller — a junior taken in the 19th round of last year’s Major League Baseball draft who chose to return to school — didn’t need any more support across seven dominant innings and a season-high 112 pitches.
A lively slider and mid-90s fastball helped him post 11 strikeouts and retire 14 of the last 16 batters he faced. Nebraska (15-19, 4-9) had its chances early. A plunked hitter and walk in the second inning didn’t get the Huskers on the scoreboard.
An infield Riley Silva single and Cayden Brumbaugh free pass in the third produced the same result. Obermueller then turned back eight straight batters, a streak broken only by a shortstop throwing error to begin the sixth. “We set plenty of innings up, we had his pitch count up early in that game,” Bolt said.
“Obermueller is really, really good but 14 (total) punchouts, at least half of those with runners in scoring position. We had a couple chances there to drive runs in and he was just on attack.” The Huskers finished 0 for 9 with runners on second or third base.
Their best chance to tie came in the eighth against reliever and Creighton transfer Anthony Watts when Brumbaugh poked a two-strike double to right-center and moved to third on a wild pitch with one out. Tyler Stone and Dylan Carey both struck out swinging to end the frame. It's NU's first 1-0 defeat since Iowa dealt it the same result in April 2022.
It’s the third 1-0 defeat for the Huskers in the Big Ten era. The game — completed in 2 hours, 18 minutes — was the shortest of the year for Nebraska. Among the more agonizing too, as a stellar outing from Walsh went for naught.
The senior worked with his usual pace and precision, striking out four while inducing plenty of weak contact in seven innings and 91 pitches. He responded to the homer from Schulte by recording 12 consecutive outs and getting 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. Walsh allowed a walk and two singles in all while mixing four pitches.
The effort came against a Hawkeye lineup averaging 9.1 runs per game, good for 22nd in Division I. The teams resume their weekend series at 2 p.
m. Saturday. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
