Lincoln - A pair of runs in
both the eighth and ninth innings by the Nebraska baseball team extended Friday
afternoon's series opener with the No. 21 California Golden Bears into extra
innings, but the Huskers were unable to pull out a win after the Bears plated
three runs in the top of the 11th inning to win 11-8. With the win, the Bears move
to 10-2 on the year, while the Huskers four-game winning streak comes to and
end and they fall to 8-5 overall.
Josh
Scheffert and Kurt Farmer each tied career highs with three hits on the day,
while Chad Christensen drove in a team-high three runs, all with two outs. On
the year, 10 of Christensen's team-leading 15 RBI's have come with two outs.
Richard Stock continued to come through in clutch situations, as he pinch hit
in the bottom of the ninth and drove in a pair of runs on a single to tie the
game at 8-8.
Trailing
8-4 going into the bottom of the eighth, Head Coach Darin Erstad pinch hit
Michael Pritchard for catcher Sam Stucky and the sophomore got the inning going
with a base knock. Following a ground out and a strikeout, Rich Sanguinetti
came through with a two-out triple to plate Pritchard and Christensen followed
with a single to score Sanguinetti, cutting the Cal lead to two at 8-6 entering
the ninth.
Luke
Bublitz and Brandon Pierce shared the top of the ninth and kept the Bears off
the board, including an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to give the Huskers
momentum into the bottom of the frame. Scheffert led off with a single and
Farmer reached on an error by the Bears' first baseman to give NU runners at first
and second with no outs. Austin Darby then moved his teammates into scoring
position with a sacrifice bunt. After Cory Burleson grounded out for the second
out of the inning, Stock delivered his two-out pinch-hit single to tie the
game.
NU's
momentum continued into the top of the 10th with Travis Huber on the mound, as
the junior righty mowed down the Bears in order to give NU a shot at winning
the game in the bottom of the 10th. Kash Kalkowski reached on a one-out single,
but got stuck at first and the game went to the 11th, still tied at 8-8. The
Bears loaded the bases with their first three hitters off a single, a double
and an intentional walk to Andrew Knapp. The strategy worked for the Huskers on
the next batter when Chad Bunting grounded into a fielder's choice and
Christensen threw out Vince Bruno at home for the first out of the inning, but
Danny Oh followed with a two-run single that proved to be the game winner. The
Bears added one more run in the inning on a passed ball.
Cal
jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three innings, scoring one run in both the first
and second frames, before exploding for five runs in the top of the third. NU
starter Zach Hirsch looked to be finally settling in with a runner on first and
two outs in the third, but the Bears rattled off five straight two-out hits,
including back-to-back home runs to push the Cal lead to 7-0.
The
Husker bullpen came to the rescue and gave up just one run on eight hits over
the next seven innings to give the NU offense a chance to chip away at the
Bears.
The
Huskers got back into the game in the bottom of the fifth with four runs off
five hits, including four hits with two outs. Stucky scored the Huskers first
run of the game after reaching on a one-out walk and then scored on a single by
Bryan Peters. Christensen drove in both Peters and Kiser, who was hit-by-pitch,
with a two-out double and Kalkowski knocked in Christensen with a single. Farmer
and Scheffert followed with a pair of singles to load the bases, but Darby was
unable to keep the inning going with a check-swing strikeout.
The
two teams will be back at Hawks Field tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. for game two of the
four-game series. Fans can listen to the game across Nebraska on the Husker
Sports Network or anywhere in the world on Huskers.com. The Huskers are set to
send Jon Keller to the mound, while the Bears will counter with Matt Flemer.
