Jackrabbits defeat Huskers for first time since 1971
Consistency has been an issue all year for Nebraska baseball. After defeating Omaha in a complete team victory Tuesday night, Nebraska did not come close to a similar performance Wednesday evening.
The Cornhuskers fell 8-3 at home to South Dakota State. It was the Jackrabbits' 11th straight win and the program's first victory over Nebraska since 1971.
SDSU got off to a rapid start with a leadoff double, but Husker starter Jackson Brockett worked around the early mistake and got out of the inning with two strikeouts.
Brockett could not replicate the same success in the second inning. The Jackrabbits scored four runs off a walk and three hits. The inning was capped by a solo blast from catcher Ryan McDonald, his team-leading 17th home run of the year.
The Huskers had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the inning with runners on the corners with one out but grounded themselves into a double play.
Brett Sears (pictured above) replaced Brockett in the third. While the offense could not get anything going, Sears kept the Big Red in the game. Through three innings, Sears faced 10 batters and recorded six strikeouts.
Sears looked like he was on cruise control in the sixth, quickly recording two outs. Then the Jackrabbits finally got to the right-hander. Sears hit a batter and gave up two hits, allowing two more SDSU runs. Sears allowed one more hit but was bailed out when Jess Bellows was thrown out by Garrett Anglim at home plate. After 5½ innings, the Jackrabbits led 6-0.
The Huskers finally knocked out Jackrabbit starter Will Kent after two straight two-out singles in the bottom of the sixth. Reliever Jack Kruger came in and walked Ben Columbus, loading the bases, but struck out Anglim to get out of the inning.
Kent finished his day pitching 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and no runs.
In the top of the seventh, SDSU tacked on another run with a two-out single that scored McDonald, this time off of left-hander Kyle Perry.
Nebraska’s bats finally found life in the bottom of the seventh. After back-to-back one-out walks, a Casey Burnham single brought in Efry Cervantes for the first Big Red run of the game. A two-out Charlie Fischer single brought in Brice Matthews, and a Gabe Swansen single plated Burnham. Columbus nearly sent one out of the yard in the Huskers' next at-bat, but the flyball was corralled on the warning track. Still, the Huskers now had SDSU within striking distance, 7-3.
Both teams went scoreless in the eighth inning. In the ninth, NU dropped an infield fly ball and a routine foul ball, allowing a Jackrabbit insurance run. Nebraska did not rally in the bottom of the ninth and fell to SDSU for the first time in 52 years.
NU is now 22-15-1 on the season and hosts Minnesota for a three-game series this weekend at Haymarket Park.
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