Nebraska baseball suffers 7-3 road defeat on opening night leaving 11 on base
Nebraska baseball began its season with hopes of new beginnings following a disastrous 2022 run. What followed on Friday night in San Diego was an all-too-real reminder of last year’s campaign.
The Huskers fell apart in the eighth inning as the San Diego Toreros dealt head coach Will Bolt’s squad its first loss of the 2023 season.
The Huskers had a number of scoring opportunities in the early going. San Diego walked the bases loaded with two outs in the first, but Will Walsh lined out to right field ending Nebraska’s threat. A Brice Matthews hit and run died in the second inning when Casey Burnham was cut down on the base paths between second and third.
The Toreros got their chance in the bottom half and immediately capitalized. A walk and a bloop single set freshman Austin Smith up for a double down the right-field line plating a pair of runs.
Nebraska’s offensive struggles continued into the third while San Diego kept the pressure on. After sitting the Toreros down in order during the first, Olson allowed a leadoff triple to begin the third. But with the help of a runner caught stealing, a strikeout and a flyout to center, the left-hander got out of the jam and held the deficit to 2-0.
The Huskers countered in the fourth with a one-out double from Brice Matthews. Freshman Dylan Carey got the train moving with his first career hit to start the inning. Anglim followed with a single of his own before Matthews brought the duo home to tie the game 2-2.
Olson worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning and notched the first out of the sixth before San Diego’s Kevin Sim launched a solo homer to left field. Behind 3-2, Nebraska elected to go to the bullpen and bring in graduate transfer Michael Garza.
Garza made his exit in the bottom of the seventh after surrendering a two-out RBI single that grew the Toreros’ lead to 4-2. The Huskers took advantage of a two-out error from San Diego and single by Garrett Anglim to pull back within one entering the bottom of the eighth.
That’s when the Toreros poured it on.
Corbin Hawkins started the inning strong quickly dispatching the first two San Diego batters he faced. Then a significant stoppage broke his momentum when Bolt asked the home-plate umpire to examine a Torero bat. San Diego saw five consecutive batters reach once play resumed and scored three runs on three hits to take a 7-3 advantage.
Nebraska went relatively quietly in the ninth. Apart from Griffin Everitt, who was plunked by a pitch, the Huskers were retired with ease. Anderson led the inning off with a strikeout to finish the night 0-for-5 and Charlie Fischer added his strikeout to the Nebraska’s total.
A flyout from Josh Caron ended it as the Huskers fell to 0-1.
“I thought for about five innings of the game today we played really, really well. We left a couple things out there on the bases, obviously. But, the back half of the game they owned it. They’re a championship team and we’re trying to figure out how to be one now.”
-Nebraska head coach Will Bolt on the Huskers Radio Network
Shades of 2022
The Huskers were plagued by ghosts of seasons past throughout Friday’s game. Strikeouts, runners left on base and weak contact doomed Nebraska in its first outing of the season.
The Huskers had nine strikeouts in the loss and four were looking. That’s not quite as bad as last season’s 15 punchouts in the visit to Sam Houston State, but it certainly isn’t good. When Nebraska did unite bat and ball, the results were not inspiring. The Huskers tallied five hits on the evening and only one went for extra bases.
“We didn’t hit a lot of balls hard tonight,” Bolt said. “(I’m) a little surprised by that. (The) guys were a little jumpy.”
Perhaps the most disturbing number was the amount of runners left on base. Nebraska stranded 11 baserunners and hit .286 (4-14) with runners on. That last number doesn’t seem terrible on first glance, but it does when compared to San Diego’s finish in that category.
The Toreros hit .417 (5-for-12) with two outs and .400 (6-for-15) with runners in scoring position.
Bolt’s squad left eight runners on base in the first four innings. The Huskers were offered a golden opportunity when San Diego walked the bases loaded with two outs in the first. Walsh lined out on a fast ball that he hit right at the centerfielder.
Sometimes it’s just not your night. Yet if a team stacks up that many missed chances, it’s bound to haunt them sooner rather than later.
Huskers get production from the bottom third
Three of Nebraska’s five hits came from the bottom third of the order.
That number might be slightly deceiving since the Huskers’ best hitter in 2022 is batting ninth. Anglim delivered two singles on the night and drove in a run as the last in the order. He was one of two multi-hit Nebraska athletes. The other was Matthews who finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
In total, hitters No. 7-No. 1 hit a combined 5-for-15 and reached base seven total times. The rest of the lineup went a combined 0-17 at the plate.
That’s not to say the other five hitters were complete failures. Everitt, Fischer and Caron each had two walks.
It’s Max Anderson who had a truly poor night at the dish. Granted, it’s about as early as you can get in the season. Anderson’s 0-for-5 evening is still not what’s expected from the junior.
Tomorrow may be better for the middle of Nebraska’s order. The Huskers will definitely need it to be productive if they want to leave San Diego with any wins.
What’s next?
The Huskers will play the second game of the series on Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT. The game can be streamed on the West Coast Conference Network website and the Huskers Radio Network will carry the radio broadcast.
