No. 21 Nebraska scored three runs in the first inning and made it stand up, as three Husker pitchers combined for a four-hitter in a 5-2 victory over Northern Colorado Wednesday afternoon at Hawks Field.
The Huskers, whose 14-2 start is the best since 1998, used a two-run single by Brandon Fusilier (Coppell, Texas) and an RBI single by Curtis Ledbetter (Lawrence, Kan.) two batters later to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
That would be all the offensive support that redshirt freshman Tony Watson (Grimes, Iowa) and relievers Dustin Timm (Yutan, Neb.) and Brett Jensen would need. Watson (2-1) picked up the victory with five innings of three-hit ball, allowing two runs
while striking out four in his first career start.
Watson, a 23rd-round pick of the Florida Marlins out of high school, missed all of the 2004 season with shoulder injury, but impressed NU Head Coach Mike Anderson with his velocity and control on Wednesday.
"Tony was great on the mound today," Anderson said. "He had a lively fastball and good command out there. This is what we've been looking for two years, and he got some good experience this afternoon."
Timm and Jensen proceeded to slam the door on the Bears (4-15), combining for four innings of one-hit relief. Timm allowed one hit in three shutout innings, as no runner reached scoring position, while Jensen picked up his third save in as many opportunities with a perfect ninth.
Offensively, Fusilier went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and two RBIs, while Jesse Boyer (Littleton, Colo.) and Alex Gordon (Lincoln, Neb.) had three and two hits, respectively, as the Huskers totaled 10 hits.
The Huskers got off to a quick start in the first, as Boyer opened the game with a single before Gordon’s double two batters later put runners on second and third. Fusilier then plated both runners, taking Craig Ayers’ 3-2 pitch into right center. Two batters later, Ledbetter made it 3-0 with an RBI single to right center off the Bears’ starter.
After allowing three runs in the first, Ayers settled down, holding the Huskers scoreless until the seventh to keep the visitors in the contest. Ayers (0-5) allowed four runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings.
After being held hitless the first three innings, Northern Colorado strung together three straight hits off Watson to pull within 3-2 on Delich’s two-run single to right.
Delich was the only UNC player with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with both RBIs.
The Huskers got a pair of late insurance runs, plating runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
In the seventh, Brandon Buckman’s (Monument, Colo.) two-out RBI single pushed the margin to 4-2, Nebraska put together a two-out rally in the eighth for their final run, as Jake Opitz (Littleton, Colo.) walked, moved to third on Boyer’s second hit of the afternoon and scored on an RBI single by Joe Simokaitis (St. Louis, Mo.), who extended his career-best 13-game hit streak with the RBI single to center.
The Huskers and Bears will conclude the series Thursday afternoon, as freshman right-hander Luke Wertz (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his first career start. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. and the game will be carried live on HuskersNside.
Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations
