For seven and a half innings, Nebraska played even with the top team in the country yet again. But a disastrous bottom of the eighth saw the Razorbacks score four runs to take a 6-2 win, ending the Huskers’ season at 34-14.
“These guys played so hard,” Nebraska coach Will Bolt told the Husker Sports Network after the loss. “They played so together. They were so competitive. We went toe-to-toe here this weekend.
“We didn’t get the result that we wanted but I think everybody can see where we’re at and where we’re going.”
Nebraska took a 2-0 lead through three courtesy a Luke Roskam solo home run and a Jaxon Hallmark RBI groundout that drove in Mojo Haage. But that would be it for the Huskers coming across home plate as the nation’s best pitcher, Kevin Kopps, was on the hill.
With just two days off, Cade Povich got the start for Nebraska and threw a dandy through four innings. It was the fifth that saw the first Arkansas damage take place, as the Razorbacks got on the board with a Casey Opitz home run.
An inning later with Cam Wynne pitching, Robert Moore added a solo home run to tie the game.
The teams stayed even through seven as Kopps sat down 10 Huskers in a row. In the bottom of the eight, disaster struck.
With Koty Frank on the mound and two outs, the strike zone disappeared. Frank threw seven consecutive balls, walking two Razorbacks. With two balls on another batter, Jake Bunz entered the game but threw two more balls to load the bases.
On a 1-0 count, a Bunz wild pitch scored a run to give Arkansas the 3-2 lead. The very next pitch was pounded over the left field fence for a three-run home run.
Kopp got two strikeouts and a fly-out to take the 6-2 win. The 7.0 innings and 89 pitchers were career-high for Kopp who gave up just three hits while striking out eight.
The Razorbacks advance to the Super Regional round and will host North Carolina State next weekend. Nebraska heads into the offseason, having accomplished a Big Ten title and the first Regional Final appearance since 2007.
“The things that the boys poured into (this season), I think that’s something that you can really hold onto,” Bolt said. “What Husker Nation has always been about, and the state of Nebraska, is just hard work, just blue collar and just show up and get after it. I said that the first day that I got this job, that’s what I wanted people to say about our team.
“I can hold my head high today knowing that that’s what these guys did.”