And so it comes to an end, the Nebraska baseball season.
The Huskers didn’t show their late-inning-comeback grit. They couldn’t, really, because they didn’t score until the sixth — one run, on a Dylan Carey RBI single.
Oklahoma had plated five runs in the top of the sixth to make the score 15-0. The final would be 17-1 in an NCAA Chapel Hill Regional elimination game Sunday.
The Sooners opened the regional with a 7-4 victory against Nebraska.
Writing about it isn’t easy. Consider the Huskers committed three errors in the first inning, and five for the game, which led to three unearned runs. Then Oklahoma scored six runs in the third, another in the fourth. How do you stay focused?
“Obviously we ran into a buzzsaw today,” Coach Will Bolt said, adding he was “disappointed, obviously, that we didn’t play that well, especially in the first inning; we didn’t get off to a very good start. They really pick each other up. Give credit to Oklahoma. They capitalized on mistakes, a lot of balls hit hard in the gaps and their starter didn’t an amazing job.”
Sooner starter Cade Crossland went seven innings, allowing five hits, walking two and striking out nine. Reliever Michael Catalano struck out three.
Nebraska struck out 14 times against Oklahoma in the first game. The Huskers hadn’t had double-digit strikeouts, an early-season problem, since mid-April.
Riley Silva and Hogan Helligso accounted for four of Nebraska’s six hits, with two each. Gabe Swansen had the Huskers’ lone extra-base hit, a fourth-inning double.
But back to the first inning. “We’ve played at such a high level, especially defensively; very uncharacteristic of our team to play that kind of defense,” said Bolt. “There’s going to be a lot of balls in play with (Will) Walsh on the mound, and so there was no indication that that was coming.”
Walsh, the starter, committed the first error on the leadoff batter, Jason Walk.
“We had a comebacker back to the mound and then a 50-50 play we didn’t make, and yeah, (it) just kind of snowballed from there,” Bolt said. “Honestly, I think more than anything, it just kind of became a little contagious as the game went.”
Carey, the shortstop, committed the second error, on the second batter, and a single loaded the bases. Then the fourth batter, Jaxon Willits, singled in the first two runs. An error on Rhett Stokes allowed a runner to reach second on a fielder’s choice as Sam Christiansen singled in the third run.
Every batter in the Sooner starting lineup had at least one hit, led by Christiansen with three. Easton Carmichael was 2-for-5, both hits home runs, four runs-batted-in and three runs scored.
The Sooner offense “came out, set the tone, getting some runs early (off of) some of their mistakes, and we kind of capitalized on it,” Oklahoma Coach Skip Johnson said, pointing out the obvious.
Nebraska finishes the season 33-29, with a second-consecutive Big Ten Tournament title and trip to an NCAA regional. The roster lists 11 seniors, six of whom might have an opportunity to return. It’s best to focus on those things, not a frustrating elimination loss.
