Nicholls defeats Nebraska baseball 10-7 despite Matthews' big day
Nebraska baseball (11-6-1) closed out a week of ever-altering schedules with a 10-7 loss to Nicholls (12-10) at Kansas State’s Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas, on Sunday.
The Huskers saw a second shaky showing from the bullpen as starter Michael Garza struggled in the early going and the backup he received was subpar. Every reliever allowed at least one run with the exception of Brett Sears who finished the ninth inning.
To make matters worse, the bats struck out 14 times while leaving 13 runners on base. Nebraska was outhit 18-10 by a Colonels team that totaled just eight hits in the previous 16 innings facing NU pitching.
Garza made his second start of the week for the Huskers following Tuesday’s scoreless three-inning outing. The graduate student couldn’t duplicate the magic from his appearance against UNO. By the second inning, Garza was gone after allowing three runs in the first inning and another in the fourth.
Garza’s final line featured four earned runs on six hits with just two strikeouts. Kyle Perry came on in relief with Nebraska already in a 4-1 hole. The Big Red had managed to counter in the bottom of the first with an RBI groundout by Max Anderson.
Anderson brought in another run in the third. A double down the right-field line plated Brice Matthews for the second time and made it a 4-2 ballgame.
It seemed as though the Huskers had stabilized after stranding a pair of Colonels in scoring position in the top of the third. But, Nicholls bounced back scoring a run in the fourth and fifth. First it was a solo homer from Colonel cleanup man Gerardo Villarreal and then a trio of singles in the next inning stretched the Nicholls advantage to 6-2.
Matthews continued to keep Nebraska afloat in the bottom of the fifth. The junior blasted a two-run bomb to left to pull the Huskers within two once again. Three of the next four batters reached and the bases were loaded with two outs for Gabe Swansen. He struck out, Nebraska’s ninth of the game to that point, and the score remained 6-4.
The Huskers loaded the bases once more in the sixth and again came up empty. This time it was Charlie Fischer who went down on strikes with the bases juiced and two outs. The Colonels grew their lead in the top of the seventh with another long ball. A two-run homer from Parker Coddou put Nicholls ahead 8-4 entering the home half of the seventh.
Nebraska appeared to be in danger of leaving the bases loaded for a third consecutive inning. Matthews entered the box and on an 0-2 count tripled to center field clearing the bases and cutting the Colonels’ lead to 8-7.
Shay Schanaman retook the hill after letting up two runs in the previous frame. The senior couldn’t stall Nicholls as the bats came alive yet again tallying a single, double, triple and two runs in the eighth.
Behind 10-7, Nebraska faltered at the dish yet again. A Husker two-out rally put runners on second and third for Gabe Swansen. His groundout to shortstop not only ended the inning, but dropped Swansen to 0-for-4 on the day.
Sears put together his best outing of the year thus far in the ninth. He helped Nebraska hang a zero for just the third time using two strikeouts to work around a walk and single.
Matthews remained red-hot crushing a two-out double, but that’s all the Huskers could muster in their final opportunity to even the score. The loss is Nebraska’s sixth on the year and the second of the week following a similar bullpen display in a 10-6 setback at the hands of UNO.
What’s next for the Huskers
Nebraska faces its first road test of March with instate rival Creighton on Tuesday. The game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network and televised on Nebraska Public Media. First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field.
