It was a Friday the 13th result for Connecticut in the opening game of the MLB Desert Invitational in Scottsdale, Arizona. Compliments, though that’s probably not an appropriate word, of Nebraska baseball.
The Huskers ended the game on the run rule, with a four-run bottom of the seventh, 12-2
Dylan Carey delivered the final blow, a two-run, two-out triple. The hit was Carey’s third, in five at-bats; the runs-batted-in brought his total to four.
“Two-out hitting was the difference in the game,” Coach Will Bolt told Nick Handley during his post-game interview on the Huskers Radio Network. Eight Husker runs came with two outs.
The first two hitters struck out to start the bottom of the seventh. Then freshman Jeter Worthley doubled, Washburn transfer Jett Buck doubled him in, Case Sanderson singled in Buck, and after Joshua Overbeek singled, Carey ended it. Overbeek was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Cade Kitchens, a transfer from Southern Indiana, was 3-for-4 and also drove in three runs.
Kitchens’ RBIs came in the first inning, his first at-bat as a Husker, as Nebraska responded to Connecticut’s one-run top of the first with four and never looked back.
“That was a big swing by Kitchens,” Bolt told Handley.
Carey had driven in Nebraska’s first run, with two outs.
“It was a relentless offensive effort all night long,” said Bolt. “That’s the type of compete that we’re looking for … you just keep grinding on ‘em.”
The Huskers had 16 hits, with seven of the starters getting at least one hit.
Nebraska had “selfless at-bats, team at-bats,” Bolt said.
Nebraska’s pitchers allowed only four hits. The problem was walks. Starter Ty Horn walked four and hit a batter in 4.2 innings, striking out six and allowing only one run. He allowed just three hits but threw 99 pitches. Going into the game, Bolt said the limit would be in the 90-range.
Caleb Clark, who was credited with the win, didn’t allow a hit and struck out three in 1.2 innings but gave way to Tucker Timmerman after walking two and getting one out in the seventh.
Horn had a “good first start for him and to get us into the fifth (inning) and hand it off to Caleb, I thought Caleb was outstanding out of the pen,” said Bolt.
Nebraska’s defense — the Huskers were error-free — was acknowledged, too, specifically a catch by left-fielder Will Jesske, with back-up walks following two outs in the fourth.
“That was a three-run swing right there, maybe a six-run swing, because that’s a two-run double, maybe a triple if he doesn’t catch that ball,” Bolt said.
The Huskers scored three runs in the sixth on Overbeek’s two-run double and a single by Carey to set the stage for the decisive bottom of the seventh.
It was a Friday the 13th for Nebraska’s next opponent, Northeastern, too, Saturday in Mesa, Arizona. The Huskies fell to Grand Canyon Friday 10-0, also the run rule after sixth and a half innings. Right-hander Carson Jasa will start for the Huskers. Right-hander Andrew Wertz, a graduate transfer from Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, will be the starter for Northeastern.
Instead of Friday the 13th, it’ll be Valentine’s Day. What might that mean for the Huskers?
First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT, streaming on MLB.com.
