Ann Arbor, Mich.
- After scoring 15 runs in last night's series opener, the Nebraska baseball
team (32-21, 13-10 Big Ten) was held to just five runs in a 6-5 loss to the
Michigan Wolverines. Josh Scheffert and Cory Burleson each had two hits for the
Huskers, while Pat Kelly hit his eighth home run of the year in the fourth
inning.
The Huskers are now two games back of both the Indiana
Hoosiers and Penn State Nittany Lions with one game to play, which means the
highest NU can finish in the Big Ten standings is fourth.
Kelly continued to swing a hot stick for the Huskers from
the leadoff spot with his fourth home run in his last seven Big Ten games. The
Red Wing, Minn., native's eighth homer of the season is the most for a freshman
at NU since Matt Hopper hit 21 bombs in 2000 when Nebraska still played at Buck
Beltzer Stadium.
The game started out as a pitcher's duel, as Ryan Hander and
Brandon Sinnery each had one-hit shutouts through the third inning. It quickly
changed in the fourth when Nebraska plated four runs and Michigan answered with
three.
The Huskers hung four runs on the board in the fourth on
three hits, including Kelly's home run. Scheffert started the frame with a
single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rich Sanguinetti. Scheffert advanced
to third on a groundout by Austin Darby and Kale Kiser put runners at the
corners for NU with a two-out walk.
Associate Head Coach Will Bolt then dialed up a double steal
from the third-base coach's box that scored Scheffert and put Kiser on second. Scheffert
was also the last Husker to steal home, as he pulled off the feat against
Fresno State last season on March 13. The two-out rally continued with a single
by Burleson and was followed by Kelly's three-run homer over the 26-foot tall
brick wall in left field.
The Wolverines got their offense going in the bottom of the
frame with three runs on two hits. Hander was his own worst enemy, as he issued
a pair of walks to start the innings that both scored.
NU got one run back in the fifth to extend its lead to two,
5-3. Richard Stock laced his 17th double of the season down the right-field
line and later scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Sanguinetti, his
fifth RBI of the series.
Michigan took its first lead of the game in the bottom of
the seventh with three runs on two hits and a pair of one-out walks off
reliever Brandon Pierce. The free passes haunted the Huskers once again, as
both came around to score.
Darby led off the eighth with a single, but was stuck there,
as Sinnery produced back-to-back strikeouts and got Kelly to fly out to end the
inning. The Huskers got the tying run on in the ninth with a single by Chad Christensen,
but Sinnery got Stock to ground into a double play to secure the win in his
fifth complete game of the season.
The Huskers return to Wilpon Complex tomorrow for their
final game of the 2012 regular season at 12:05 p.m. (CT) and will look to pick
up a series win. Greg Sharpe and Jeff Culhane will have the call on the Husker
Sports Network and the game will be streamed live on BTN.com (subscription
required).
