Big Red Rundown: Nebraska softball opens NCAA tournament, baseball delivers, more

Welcome to the Big Red Rundown, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

The Nebraska softball team kicks off the NCAA Tournament on Friday as the Huskers are hosting the Lincoln Regional at Bowlin Stadium.

Nebraska softball (46-6) enters the tournament ranked No. 1, according to multiple polls. The Huskers are the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament, but won’t have to leave Lincoln until the Women’s College World Series.

Nebraska needs to win five games, at least to get there. The ideal path this weekend would be posting a 3-0 record. The first game is against South Dakota (20-34). The Coyotes have some ties to the state of Nebraska, but are one of the worst teams in the field.

It will be interesting to see if the Huskers start Alexis Jensen or Jordy Frahm in this game. Jensen was named Second-Team All-Region this week. Frahm, of course, was one of four First-Team selections.

From Huskers.com: “Frahm was the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year this season and is on the USA Softball Top 10 List for the Collegiate Player of the Year. She ranks in the top 10 nationally in ERA (fifth), saves (first), shutouts (sixth), strikeout-to-walk ratio (third) and WHIP (ninth).

Frahm leads the Huskers with a .426 batting average. She adds 19 home runs, 10 doubles and four triples for a slugging percentage of .870. She has batted in 50 runs and scored 55. In the circle, the Papillion, Neb., native is 18-4 with a 1.24 ERA. She has 10 saves and seven shutouts and has allowed only 31 runs across 152.2 innings pitched.”

South Dakota Scouting Report: 

South Dakota won the Summit League tournament in order to earn an automatic qualification for this year’s NCAA Tournament. They are 20-34-1 coming into the weekend.

USD is hitting .272 this season and averages 3.78 runs per game. They have hit only 22 home runs, but 63 doubles. The Yotes’ pitching staff has a 4.80 ERA and has allowed 323 runs.

• Brooke Carey, the sister of Husker baseball player Dylan Carey, leads the Coyote offense with a .343 batting average and 12 doubles, along with 59 hits. Sara Iburg adds five home runs and seven doubles, while Delaney White has contributed 23 RBI.

• Madison Evans has thrown a majority of the innings for USD at 185.2 and has a 15-14 record with a 3.92 ERA.

• Robert Wagner is in his 10th season at South Dakota and is 223-296-1 with the Yotes. He is 255-322 in his career.

Other opponents 

No. 25 Grand Canyon will battle No. 21 Louisville in the other first-round matchup. The winners of those games will meet on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the championship round undefeated. Louisville tied for third in the ACC, while Grand Canyon won the Mountain West championship.

Grand Canyon and Louisville will open the regional. Nebraska softball will take on South Dakota at 5:30 PM CST on ESPN+.

Nebraska baseball starts series strong

Freshman Drew Grego stayed hot on Thursday night, notching three hits for the second straight game to lead Nebraska to a 12-7 win over Minnesota in the final Big Ten series of the season.

Grego was 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. That’s four doubles over the past two games. Josh Overbeek also had two hits, with a double, and three RBI. Carson Jasa allowed four runs over 4.2 innings to get a no-decision. The bullpen locked things down with Colin Nowaczyk getting the win.

Nebraska (39-14, 21-7) will play game two against the Gophers (30-21, 11-17) at 5 PM CST. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Nebraska basketball is still waiting on Sam Orme’s signature

Two Nebraska basketball transfers have yet to sign with Nebraska. That includes the top-ranked addition from the transfer portal, Sam Orme.

The Belmont transfer is expected to step into the starting lineup as the four next season for Nebraska. One of the best pick-and-pop shooters in the country told Robin Washut of Husker Online that his representatives were working out the details and that an announcement should be made soon.

In other words, there is no reason to worry about his commitment.

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