Nebraska baseball blown out in series finale loss to Maryland
For a third consecutive game, Nebraska baseball struck first. The Huskers led 2-0 in the early going before the Maryland bats woke up and Sunday’s rubber match rapidly got out of hand.
Nebraska’s pitching staff coughed up two eight-run innings on the way to a 20-5 loss and series defeat. Head coach Will Bolt and company are 25-19-1 overall and 10-8 in conference play. With two weekends to go, the Huskers are part of a four-way tie for fifth in the Big Ten standings and Illinois is knocking on the door in ninth at 11-10.
After a scoreless first inning, the bats heated up for both teams. Nebraska opened the second with a pair of singles but bringing those two runs in proved to be difficult. A failed sacrifice bunt nearly resulted in a double play and Garrett Anglim grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out. But, Dylan Carey came in clutch with a two-RBI single giving the Huskers a 2-0 advantage.
Maryland wasted no time in evening the ledger. Will Walsh quickly tallied the first out in the bottom half with a flyout to right but the Terrapins struck back. Maryland rattled off three consecutive hits including a single from Elijah Lambros that drove in two.
Casey Burnham opened the third by working a walk and Max Anderson followed that up with his 14th double of the season. Gabe Swansen drove in Burnham with a RBI grounder but that was all Nebraska could manage in the frame. Strikeouts from Charlie Fischer and Griffin Everitt killed the Husker run in the middle of the order.
With one out in the third, Drew Christo was tasked with protecting Nebraska’s 3-2 lead against Maryland slugger Matt Shaw. The reliever coaxed a grounder from Shaw but made a critical mistake when pitching to Nick Lorusso. The Big Ten’s RBI leader crushed his 19th homer of the year to give the Terrapins their first lead of the afternoon at 4-3.
Maryland kept the pedal to the metal and blew the ballgame open in the fourth. The scoring salvo opened with a three-run bomb to center from Jacob Orr. Orr, who entered the day with a .238 average, had swung and missed on two sliders from Jake Bunz before taking an offensive timeout. Bunz brought a fastball on the next pitch that Orr just eeked over the center-field wall.
The Terrapins weren’t close to done. Maryland plated five more runs on a wild pitch, a two RBI single from Nick Lorusso and a two-run blast by Ian Petrutz.
Max Anderson pulled the Huskers closer in the fifth with his 19th homer of the season. The second baseman’s two-run shot was his third of the weekend and made it a 12-5 Terrapin lead. Anderson’s shot also put him eighth all-time in homers at Nebraska.
Jackson Brockett took the hill in the home half and hung the Huskers’ first zero since the 1-2-3 opener from Walsh.
Maryland crushed any Husker hopes of a comeback with another eight-run frame. A grand slam from Lorusso highlighted an inning in which the Terrapins used five hits and six walks to post another snowman.
Nebraska held Maryland off the board the rest of the way and threatened in the ninth down 20-5. But, with the bases loaded Ben Columbus flied to center and the game came to a close.
Clutch hitting was the early difference
In a 15-run game, blaming a loss on one factor is a little silly. Plenty went wrong for Nebraska on Sunday. Yet timely hitting is a disturbing Achilles’ heel that had reemerged during the Huskers’ recent rough patch.
Nebraska struggled mightily in that department prior to the day’s contest getting out of hand. Carey did have the two-RBI single with two outs but apart from that moment the Huskers’ approach with runners on base was atrocious. Carey’s base hit was the only two-out hit of the afternoon and Nebraska hit 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and 5-for-23 with runners on base.
Additionally, the Huskers missed on multiple opportunities due to ill-timed strikeouts. Nebraska had runners on second and third with no outs and the heart of the order coming up. But, Fischer and Everitt went down swinging. Those were two of the Huskers’ four strikeouts with runners in scoring position. All seven Nebraska punchouts came with runners on base.
Now Nebraska has to leave yet another Sunday stinker in the past and move on to what lies ahead.
“There’s no consolation prize when you get your butt kicked on Sunday, but I thought we came out with a great mindset all three games trying to play from ahead,” Bolt said. “We’ve got some guys on the mound that we’re gonna need if we’re gonna have a chance to make a run.”
Watching the Husker pen
Nebraska used eight different arms on Sunday. Bolt said postgame that using that many pitchers was part of the plan.
“We thought the best way to approach today was to have a bunch of different looks go out them,” Bolt said. “We had some guys that we felt had been throwing the ball well coming into today that could give them trouble.”
Granted no outing lasted longer than 2 1/3 innings, but the Huskers likely didn’t expect to use that many arms.
“Every guy that took the ball was chasing the count,” Bolt said. “We talked about it before the weekend started. Against a good offense like this, you’ve got to be able to get ahead. We gave them 12 free passes and obviously that’s tough to overcome. They’re a really good hitting team and they made us pay.”
Nebraska will play the final three innings of their suspended game with Creighton on Tuesday afternoon and follow that with the originally scheduled game an hour or so later. Assuming the first game doesn’t go into extra innings (paused in the seventh in the midst of a 4-4 tie), Nebraska will play 12 innings on the evening.
Then the Huskers have a key series with Penn State next weekend. The majority of Nebraska’s top arms will be available again by the weekend but how the coaching staff manages Tuesday will be something to watch.
What’s next for Nebraska baseball?
The Huskers will resume their suspended showdown with Creighton on Tuesday. First pitch is slated for 5:00 p.m. as the two teams will compete the final three innings of that contest. Then, Nebraska will face the Bluejays again in the previously scheduled meeting at 7:03 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network.
The upcoming weekend holds the final home series of the season. The Huskers will host the Penn State Nittany Lions at Haymarket Park.
