Nebraska baseball's tailspin to the end of the season somehow got even worse Sunday.
Northwestern pounded out 16 hits, the Huskers' offense was once again nonexistent, and the Wildcats won the Big Ten series with a 10-2 victory in Evanston, Illinois.
"Not much to say, other than we got outcoached and outplayed in all facets of the game," NU coach Darin Erstad said during his postgame interview on the Husker Sports Radio Network.
Name it, and it went wrong Sunday for Nebraska.
After Aaron Palensky and Cam Chick led off the game with back-to-back singles and Spencer Schwellenbach brought Palensky home with a sac fly, Nebraska didn't record another hit until the eighth inning.
In between, Northwestern scored seven unanswered runs, then tacked on three more in the bottom of the eighth after Joe Acker's RBI double made the score 7-2.
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NU finished with just the three hits. The Huskers also saw one of their best players, Schwellenbach, leave the game after colliding with Acker on a shallow fly ball to center in the fourth inning. Erstad said after the game Schwellenbach may have tweaked the ankle he injured earlier this season against Air Force.
Nebraska got the leadoff batter on base just once after the first inning.
The supposed strengths of Nebraska's team also faltered.
There were three errors in the first four innings. In the third, Northwestern loaded the bases without hitting a ball out of the infield and Alex Erro delivered a three-run double to put the Wildcats up 3-0.
Two more Northwestern runs scored in the fourth. In the sixth, No. 9 hitter Jack Kelly roped an RBI double to put the Wildcats up 6-1.
Kelly came into the series with eight hits all season. In two games against Nebraska, he has four hits. He was 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs Sunday.
And just for good measure, Northwestern starter Mike Doherty became the second Wildcats pitcher in two days to have one of his best outings of the season against Nebraska, allowing one run on two hits. Doherty's five innings pitched were his most in a league game this season.
Nebraska (23-18, 12-8 Big Ten) has lost three consecutive Big Ten series. Since sweeping Penn State to move to the top of the league standings, the Huskers have lost eight of their last 11 games.
"When you're at this stage right now, one thing that I know doesn't work is getting down on yourself and just feeling sorry for yourself. That's just not going to get anything accomplished," Erstad said. "Right now, it's a confidence thing. You can just see guys -- the air gets sucked out of the ball anytime something bad happens. They have to get back to having fun playing the game of baseball."
The Huskers' series with Northwestern (21-22, 8-9) wraps up Monday with a 3:30 p.m. game in Evanston.
"It's not fun getting your teeth kicked in and not playing well," Erstad said. "But when you're not having fun and playing like we are, it's just a bad combination."