Six innings into the first game of the Nebraska baseball series with Oregon in Eugene Friday, the 19-ranked Huskers trailed the 21st-ranked Ducks by five, 7-2. Game over, right?
Well, yes and no. Nebraska scored four runs in the eighth inning to pull within 7-6 and had runners at second and third with one out in the ninth. Two fly outs ended it. Oregon held on for the win.
The Huskers struck out 16 times.
Footnote: the game was delayed 1:42 because of lightning with one out in the bottom of the sixth.
Saturday, the Huskers trailed 5-0 after three innings. But they scored six in the fourth, two in the fifth and two in the eighth, holding on for a 10-8 victory.
The stage was set for game three and a series victory. Nebraska led 4-2 after three innings. But it didn’t score the remainder of the game, with only three hits, including a one-out double by Rhett Stokes in the top of the ninth. Oregon had taken a 5-4 lead — which is how the game ended.
Stokes remained at second with a pair of flyouts.
“It was a hard-fought series on both sides, a couple of really good teams, came down to just a handful of pitches over the course of the entire weekend,” Coach Will Bolt said on the Huskers Radio Network. “I feel like that (Sunday) game was ours for the taking. You’re up 4-2, get a runner at second base, they make an error to start the inning in the sixth; we don’t punch one across right there.”
Jett Buck was the runner at second, because of a throwing error, but two of the next three batters struck out, with a fly ball out in between.
The Huskers struck out 12 times.
Cooper Katskee, the Sunday starter, “gave us every opportunity to win that game offensively, and so many times we’ve done that,” said Bolt.
Katskee went 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, with three walks and six strikeouts. Carson Jasa managed only 3.2 innings Saturday, allowing five runs on six hits, with four walks and four strikeouts. Ty Horn, Friday’s starter, went four innings, allowing two runs on three hits, with four walks and two strikeouts. Nebraska used 10 relievers, including Tucker Timmerman twice.
Gavin Blachowicz, who was expected to start Tuesday night’s game against Creighton at Haymarket Park, pitched 2.1 innings Sunday, allowing one hit, no runs, walking three and striking out four.
Caleb Clark earned the win, Tucker Timmerman and Grant Cleavinger took the losses.
The teams combined to hit 14 home runs in the series, seven each. Case Sanderson hit two (and drove in five) Saturday and a third on Sunday. Dylan Carey homered Friday and Saturday. Joshua Overbeek hit a home run Saturday and Mac Moyer homered Friday.
Sunday “the back half of the lineup (had) pretty disappointing at-bats,” Bolt said.
Stokes, the ninth-place hitter, was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. But the three places in the batting order above him were a combined 1-for-10, a single, with seven strikeouts.
“We just didn’t finish offensively,” said Bolt.
Given the rankings, winning the series had regional-host ramifications. The Sunday loss was Nebraska’s third in four games, including a 5-3 loss at Kansas Tuesday.
The Oregon series, “like I said, it came down to just a couple of pitches, and that’s the fine line between being 4-0 and 1-3 in the week against really good teams,” Bolt said.
The Huskers, 27-9 and 11-3 in the Big Ten, have to move on to play Creighton Tuesday and a weekend series at home against USC, also a ranked team.
Nebraska needs to “hit the reset button and defend our home turf this week,” said Bolt.
