Grand slam lifts Creighton to ninth-inning victory over Nebraska baseball

Entering the ninth, Nebraska clung to a 3-2 lead against rival Creighton on Tuesday night. That edge didn’t last.

The Huskers relinquished a lead in the game’s final frame for the second time in the last four games and suffered a third consecutive midweek loss. A 6-4 Bluejay victory also marked Creighton’s 10th in its last 12 meetings with Nebraska and the Huskers’ fourth loss in their last six games.

Teddy Deters got the party started for the Bluejays with a home run in the fourth. He ended Nebraska’s with a first-pitch go-ahead grand slam with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth.

On a night in which the wind was screaming out to left, the Huskers didn’t bring the goods at the dish. All six of Creighton’s runs scored via the long ball.

“We’ve got to be better, that’s the bottom line,” Bolt said. “This is a results-based business. We need to stay positive, 100%. We’re a good team. We feel like we’re a good team. We need to keep moving in the right direction that way. You get challenged in this game and you can’t just keep going and doing the same thing. That’s the definition of insanity. You have to be able to make some adjustments.”

Here’s more on Nebraska’s ninth-inning home loss to the Bluejays.

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Creighton struck first just as the Bluejays did in the first game of the series. Deters skied a routine fly into the jetstream in left that carried beyond the wall and put Creighton on the board in the fourth.

But, Nebraska had an answer.

Josh Caron blasted his team-leading seventh home run of the season against the wind in right to tie the game at 1-1.

With the help of the wind, Nebraska logged its first leadoff baserunner of the game in the sixth. Dylan Carey popped a ball up on the right side in foul ground, spiked his bat and ended up with a base hit to right after the ball blew back into play and behind the second baseman.

Two at-bats later Caron delivered again and pushed the Huskers in front with a double to left-center. Then Nebraska made it 3-1 on a Cole Evans sacrifice fly.

The Bluejays cracked back with a vengeance in the seventh. Two singles sandwiched a walk with no outs to start the inning and the Huskers turned things over to Casey Daiss. He struck out the first batter he faced before Ben Columbus made a diving catch at first to rob an extra-base hit. Then a weak groundout to Caron behind the dish got Daiss out of the jam.

“That was unbelievable,” Caron said of Columbus’ snag. “To be in a jam like that, bases loaded and nobody out, and to come out unscathed, that was pretty cool.”

Colby Canales‘ solo shot brought Creighton within one after the eighth and then Kyle Perry took the ball seeking ninth-inning redemption.

A single on a 1-2 pitch and another hard-hit ball that beat the shift immediately put the pressure on the senior southpaw. Rans Sanders entered with the bases loaded and one out before Deters went yard for a second time. His grand slam put the Bluejays on top 6-3.

Nebraska mustered a two-out rally with its last bats. Tyler Stone’s pinch-hit single off the wall in left scored a run to bring the Huskers within 6-4 before Clay Bradford doubled to put the tying run on second. Max Buettenback pinch hit for Dylan Hufft struck out to end the threat.

Where the Huskers go from here

The emotion of another midweek loss to Creighton was evident.

“It’s tough, you guys see it,” Caron said. “We played hard tonight. That’s to be expected with this group. We’re really competitive. It’s a really tough one.”

Caron said trust is the key to staying together down the stretch.

Tough questions remain for Nebraska’s bullpen. Three of the Huskers’ last four losses are credited to bullpen arms. Veteran relievers the Huskers have trusted for much of the season. Although that group is battle tested, Bolt doesn’t believe the bats did enough to keep the bullpen out of that spot.

“The best closers in baseball don’t go 40-for-40 in save situations,” Bolt said. “We’ve put them in an awful lot of save situations. For me the message to the team is, ‘Yeah, we didn’t finish that game on the mound. But, two runs, three runs shouldn’t have to stand up on a night like tonight. We have to do more offensively to help those guys out.”

Simply put, the Bluejays took advantage of the game’s weather conditions. Nebraska did not.

“If you just get the ball in the air to the middle-pull-side part of the field, it has a chance to go,” Bolt said. “We weren’t on the ball. When you’re not on the baseball, you hit flares the other way and you hit ground balls to the pull-side.”

Next on the docket are the Maryland Terrapins. A team with an excellent Big Ten pedigree over the last four years. The Terps are 5-7 in conference play and are more than hungry to right the ship.

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska welcomes Maryland to Haymarket Park this weekend. The Terrapins are 24-14 and are coming off a 11-10 midweek win over Delaware. The series opener is set for a 6:05 p.m. CT first pitch while Saturday’s game begins at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday’s at 1:05 p.m..

 All three games can be streamed on the Huskers Radio Network or streamed on Big Ten Plus.