Lincoln - The Nebraska
baseball team treated 5,298 fans at Hawks Field to quite an offensive show on
Saturday afternoon with a 12-5 win over the No. 21 California Bears to move to
9-5 overall on the year and even the four-game series with the Bears at 1-1. In
front of the largest crowds at Hawks Field since April 17, 2010, (6,027 vs.
Kansas) the Huskers blasted three home runs on the day, including a grand slam
by Rich Sanguinetti in the bottom of the eighth inning to help NU plate six
runs in the frame. Along with Sanguinetti, Richard Stock hit his first home run
of the season in the third inning with a man on to get the Huskers on the board
and Chad Christensen crushed his third homer of the season deep into the left
field berm to lead off the bottom of the sixth.
Nebraska's
offense put the game away in the bottom of the eight with six runs on three
hits. Austin Darby led off with a single and came around to score when Josh
Scheffert followed with a double. The Bears then got sloppy, as they hit Cory
Burleson and committed their third error
of the series on a ground ball to the shortstop by Bryan Peters that scored
Scheffert, while also putting Burleson at third and Peters at second on the
error. Following an intentional walk to Michael Pritchard to load the bases
with no outs and the Huskers up 8-5, Sanguinetti crushed his second homer of
the year and the first grand slam by a Husker since Kurt Farmer hit one against
North Dakota on March 19 last season.
Eight
of the Huskers' starters recorded at least one hit on the afternoon, while
Stock and Christensen each notched three hits and Pritchard went 2-for-4 from
the leadoff spot. Stock set a career high with three RBI's and Sanguinetti
doubled his previous career high of two RBI's with four runs batted in on his
homer into a stiff wind in right field.
After
scoring two runs over the first five innings, the Huskers figured out Cal
starter Matt Flemer and plated 10 combined runs in the sixth, seventh and
eighth innings. Flemer, who entered the game with a 2-0 record and a 1.23 ERA,
gave up 10 runs (nine eared) in the game on 12 hits and struck out just one
Husker after giving up just 13 hits and striking out 14 in his first 22.0
innings of the season entering today. Michael Lowden also took the bump for the
Bears and gave up just one hit, but it was an important one, as it was
Sanguinetti's grand slam.
For
the Huskers, sophomore Jon Keller improved to 2-0 on the year with a
career-high 7.1 innings of work, as the righty gave up five runs, but only three
earned, on 11 hits and struck out two. It was Keller's third start of the in
the last seven days after he started against New Mexico State last Saturday at
the Dairy Queen Classic and was NU's starter against Kansas State on Tuesday in
the Huskers' home opener. After Keller left with a 6-5 lead in the eighth,
sophomore Tyler King got the last two out of the inning and junior Ryan Hander
pitched a scoreless ninth to secure the win.
The
Bears struck first for the second straight day with one run in the first off
three hits and added two more runs in the second off two hits, a hit-by-pitch
and a Husker error. The Huskers had an opportunity to score in the bottom of
the first with the bases loaded and two outs, but failed to convert.
Flemer
was cruising in the third inning and had retired six straight Huskers when
Christensen hit a hard two-out ground ball at the Bears' third baseman, who was
unable to make a play on a tough bounce. That opened the door for Stock to go
opposite field on the first pitch he saw into the right field berm to cut Cal's
lead to one, 3-2. Flemer got back into a grove and retired the next seven
Husker hitters before Christensen came calling to open the bottom of the sixth
with his solo shot. Stock followed with a single and then scored from first on
a double by Kash Kalkowski, who moved to third on a throw to the plate. With
one out, Darby followed with a deep fly ball into left center that Kalkowski
was able to tag on, giving NU its first lead of the series at 5-4.
NU
added another run in the bottom of the seventh on some aggressive base running
from Pritchard. The sophomore left fielder led off the inning with a single and
move to second on a sacrifice bunt from Sanguinetti. Christensen then popped out
to the first baseman near the first base wall and Pritchard was able to tag up
and take third base on a close play. Stock followed with his third two-out RBI
of the game on a 2-2 pitch to extend the Huskers' lead to 6-4.
The
Bears made started a rally right away in the top of the eight with a leadoff
homer from Mitch Delfino, but Keller and King retired the next three Cal hitters
to keep the Huskers in front, 6-5, going into the bottom of the eighth
Nebraska
and Cal return to Hawks Field tomorrow for a 1:05 p.m. meeting in game three of
the series. Junior Tom Lemke will take the mound for the Huskers, while the
Bears are set to counter with 2011 Freshman All-American Kyle Porter. The sophomore lefty has thrown just 1.0
inning against Lehigh this season.
