Huskers Fall In NCAA Opener
Nebraska dropped its opening game of the Chapel Hill Regional with a 7-4 setback against Oklahoma on Friday night at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Nebraska (32-28) totaled four runs, six hits and an error, while Oklahoma (36-20) scored seven runs on 11 hits and two errors.
Case Sanderson was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Max Buettenback drove in three runs with a triple, while Riley Silva, Devin Nunez and Gabe Swansen tallied a hit each.
Jackson Brockett dropped to 4-4 on the season after allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and a pair of walks across 3.1 innings of work. Casey Daiss recorded two outs and allowed a run, before Caleb Clark surrendered three unearned runs on two hits across 2.2 innings of relief.
Pryce Bender, Grant Cleavinger and Drew Christo teamed up to record the final four outs for the NU pitching staff.
The Husker offense loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first but couldn’t plate the game’s first run in the opening frame. A single from Nunez, followed by free passes to Gabe Swansen and Sanderson, had the bases loaded, but a two-out groundout back to the pitcher prevented the Big Red from grabbing an early lead.
A leadoff single to open the bottom of the second inning set the table for a one-out two-run homer down the right-field line that gave the Sooners a two-run lead going into the third.
The Sooners began the bottom of the third with a solo home run over the wall in left-center field to extend the lead to three.
OU capitalized on a pair of free passes in the bottom of the fifth to stretch the lead to four. A walk and a plunked batter had runners on first and second with no outs, before a one-out RBI single through the left side had the Sooners out front 4-0.
A fielding error extended the inning in the bottom of the seventh and allowed OU to build its lead to 7-0 with three unearned runs in the inning. The Sooners had the bases loaded after a walk, error and hit batter, while an RBI groundout plated OU’s first run in the inning. Oklahoma blew the game open at 7-0 with a two-RBI single through the right side.
The Huskers plated all four runs in the eighth inning behind two hits and an error. Swansen singled through the left side, while Sanderson reached on an error and Dylan Carey has hit by the pitch to load the bases with no outs.
Buettenback lined a 1-1 pitch down the left-field line for a bases-clearing RBI triple to bring the Big Red within 7-3. Will Jesske lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center in a pinch-hitting appearance to score Buettenback from third and make it a 7-4 game.
Christo replaced Cleavinger on the mound and got the Huskers out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth inning, before the NU offense was retired in order in the top of the ninth to preserve Oklahoma’s 7-4 win on Friday night.
Nebraska will take on Holy Cross tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT in an elimination game at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. Saturday’s action can be seen on ESPN+, while fans can listen to Ben McLaughlin and Nick Handley call the action on the Huskers Radio Network.