Nebraska baseball found their groove in a big way, shaking off an 0-2 start to the weekend by dominating No. 16 Florida State 10-1 in the final game of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas.
Senior shortstop Dylan Carey was the catalyst for the Huskers, leading an offense that exploded for 10 runs on 10 hits. Nebraska wasted no time, jumping on Florida State with three runs in the first inning.
The tone was set right from the start. Center fielder Mac Moyer showcased patience at the plate, working a walk after falling behind in the count.
Jett Buck followed with a double, and Case Sanderson drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Joshua Overbeek got things rolling with a sacrifice fly, and Carey delivered a clutch ground-rule double to clear the bases, giving Nebraska an early 3-0 lead.
"It was a tone-setter first inning," Nebraska head coach Will Bolt noted on his postgame radio show. "We left something out there in the first two games, and we didn't allow that to happen this time."
Carey continued to shine with an RBI single in the third, and Cole Kitchens added a groundout RBI to extend Nebraska's lead to 5-0.
Florida State's only offense came in the fourth inning when Myles Bailey launched a solo homer off Nebraska starter Gavin Blachowicz. That was the only blemish for Blachowicz, who pitched 5.0 strong innings, allowing just one run on one hit, striking out six, and walking two over 71 pitches. Colin Nowaczyk and Cooper Katskee provided solid relief, each throwing scoreless innings to seal the deal.
"Blachowicz answered the call every time we scored," Bolt said. "He suffocated the zone. It was just his second career start, and he looked good against a really strong lineup."
The Huskers added three more runs in the sixth, thanks to RBIs from Will Jesske and Miken Miller, along with a sacrifice fly by Jett Buck. Carey capped off his stellar day with a two-run inside-the-park homer in the seventh, finishing just a triple shy of the cycle. Over the weekend, Carey went 6-for-13 with two doubles, two homers, and six RBIs.
"It was just better, more committed swings," Bolt explained. "That's what we saw the first weekend.
Whether you go down in flames, you want to make sure you're doing it with full conviction. I'm proud of Dylan Carey for how he responded today, setting the tone and picking up big hits for us."
Nebraska now heads back to Lincoln before gearing up for a three-game series at Auburn next weekend.